Persuasive Essay On Medical Marijuana

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 become one of the most controversial drugs used today and in the past. Many claim fame to the medicinal purposes of marijuana as to why the drug should be legalized. Today the effects of marijuana use are more known. According to Carroll (2000), marijuana contains 50 percent more cancer causing hydrocarbons than cigarettes. Blood pressure is affected by the use along with sexual function. The abuse of marijuana is one from the past and continues to be a trend in today’s time. An epidemic of marijuana smoking began by 1935, which caused laws to be enacted against the use of marijuana not for medical use.

Firstly, there are no documented deaths due to medical marijuana overdose. Actually, quite the opposite. Now that 23 states have legalized medical marijuana, there has been about a 25% reduction in opioid-related deaths (this includes medications such as: hydrocodone, fentanyl, morphine, methadone, etc.). However, prescription opioids on the other hand, are responsible for approximately 45 deaths per day. Prescription overdoses cause more deaths in the United States than heroin and cocaine put together. This has become a prescription drug “epidemic” says the CDC (Duke, 2015). Therefore, opting for medical marijuana in place of opioids could greatly reduce your chances of accidental death attributed to overdose. Another extremely

The legalization of marijuana has been an argument for over 70 years. Even though voters helped to legalize the drug in Colorado and Washington, it’s still legal for the rest of the United States. There are many pros and cons for marijuana

When comparing the safety of marijuana and opioid painkillers like so many professional athletes use, it is no contest. From the drug problems that plagued Ryan Leaf’s entire playing career dating back to college to Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre’s stint in rehab, opioids have caused addiction and abuse by professional athletes (Thiersch 5). The abuse often leads to overdosing on the pain killers. Marijuana would help decrease the number of opioid users and in result, decrease the number of those who die from overdose. In 2010, over 16,000 people died due to overdosing on painkillers (Freeman 38). However, there are no deaths reported annually from marijuana usage. A smoker would theoretically have to consume nearly 1,500 pounds of marijuana within about fifteen minutes to overdose (Wing 4).

Studies have proven that marijuana is no more harmful to a person’s health than alcohol or tobacco. Every year, tobacco kills roughly 390,000 people, alcohol contributes to 80,000 deaths in America and marijuana contributed to 0; no deaths from marijuana have ever been recorded in US history (Abovetheinfluence.org). When smoking tobacco, the user inhales tar, nicotine, carbon monoxide, and 200 other known poisons into the lungs (Abovetheinfluence.org). All forms of tobacco, including cigars, pipe tobacco, snuff, and chewing tobacco, contain the addictive drug nicotine, and can also cause cancer. Alcohol alters a person's perceptions, emotions, movement, vision, and hearing. Alcohol plays a role in at least 50 percent of traffic deaths, about half of murders, and about 25 percent of suicides (Abovetheinfluence.org). Marijuana side effects include delusions, impaired memory, hallucinations and disorientation, which are no different from the side effects of alcohol alone.

"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.

Marijuana smoke is a complex mixture that has many chemical components and biological effects similar to tobacco smoke. However, it also contains some different ingredients. This suggests the strong possibility that marijuana, like tobacco, could lead to lung cancer, or create respiratory distress. ?Smoking marijuana also causes changes in the heart and circulation that are characteristic of stress? states Morgan (5). Current evidence has shown marijuana also causes some chemical changes in the brain. After exposure to this drug, there have been reports of effects on brain electrical activity in human beings and in animals. Marijuana also has been found to produce an acute brain syndrome. ?This is a more severe mental problem consisting of confusion and loss of contact with reality? stated Berger (8). The main reason that the United States Drug Enforcement Agency doesn't want marijuana use to be legalized is because there is no evidence to date that proves that marijuana is an effective drug when used for medicinal purposes. Scientists have researched this drug for twenty years and have yet to produce reliable scientific proof that marijuana has medical value. New findings show that marijuana is acutely harmful to AIDS and cancer patients because the active ingredient in marijuana acutely reduces the white blood cells that fight off infection. The United States Drug Enforcement Agency agrees with police departments that if marijuana use is legalized, crime could

