Essay Marijuana The Controversial Drug

This graphic showing the up and downs of used the marijuana by 12 graders. As is showing on the graphic the marijuana use on young going increase. ("Drug Facts: High School and Youth Trends | National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)", n.d., p. xx-xx)

Although marijuana is highly hated among the older generations, it has proven to cure number of problems in the medical field. For instance, The New York Times lists, epilepsy, nauseas from chemotherapy, and pain from AIDS as afflictions that weed as shown to alleviate. Furthermore, Glaucoma, Crohn’s Disease, and muscle spasms from osteoporosis can be healed from the cannabis plant. As early as 2700 B.C., doctors used marijuana as a treatment for gout, digestive disorders, rheumatism, insomnia, and even poor memory.

The Human Race has been using cannabis for centuries, but in the 20th century, the number of the population using Cannabis rose dramatically. Scientists today believe that around 4% of adults (in the world) use cannabis every year, and that about 0.6% use cannabis every day.

Marijuana is by far the most commonly used illegal drug. Statistics show that over 70 million Americans have tried Marijuana and over 20 million smoked it last year. So it is safe to assume that although marijuana use may decrease in the years to come, as

Marijuana was in the United States Pharmacopeia from 1850 until 1942 and was prescribed to patients for various conditions including labor pains, nausea and rheumatism. During the 1850’s up to the 1930’s it was a very popular intoxicant. A movement conducted in the 1930’s by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Narcotics (presently the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs) fought to make marijuana appear to be an Addicting and powerful substance that would lead

The first known marijuana user dates all the way back to 2737 B.C. when Chinese Emperor Shen Nung wrote of the incredible euphoria he feels, and what he experiences after smoking marijuana (Guither). It caught on during the 1920’s. Some say this was because of the prohibition of alcohol, while others think that the jazz music culture brought it into the spotlight (Guither). Marijuana was distributed by pharmacies from 1850 to 1942, prescribed to patients for pain,

Marijuana has many medical purposes also. The cannabis extract was available as a medicine legally in this country until 1937, and was sold as a nerve tonic-but mankind has been using cannabis medicines much longer than that. Marijuana appears in almost every known book of medicine written by ancient scholars and wise men. It is usually ranked among the top medicines, called 'panaceas', a word which means 'cure-all'. The list of diseases which cannabis can be used for includes: multiple sclerosis, cancer treatment, AIDS (and AIDS treatment), glaucoma, depression, epilepsy, migraine headaches, asthma, pruritis, sclerodoma, severe pain, and dystonia. This list does not even consider the other medicines which can be made out of marijuana-these are just some of the illnesses for which people smoke or eat whole marijuana today. There are over 60 chemicals in marijuana which may have medical uses. It is relatively easy to extract these into food or beverage, or into some sort of lotion, using butter, fat, oil, or alcohol. One chemical, cannabinol, may be useful to help people who cannot sleep.

Other states have legalized the drug for both medicinal and recreational use. The use of marijuana dates back many, many years ago as early as 2900 BC when a Chinese Emperor referenced the drug as one that possessed both yin and yang. The drug was recognized for its medicinal uses in 2700 BC when the Chinese Emperor Shen Nung discovered healing properties linked to the drug (“Medical Marijuana Historical Timeline” para. 1). Today the drug has been credited as a major benefit to patients suffering from diseases such as AIDS, cancer, and multiple sclerosis alleviating them from excruciating pain associated with the diseases.

of young people that use marijuana is still on the rise from year to year. Yet still surprisingly,

Cannabis has been known to man since as early as 7000 B.C. (Marijuana Legalization Timeline). In 1619, the colony of Jamestown in Virginia passed the first cannabis-related law, stating that it is required for all farmers to grow cannabis sativa or hemp plant because of its strong fiber that they used to

Marijuana has been prohibited since 1968. You would think that because it is illegal, most would stop using the substance. But in fact, in the past 30 years, 10 million people have been arrested for marijuana offenses in the U.S. (Glasser, 2000) With so many people getting in trouble for this

Although it seems that a lot of people use marijuana, a majority do not. According to The National Survey on Drug Use and Health in 2013, only about 7.5% of the United States population reported using marijuana during the preceding month. Although this number could be lower than the actual statistic due to underreporting, it points out the issue that marijuana is really not used by a majority of the population (Lachenmeier & Rehm, 2015). Lachenmeier and Rehm also found that marijuana has the lowest risk of mortality and is safer than alcohol and tobacco. Furthermore, marijuana has been found to be not as relatively non-addictive. A large-scale survey published in 1994, asked more than 8,000 people ranging all ages about their drug use. Findings indicated that for those who had tried marijuana at least once, only about 9% eventually fit a diagnosis of cannabis dependence. Alcohol, cocaine, heroin, and nicotine (in order from lowest to highest) all had a higher percentage of diagnosed dependence than marijuana (Wagner & Anthony,

Although marijuana use was decreasing in 1977, recent studies show differently today. According to an Article written Bridget M. Kuehn (2013), the opposite results are occurring with media’s positive portrayal of marijuana’s benefits ―do to debate on its medical uses. Marijuana use is now on the rise, with The National Institute on Drug Abuse reporting a steady claim since 2006 (p.429). Kuehn (2013) Writes, “20.6% of twelfth graders view[…] occasional use as harmful and only 44.1% see[…] regular use as harmful [the] … lowest level of marijuana harm perception among High School seniors since 1979” (p.429). What is the cause of this change in attitude? Some people feel that it is the media to blame.

According to the United Nations , 158.8 million people around the world use Marijuana which is 3.8 of the earth's population (Marijuana Statistics ). Marijuana's impact on users has changed over the years. Back in the 1960s, the potency of marijuana was nowhere near what it is today. Along with that, if users are caught, it affects those convicted more negatively. Additionally, marijuana today is being chemically altered leading to dangerous side effects for users. Therefore, Drugs are worse for teenagers today than in the 1960s due to the prescription pill epidemic,Ease of using drugs in school, and the effects drugs can have on a user's future today.

Some people like to call it marijuana, some people like to call it weed, and some people like to call it cannabis. But have you ever took the time to get to know about this drug? Marijuana has been introduced to the world all the way back to 2337 BC. At first the focus was on it’s power as a medication for people to use such as rheumatism, gout, malaria,