Medical Marijuana Refugees

According to the United Nations, “158.8 million people around the world use marijuana—more than 3.8% of the planet’s population” (Marijuana). Marijuana has become a crucial topic throughout the world in recent years. Marijuana has been legalized medically throughout many countries, such as Australia, Chile, Spain, and Uruguay. Within the United States of America, twenty-eight states have legalized marijuana for medicinal use, the most recent legalization passed was in the state of Florida. Therefore, one can assert that medical marijuana is a controversial topic locally and globally. Medical marijuana portrays many advantages and disadvantages within society. Medical marijuana portrays many benefits to victims of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,

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

In addition, anecdotal evidence exists that marijuana is effective in the treatment of arthritis, migraine headaches, pruritis, menstrual cramps, alcohol and opiate addiction, and depression and other mood disorders. Marijuana could benefit as many as five million patients in the United States. However, except for the eight individuals given special permission by the federal government, marijuana remains illegal-even as medicine! Individuals currently suffering from any of the aforementioned ailments, for whom the standard legal medical alternatives have not been safe or effective, are left with two choices: Continue to suffer from the effects of the disease; or Obtain marijuana illegally and risk the potential consequences, which may include: an insufficient supply because of the prohibition-inflated price or unavailability; impure, contaminated, or chemically adulterated marijuana; arrests, fines, court costs, property forfeiture, incarceration, probation, and criminal records.

Hall & Degenhardt explain in this article how marijuana has caused adverse health effects on non-medical cannabis usage in the United States. This article observes how the younger generation has caused an epidemic in the high income countries. These two authors researched through the past 10 years that the young generation that use marijuana for non-medical reasons cause problems and obstacles in their adulthood. They used several studies and observed the fact of public health’s

Medical use of Marijuana is probably the most discussed topic of the legalizing campaign over the recent years. Some opponents of Marijuana say that it does not have any medical uses at all, and argue that Marijuana is only harmful and should remain illegal. Others for legalization have an opposite view that is starting to gain more recognition as time goes on. Around the late 1990’s, some members of the nation’s medical establishment began to acknowledge marijuana’s potential health benefits. One respected health organization, the Institute of Medicine, released a report in 1999 which stated that “nausea, appetite loss, pain and anxiety can all be mitigated by marijuana (Medical). In an article Drug Legalization, Advocates of medical marijuana say that in many cases it is the only treatment that has been shown to work. “It is a very effective medication for people who have failed to get good results from standard medications,” says Ethan Russo, a neurologist who has studied medical marijuana, “and that is why so many people are devoted to risking their lives and career to get this drug”(Drug). There are many reports that Marijuana can help with conditions traditional medicines do not seem to help with. Marijuana has also been a huge help to patients with Cancer, HIV/AIDS, Glaucoma, and Insomnia. With a lot of prescription medicines being expensive, Marijuana would be a cheaper alternative to buy if people chose to do so.

Medical marijuana has been proven to be a very curable substance. According to Donald Abrams (N.D), as referenced in Kim Ann Zimmermann (2015), “the idea that marijuana may have therapeutic effects is rooted in solid science. Marijuana contains 60 active ingredients known as cannabinoids. The body naturally makes its own form of cannabinoids to modulate pain” .This supports the idea that marijuana can help individuals medically. It can also be helpful for many who need its medical help .Many people will be having the chance to buy and use it if it gets legalized. Marijuana is not in reach of everyone because when individuals want to buy weed they need to get a doctor’s prescription or have an excuse and not everyone can fake an excuse or get a doctors prescription; as a result, many people cannot purchase it except illegally. As long as marijuana is not legalized many individuals won’t be able to use it. Zimmermann (2015) explains that the primary psychoactive cannabinoid in marijuana is THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol. THC is responsible for the psychological effects of marijuana. Moreover, the THC targets cb1 which is located in the brain, nervous system, liver, kidney and lungs the cb1 becomes active most of the time to relive pain (Kim Zimmerman, 2015). Many people call that process of reliving pain as getting “high”. In fact, most of the people who use marijuana use it to feel “high”. Because, when someone

    Many people suffer unbearable pain and discomfort from their illnesses and seek any method that might bring relief. Many suffer from chemotherapy treatment, HIV infection related wasting, glaucoma, or other serious ailments that carry an unbearable amount of pain. They first try the drugs that their doctors have prescribed. These prescribed legal drugs seem to have some benefits, but often carry with them many side effects that may be more harmful than helpful. Many patients give the legal drugs a try and find that they are not effective in relieving them of their symptoms. As a result, many turn to marijuana for its medicinal use. Because it is an effective treatment,

The topic of legalizing marijuana has been on the fore front of controversial issues ever since marijuana, cannabis, was brought into the United States from Mexico in the early 1920s. Twenty-four states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana use in the past two decades, however, only four of those states, Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington, have passed the law legalizing recreational marijuana use. Some states have already enacted laws that allowed for the possession of marijuana to such individuals that received a written prescription from their doctors. Federal law, however, has continued to prohibit doctors from writing patients a marijuana prescription, meaning

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.