Some even have dangerous side effects such as heart attack or stroke. Marijuana can treat a lot of the same symptoms of ailments, but without all the harsh side effects of other prescription medications. Medicines and therapies like ones used to treat cancer can have adverse effects such as lack of appetite, nausea, pain, weakened immune systems, and many others that can cause the patient a great deal of harm, which, in some cases, results in the patient being prescribed even more harmful drugs to help them deal with the symptoms of their original medication. Marijuana can help treat the effects of the medicines and therapies, as well as replace some of them, because it can treat what the medicine treats just as well, and in some cases, better. (Gieringer & Rosenthal 2008) A lot of these prescription drugs can be addictive, too. For example, a patient has chronic back pain, goes to the doctor and gets prescribed Vicodin, Percocet, or maybe even Oxycontin. All three of those widely-prescribed pain relievers have very high addiction potential. Marijuana, although it has somewhat of an addiction potential as well, can treat pain just as well, if not better than these drugs. The correct strain of marijuana just needs to be prescribed. Marijuana’s addiction potential mainly comes from people who have a psychological dependence to the high that abusing marijuana can give. This can cause the user to feel dependent on the high, and feel addicted to marijuana, or even move on to bigger, more dangerous drugs to chase the high. As long as the patient uses the marijuana correctly, this can be avoided. Most marijuana users have no addiction potential at all, and have no withdrawal if they all of a sudden quit taking

But only 9 percent of marijuana users develop a dependence” (Boffey). Even still, of those 9 percent that develop a dependence, marijuana addiction is dissimilar to that of heroin, alcohol, or nicotine, from which withdrawal is often an extremely painful, physical experience. In addition, the long-held belief that marijuana is a gateway drug has been debunked, and even quietly removed from D.A.R.E’s list of gateway drugs. As far as medical research is concerned, the clear consensus is that marijuana use is less harmful to human health than most other banned drugs. While tobacco causes cancer, and alcohol abuse can lead to cirrhosis, there is no clear causal connection between marijuana use and any deadly diseases. Furthermore, it is less dangerous than highly addictive but legal substances like alcohol and tobacco. Marijuana use cannot, in and of itself, lead to fatal overdoses, and there is little evidence that it causes cancer. Like tobacco and alcohol, public policy concerns support the notion that it should be kept out of the hands of minors. The downsides to marijuana use are less compelling as reasons to foist criminal penalties on its possession, especially not in a society that allows nicotine use and celebrates

There are currently insufficient data to determine whether occasional or chronic marijuana use influences seizure frequency. Some evidence suggests that marijuana and its active cannabinoids have antiepileptic effects, but these may be specific to partial or tonic–clonic seizures. In some animal models, marijuana or its constituents can lower the seizure threshold. Preliminary, uncontrolled clinical studies suggest that cannabidiol may have antiepileptic effects in humans. Marijuana use can transiently impair short‐term memory, and like alcohol use, may increase noncompliance with AEDs. Marijuana use or withdrawal could potentially trigger seizures in susceptible

Lester Grinspoon, M.D., the Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School states that although cannabis is not entirely harmless, it is a safe drug. He also says that it is less toxic than the other conventional drugs that it would replace if it were legalized. In the history of its use it has never caused an overdose death. Cannabis would be one of the least toxic and addictive medicines in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia if rescheduled and legalized for medical use. Patients would not have to deal with the anxiety and expense that they deal with now. Cannabis would be at least 100 times less expensive than current medicines that perform the same treatment. Dr. Grinspoon also states that the most serious concern would be respiratory damage from smoking. The particulate matter in the smoke could be separated from the active ingredients, the cannabinoids to reduce the risk. Prohibition has prevented this technology from happening (Lester Grinspoon, 1997).

Is cannabis dangerous? This particular issue has been discussed, contemplated, and argued in several settings throughout our country’s history, but it is a particularly prominent issue in today’s society. Many individuals have their own opinions on marijuana, whether it be positive or negative, but an objective perspective is necessary to justly weigh the benefits and detriments of marijuana use and legalization. When an unbiased person analyzes the controversial topic of cannabis, he or she would realize that the substance does not plainly fall into a single category. There is ample, scientific proof that marijuana has numerous medicinal purposes, such as treating glaucoma and different seizure disorders. However, there is equivalent

"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).

Many studies have shown that the “more marijuana one uses, the more likely one has the risk of developing head and neck cancer” (Giannasio). This is why marijuana is as harmful as tobacco because the more one consumes it for medical uses or even just as an escape from reality then, the bigger the chance that person will develop head or neck cancer. In addition, “it has been proven that a smoke of marijuana “contains 50%