Pro Medical Marijuana Essay

Between 1978 and 1996, 34 states passed laws recognizing marijuana's therapeutic value. Most recently, voters in two states -- Arizona and California -- passed laws allowing for the medical use of marijuana under a physician's supervision. Yet, states are severely limited in their ability to implement their medical use laws because of the federal prohibition of marijuana. America tried alcohol prohibition between 1919 and 1931, but discovered that the crime and violence associated with prohibition was more damaging

Imagine having a son or daughter who has six or more seizures a day. If you could could decrease the number of seizures they had a day by half, wouldn’t you consider medical marijuana? It is well known that medical cannabis has been used to cure many medical conditions for a long period of time already. Among the diseases marijuana can help treat, nausea, glaucoma, anorexia, epilepsy and more. Medical marijuana also helps with the side effects of many treatments, such as cancer chemotherapy. There are many health benefits of marijuana; it may have some negative effects, but the pain and symptom relief of many diseases and disorders makes it well worth it.

For decades America has associated marijuana with many things, and none of them ever any good. From the ‘60s with the hippie revolution, to today with criminals of all kinds, there have been numerous associations that are arguably unwarranted in this day and age. Why is it that we have such negative feelings about marijuana? In America today, the government considers it a Schedule I drug, meaning that it has a “high potential for abuse” and “no currently accepted medical use.” The problem with this classification clearly lies in the second half of its classification. Marijuana certainly has medicinal purposes, and humans have been using it for centuries to primarily treat chronic pain and a lack of appetite. It is hard to construct a

Background: The Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 established the federal prohibition of marijuana. Dr. William C. Woodward of the American Medical Association testified against the Act, arguing that it would ultimately prevent any medicinal use of marijuana. The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 established five categories, or "schedules," into which all illicit and

Marijuana, a substance that was used frequently during the colonial times, has taken a social downfall in recent times. Although it is still illegal to possess or use for any means by federal law, states like California and Arizona have taken steps in the other direction.

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.

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

One of the saddest things in North America is the lack of clinical trials on marijuana use. Many other countries in the world have already performed such tests in order to destroy myths about this drug, which has been in use for thousands of years... mainly for medicinal purposes.

California's Proposition 215 was the first statewide medical marijuana voter initiative adopted in the USA. The passing of Prop 215 by a 56% majority of California voters in November, 1996, resulted in the addition of The Compassionate Use Act to the California Health and Safety Code which reads as follows:

Marijuana is a drug that divides people. Some people claim it as the wonder drug of the '90s, capable of relieving the symptoms of many serious illnesses. Others curse the day the cannabis plant was ever discovered. From pain relief to stimulating the appetites of patients on chemotherapy, marijuana seems to have plenty going for it as a medicine. The legalization of marijuana is a large controversy in many parts of the world today, but the obvious negative effects that the drug induces has kept it from being legalized. Many researchers have a strong positive attitude towards marijuana. It has been said that the drug is “worth investigating and even providing as a medicine for pain relief, severe

The use of cannabis toward medicine should not be shocking to anyone, since it has been around for centuries. As a matter of fact, it has been under medicinal aid for an estimated 5,000 years. Western medicine truly grasped marijuana’s medicinal abilities in the 1850’s. Infact, doctors documented over one hundred papers about how marijuana helped numerous disorders, such as nausea, glaucoma, movement disorders, pain relief, depression, and anxiety. It also helps cancer patients and those with HIV or Aids. Currently, many American patients have access to marijuana use so that they can have effective treatments for their illnesses. Medical marijuana use is achievable because

Is it possible for an illegal drug to be deemed legal for medical purposes? Well for an illegal drug like marijuana, that is the question. There are currently many people who use marijuana legally to suppress their illness. Marijuana should be allowed for medicinal purposes.

Marijuana, also known as weed, hemp, cannabis, pot, herb, grass, etc., is the most common illegal drug in the United States. Marijuana is also known to be a gateway drug because it can lead people to do more serious drugs. Marijuana is a dried plant often smoked like a cigarette or in a bong or pipe.

The Government proclaims there is no therapeutic value in the medicinal use of marijuana, but they do not have hard evidence to prove it (Grinspoon 46). Ira Glasser, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, (at a congressional forum) expressed: “the government has demonized all drug use without differentiation and has systematically and hysterically resisted science.”(Koch 714) Possibly if the two “sides” would work together an agreement could be established concerning procedures for further development and treatment. Marijuana has eased the pain of chemotherapy, severe muscle spasms caused by multiple sclerosis, weight-loss due to the AIDS virus, and other problems (www.abcnews.go.com/medmj990317.html).

For example, marijuana is used for glaucoma and AIDS patients either as a pain–killer or to ease the appetite of their patients. According to Rudolph J. Gerber‘s book, Legalizing Marijuana: Drug Policy Reform and Prohibition Politics, “many AIDS patients with treatment-induced nausea, appetite loss, and wasting syndrome claim that marijuana saved their lives by motivating them to eat” (Gerber 82). This argument is true; however, marijuana can cause side effects like “addiction, cancer, damages to the body’s respiratory, immune, and reproductive systems, and it can also affect the short-term memory (Marshall)” of those patients that are being recommended to take it for their treatment. For instance, David Murray, the special assistant to the director of the National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), said, “People feel good after they take it, but they don’t get better.” Therefore, according to Murray, medical marijuana might help ease pain or appetite, but it does not necessary mean that it will cure or save that patient from its disease.