Marijuana is a drug misunderstood by many nation wide however, most people do not consider it 's legitimate medicinal application. Medical marijuana defined by Drugfacts refers to the use of the whole unprocessed plant to treat a disease or illness. The Drug Enforcement Administration has listed it under the schedule I classification which is the same classification that heroin, LSD, ecstasy and many other drugs are under. The classification identifies the drug as a dangerous substance that has no recognized medicinal use as reported by the DEA. It 's classification as a highly regulated Schedule I drug makes it challenging to study its medical benefits. Due to this classification, marijuana is commonly regarded by the general public as possessing "no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse" (DEA.gov). The DEA has yet to acknowledge many conducted scientific studies that point to the very tangible medical benefits of cannabinoids (Voth and Schwartz 1997). The blockade on marijuana research has caused a severe halt in reaping the benefits of THC. The drug is a better alternative than many drugs given to patients as seen in some cases of neurological disorders such as epilepsy and chronic terminal conditions like cancer, because of its "analgesic, sedative, and anticonvulsant" properties (Abood, Sorensen, and Stella 2012). Marijuana can serve as both a viable treatment option and improves the quality of life through its pain relieving capacities. While

"The only way marijuana can kill you is if you take 25 pounds of it and you throw it out of a CIA drug plane and it hits you in the F@#%!N$ head. That's how you die from marijuana." -According to Joe Rogan, in "The Culture High". Americans consume 75% of the prescription drugs produced in the world, considering the United States is only about 5% of the population("What You Need To Know"). It seems that doctors in America are prescribing an excessive amount of pills to the American people, and many times when they don't need these pills. Many marijuana patients, on the other hand, have reported using fewer pharmaceuticals or no pharmaceuticals at all after starting a marijuana therapy program for headaches, nausea, bowel distress, muscle spasms, fibromyalgia, or chronic pain ("Patients Replace Prescription Drugs"). States that have already legalized medical marijuana have a 25% decrease in the opioid overdose mortality rate("What You Need To Know"). In 1899 when Bayer aspirin came out, marijuana was listed to cure over 100 diseases and was considered to be the best painkiller until prohibition in 1937, caused it to become illegal ("Marijuana Safer"). Aspirin has been around for now over 100 years and still kills over 500 people a year annually, which is incomparable to the over 5,000 years marijuana has been around with zero recorded deaths ("Marijuana Safer"). Marijuana listed side effects are paranoia, laughter, hunger, introspection,depression, creative impulse, tiredness, euphoria, and forgetfulness. Unfortunately, Aspirin side effects are too long to be stated. Before the prohibition in 1937 marijuana was considered one of the most effective and diverse medicines. After the start of prohibition, the United States government told public and private libraries to purge all their information on

First, from 1900 to 1940, marijuana, including opium and cocaine were considered part of everyday drugs. As time went on, the U.S. cracked down on crack and opium, eventually outlawing them, but continued to be very “loose” with the use of marijuana. Hoxter a weed smuggler explains how he began in the 1960’s trying weed and years later saw himself unloading four hundred pounds of pot in Vancouver. The story of this man ends in his isolation and argument of why he couldn’t smoke weed even if he stopped selling? He asked a parole officer and she didn’t know what to respond. It is true what Hoxter states, fifty years ago alcohol was illegal and now it’s not, was it bad then? Will weed be legalized? And will the conflicts have been in vain? (Schou 8). Around the late 90’s and early 2000’s, scientific studies started to produce jaw-dropping results. Scientists started to discover that marijuana can significantly help people who have become ill. Medical Marijuana has been tested to help people with cataracts, cancer and severe depression (Zeese 1999). With this new worldwide discovery, the argument about medical marijuana ignited. States wanted to only make medical marijuana legal so it may help sick people, but the government did not want any form of marijuana legal. The law that was known throughout the United States was any form of marijuana was illegal. But now with this new discovery, doctors in states across the country want the

Marijuana is a common drug that most people are familiar with. In some states, this drug has been used to ease one’s pain through medicinal forms or recreational use. This drug might be familiar to many people, but in the legal system this drug is considered illicit for recreational use in most of the United States. Jonathan Caulkins and Michael Lee make the claim that more states have legalized the use of

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,

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