Essay on Informative Speech: The Pro’s And Con’s Of Medical Marijuana

Thesis: There is a significant amount of attention in today’s world on weather or not to legalize marijuana. The prohibition of marijuana is holding up the improvement of social and economic developments.

Specific Purpose Statement: To Invite my audience to explore both sides of medicinal marijuana and the possible cause of damage to the brain.

A. We need to petition to pass legislature that legalizes marijuana for patients that need it.

The debate on Medical marijuana has been a controversial subject mainly because people have an abundance of opinions and very little scientific research to back up either side of the debate. The most important question here is “will medical marijuana be used for medical purposes or will it be used inappropriately?”

It’s not hard to believe that marijuana is the 3rd most popular recreational drug in America and Government polls say some 25 million Americans have smoked the plant in the past year. The purpose of this speech is not to persuade

The love for hiking is slowly fading away as you lay in a hospital, waiting for the test results to come back. The doctor enters the room with a smug face. Severe arthritis in the knees destroys your dreams of hiking through the forest ever again. Every step is a struggle as pain rushes through your body. Prescription drugs aren’t working, but there is nothing else you can use to help ease the pain. Wrong, medicinal marijuana is the answer to get you back on your feet and fulfilling your dreams of hiking once again.

The use of marijuana for medicinal purposes is a long-standing controversy. For centuries marijuana was prescribed to alleviate symptoms associated with a variety of illnesses. Anti-medical marijuana sentiments began with the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937. In 1970, the Controlled Substances Act banned the use of marijuana completely, categorizing it as a drug with no medicinal value, high abuse rates, and detrimental health effects (http://www.farmacy.org/prop215/apha.html). Since 1996, numerous states including California, Alaska, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon and Washington have passed medical marijuana initiatives supporting the right to prescribe marijuana for seriously or terminally ill patients (http://www.marihemp.com/marimed.html). The American Public Health Association and the Institute of Medicine represent two organizations that have recently researched and endorsed advancements in the study of medical marijuana. Both groups support the use of marijuana for specific treatments, such as reducing nausea in cancer patients receiving chemotherapy, stimulating the appetites of AIDS victims, and limiting spasticity in MS patients.

Cannabis is a popular topic amongst teens, adults and medical doctors these days. Cannabis, also known as marijuana, pot, weed and hash can be quite controversial across America, since you have those who disapprove and those who condone its use. You might know someone who uses it, or maybe you have even tried it before. They say more than 1 in 3 people in America have tried marijuana at one point in their lives (Web MD). As of 2017, 29 states plus the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana to some extent (Healthline). Recreational use of marijuana has been legalized in 8 states, with the age restriction being 21 years or older (CNN).

Specific Purpose: To persuade the audience to support the legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Specific Purpose: To persuade my audience to enter a marijuana dispensary, learn about the benefits for pain, and use a product that best suites their individual wants/needs; rather than the use of prescription medications.

Humans have been using medicine to salve our wounds, physical and mental, since near the beginning of our species. It is something we used throughout the ages though we haven’t always used the same means achieve it. We’ve used “magic” elixirs, prayer, mercury, lobotomies, and other things that just weren’t effective methods of healing anyone. Today, we have vaccines, pills, antibiotics, and other medicine that has kept us going thus far in life. The medicine I want to inform you about today is Marijuana. Marijuana holds many medical uses.

Marijuana has been used by people over many centuries for medical uses. It is a natural pain killer used today as a recreational drug by people all over the world. According to Noel Merino in, “Introduction to Gateway Drugs: Opposing Viewpoints”, “a drug is something other than food intended to affect the structure or function of the body”. Marijuana is a very controversial drug and has been outlawed in many countries for its affect on the function of the body. “Effects may involve hallucinations, impaired judgment, and mood swings.” Describes the effects of marijuana in “Marijuana” Current Issues Macmillian social science library. During the past century Marijuana has been legal, made illegal, strictly enforced, decriminalized,

Now that I had decided my delivery method I could begin my outline, which started with me choosing three main points: the history of marijuana use, how marijuana stacks up against other drugs, and the economic benefits of legalization. It was time to start rehearsing my speech. I started off fairly dependant on my outline but as I practiced more, my opinion became further strengthened in my mind. Soon I was able to do full runs in front of my classmates, or even just alone, with only notecards.

Close your eyes and imagine for a moment. You now have a child who suffers from extreme, almost constant, terrifying seizures. Unfortunately, none of the medicine prescribed in the past has worked. In fact, some medication even makes the seizures worse. Suddenly, doctors discover a medicine that has the potential to reduce seizures and sometimes stop them all together, therefore improving your child’s quality of life. They have turned that medicine into safe drops, vapor, and pills. Would you want to at least give the medicine a try? Would you want to give your child some relief? If you answered yes, then you have just proven that it is not the medicine that people feel uneasy about, it is the stigma of the name of plant the medicine comes from, marijuana.

I have personally experience in using marijuana before. I was absolutely freaked out the first time I tried but some of my friends were just acting normal.