Persuasive Speech : Medical Marijuana

Attention Step: Imagine being a person who is in agonizing pain day after day and there was not one

Many medically ill patients experience agonizing pain everyday that they can not easily control with regular pain medicine, so what’s the next best thing? There have been many recent cases where medical patients have used medical marijuana for therapeutic uses and found that it had slowed the progression of their disease or helped cure it. Medical marijuana has started to become more popular with medical communities and researchers. Medical marijuana can affect many things in a positive way such as financial situations and social aspects, while having benefits on medical illnesses. Medical marijuana that does not contain the THC drug should be legalized in the United States because it would provide therapeutic benefits without making the user feel high.

    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 application process is very gruelling, time consuming, and many applicants are not approved. Two researchers of the University of Toronto did a study in which they investigated the reasons that people self medicate with marijuana, without it being legal for them to do so as a physician has not prescribed its use. “Compassion clubs outside the law play a vital role in the provision of safe access and therapeutic knowledge about medical marijuana” (Hathaway & Rossiter, 2007, p. 283). The authors investigate these clubs and the members’ experiences, and present the idea that compassion clubs are working illegally, but are providing social justice to people at need. Many people claim that marijuana is addictive and dangerous. In all of the research findings, there is not a single report of someone dying of a marijuana overdose. Many people self medicate with marijuana as it has a wide range of medical benefits. Some people use cannabis to help with ADD, Alzheimer’s disease, arthritis, depression, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, migraines, etc. (Lucas, P. 2012). Legalization would increase access to marijuana health information, and could provide safer regulation of the plant.

Chronic pain is a common symptom of diseases such as arthritis, fibromyalgia, nerve damage, and is characterized as pain lasting longer than twelve weeks where individuals will experience sharp or dull, causing a burning or aching sensation in the affected areas” and “steady or intermittent, coming and going without any apparent reason” (Cirino & Weatherspoon, 2016). Common management practices of chronic pain involve oral and topical medications, which include nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, acetaminophen, opioids, and antidepressants (American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, 2017). The Public Health Agency reports, “out of every 5 Canadians aged 20 years or older, 3 have a chronic disease and 4 are at risk of developing a chronic condition” (Betancourt, Roberts, Bennett, Driscoll, Jayaraman & Pelletier, 2014). Reported in Health Canada’s 2012 Canadian Alcohol and Drug Use Monitoring Survey report indicated of the 17.7% of Canadians who indicated they used cannabis for medical, 49.7% used for “chronic pain caused by conditions such as arthritis, back pain and migraines” (Health Canada, 2014). In recent years a number of studies have researched the potential benefits of marihuana an alternative to traditional western medical practices. Encouraging findings have found that marihuana use has “due to patients reporting significant pain relief and reduction in the use of other medications, including opioids” (Ko, Hendin, Mindra & Jung, 2016). Similarly a review of clinical research noted patients who used marihuana reported significant pain decreases, better sleep, and lessen stiffness (Jensen, Chen, Furnish& Wallace, 2015). Health Canada expects by the year 2024 over 300,000 Canadians will using marihuana for medical practices (Desjardins, 2014), thus, it is important that research continues to increase and ensure health practitioners are staying up to day

Chronic pain is intense suffering/agony that can persist between weeks to years. Currently, there are an estimated more than 3 million cases of chronic pain in the United States each year. That is where the Marijuana comes into play. An article on the JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association states the following for Marijuana being used for chronic pain as well as other medical problems,”Aside from nausea and appetite stimulation, indications for which there are 2 FDA-approved cannabinoids (dronabinol and nabilone), chronic pain, neuropathic pain, and spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis are the indications for medical marijuana supported by high-quality evidence”(Hill). As usual, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t state the drawbacks to using Marijuana to treat chronic pain. The same article states,”Medical marijuana and cannabinoids have significant potential health risks, such as addiction and worsening of psychiatric illnesses such as some anxiety disorders, mood disorders, psychotic disorders, and substance use disorders”(Hill). Currently, there are no ways to combatant these side

