Medical Marijuana Essay

The legalization of the drug marijuana is a hot topic nowadays. Many people want this substance to be legalized and regularly available like cigarettes. But what some people do not know are the serious health risks involved when using marijuana. There is a lot more to marijuana than just smoking it.

With marijuana being a very popular drug, it is not a harmful drug. Marijuana is used by many people all around the world. The percentage of people who smoke has increased by a significantly large amount. “Ever since marijuana has been known to mankind, not one single account of death

Marijuana has been seen more as a recreational drug and not a hard-core drug which is why most people do not see it as a high- risk drug or to have longing effects on a person or the body itself. Since the 20th century, marijuana has been prescribed by doctors for use to deal with glaucoma and cancer. Being that it is legal for medical use but illegal to use on a federal government level will and has always set off two different sides of legalizing or not legalizing marijuana. Marijuana cannot and should not be in categories with drugs that can kill because there are no studies of marijuana killing a person.

Joycelyn Elders, former Surgeon General, once spoke about the legalization of marijuana for medical use in a press conference. "It's criminal to keep this medicine from patients," she said (Silverman, 1995, pg. 2). She received criticism not only from many citizens of the United States, but also strong criticism from the President who appointed her. The legalization of marijuana for medical use has always been a sharply debated subject, and many of the debaters are uneducated about the effects of using this illegal drug for therapeutic use. Many studies have been done and the results are clear. As a medical drug, marijuana should be available to patients who do not adequately respond to currently available

Marijuana has been deeply studied in the past few decades and has shown scientist many things that weren’t evident before. Marijuana has been linked to many health issues good and bad. It has shown to reduce stress and anxiety, help with headaches, lower blood pressure and one of the most evident and positive health affects is that it has been shown in many studies to stop and even kill cancer cells in the body. There are however negative effects that have been looked into and studied by scientist. These include, blocking memory formation, psychosis, and an increased risk of depression while using marijuana regularly. Not everything revolving around marijuana is a “health issue” though, the biggest reason that people use marijuana today is because it simply makes people feel good. That is a positive effect.

marijuana is not considered as dangerous as other substances. In fact some states are even

"There are no recorded cases of overdose fatalities attributed to cannabis, and the estimated lethal dose for humans extrapolated from animal studies is so high that it cannot be achieved," stated in a 1995 report prepared by the World Health Organization. (Medical Marijuana Mall USA, 2013). Medical marijuana is safer than prescription drugs, alcohol, and spice.

In Carrie Shortsleeve’s article, “The Truth About Medical Marijuana”, she is writing to those who are curious about the use of marijuana for medical purposes. Doctors and Scientists everywhere have been studying the use of marijuana for years and question the medical use of it every day. Some doctors and scientists are ready for it to be legalized in their states so that they can administer the drug as soon as tomorrow. While others are 100 percent against the use of marijuana in the medical environment. In her article, Carrie Shortsleeve interviews different doctors and professors to see what their opinions or thoughts may be on the use of medical marijuana. She goes into great detail using facts and statistics on both the positive and negative uses of the drug. The motivation behind Carrie’s article is to find out answers to the questions that we all ask ourselves every day, “Is marijuana safe to use in medical terms?”, “How do you know how much to administer a patient?”, “Will it be legalized in every state?” etc. There are many ways in which medical marijuana can be used to help you, but there are also many ways where it can do more harm than good.

Other proponents of cannabis claim that it’s not as dangerous as alcohol, and that it’s a peaceful drug: It has a calming and relaxing effect that must be associated with decreased anxiety. A new study highlights the drug’s potential anxiety relief effects. Alcohol kills 26,729 each year. The total deaths from marijuana annually is 0, so marijuana is safer than alcohol.

The drug marijuana in general, is not more harmful than alcohol or other legal drugs such

Marijuana does not have the deadly effect like overdosed or misused prescription drugs. So far, there have been no recorded deaths from overdosing on marijuana, but

First of all, the classification of cannabis is completely inaccurate. Schedule I classification describes a substance or chemical, as a drug with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. Research has shown that it supports cancer patients and many other terminally ill patients. Cannabis, even when consumed recreationally, has never been linked to any deaths, and when you compare it to alcohol and tobacco, both of which are legal, cannabis is completely harmless.

"Marijuana is one of the least toxic substances in the whole pharmacopoeia," according to Dr. Lester Grinspoon, Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Cancer, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, emphysema, and many others patients could have their quality of life improved with the help of marijuana (Institute of Medical Marijuana).

Within today’s society, Cannabis is seen as a harmful substance of such negative controversy. Marijuana is a very prominent and controversial issue in society today. Despite many malicious allegations have been made regarding marijuana today, the truth of what marijuana’s real dangers are are beginning to come about again. Sadly, these facts have been held under considerable judgement because of what people stereotype a pot smoker as. This has been brought under heavy criticism due to the stereotypical view of what people view as the typical “pot smoker.” This image society has of a lazy and unambitious America has all been the result of almost one hundred years of false propaganda and stereotypes gossiped by certain private individuals trying to keep weed illegal for their own personal benefit.

Cannabis, better known as, weed, pot, or marijuana has been used for medical purposes for the better part of human history. The most active and well known compound in cannabis is Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) which causes the main psychedelic effects of marijuana. The little known chemical that is the most used in treating illnesses is Cannabidiol (CBD)only containing about 10% of psychoactive properties found in weed. Although their are hundreds of natural compounds in cannabis these are the most prominent. There are many different stigmas that many people are confused about but never take the time to actually find out details and statistics of what is fact versus fiction.