I attended a marijuana meeting on April 14, 2018, at Middlesex County College, located at 2600 Woodbridge Avenue, Edison, NJ 08837. Several different people were there at the assembly such as Chairman Joe Danielson, Vice-Chairman Eric Houghtaling, Assemblywoman Yvonne Lopez and Annette Quijano and Assemblyman Ronald Dancer and Brian Rumpf. One speaker that I found interesting who spoke on the marijuana debate was Linda Dorsey-Agudosi. She talked about how marijuana has helped her and how she benefited from it. She stated that she was in a car accident in 2008 and uses marijuana for her medication for chronic pain, she had two surgeries related to the car accident and ten other surgeries previously. “I live in chronic pain and every day is a

In today’s society, there are certain diseases that are debilitating and causing painful reactions to Americans throughout the United States. The patient with MS who cannot control the spasms created by their disease, the rheumatoid arthritis patient with pain so severe they cannot rest and nothing seems to be easing the pain. Then there is the AIDS patient who cannot eat, as they are so nauseated from the HIV medications that they are taking; these patients have just some of the disease scenarios that medicinal marijuana can help. Many people have long used marijuana for both medicinal and other purposes for many years. However, its modern use is a very controversial issue having both strong supporters as well as firm opponents. With

This paper will explain the importance of legalizing marijuana for medical use. There are many reasons as to why it should be legalized but here are a few. In fact, medical marijuana can help patients with medical conditions such as cancer, epilepsy, pain, and many more conditions. In comparison to helping patients with those conditions, medical marijuana has fewer side effects then the medication the doctors provide you with. Medical marijuana is also more affordable then the medication provided by doctors, therefore, more families could afford treatments for their own or their kids conditions. Although medical marijuana has many valid reasons to be legalized there are still people who disagree and think it should not be legalized. They say

Most people are physically conditioned with using opioids that it is becoming an ineffective treatment, thus causing misuse, taking higher doses than the prescribed quantity (Tina Rosenberg). Consequently, opioid abuse is killing thousands from an overdose. In 2015, opioids had killed “33,000 people” (Douglas Berman), whereas no overdose of cannabis has been reported (Igor Grant). Further, opioids ability to cause physical dependence and withdrawals surpass those of cannabis (Grant). In the latest national survey by Pew Research Center assembled those who supported legalizing marijuana and those who were opposed. In that survey, those that opposed, thirty percent concluded that cannabis was dangerous, addictive, and lead too many people to more drugs; when in fact, scientific evidence concludes that states with legalized medical marijuana witness fewer opiate deaths and use (Berman). This is because cannabis has the capabilities to lessen the necessity for high doses of opioids, thus causing opioids dependence and addiction to be limited (Carey Clark). The reason cannabis is such an effective treatment is due to its ability to connect with the body’s sensory system (Mark Torres). This connection allows cannabis to create obstructs of inflammation and prevent disease (Torres). Therefore, only a few drugs can compete with cannabis’ effectiveness which comes with hardly any side effects (Torres). During a research for the documentary “Weed”, the Figi family treated their five-year-old daughter with medical marijuana for Dravet’s Syndrome, which caused “seizures and severe developmental delays” (Welsh and Loria). The use of cannabis had “decreased her seizures from 300 a week to just one every seven days. Forty other children in the state are using the same strain of marijuana to treat their seizures and it seems to be working”

Marijuana can help patients with physical illnesses such as cancer, HIV, and AIDS, by reducing or relieving pain. Here is a study I found interesting that sheds some insight on the subject of marijuana and pain relief. “Abrams and his colleagues studied 21 chronic pain patients in the inpatient Clinical and Transitional Science Institute’s Clinical Research Center at SFGH: 10 on sustained-release morphine and 11 on

"Medical marijuana shows considerable promise in reducing chronic pain from a widespread number of causes, including cancer, spinal cord injury and disease, severe spasms, post-traumatic stress disorder, nausea, glaucoma, Parkinson’s and other debilitating ailments. The drug could prove useful in other applications if patients are allowed to use it (The Herald).” In the world, millions of people continue to be in constant pain or have medical problems that medicine cannot always solve. In the United States alone, thousands of people require relief for their pain or other medical problems. One of those people could be someone’s mother, father, sibling, significant other, or people of similar relation. That “miracle” could be closer than the world thinks. Medical marijuana has the capabilities to help relieve chronic pain, lower a cancer patient's nausea, or even help control mental issues such as ADD, (Attention Deficit Disorder), and it must become a medical option for people everywhere. Medical marijuana may be the answer the world is looking for.

Medical marijuana has become an extreme controversy for many different countries around the world. According to the National Conference of State Legislation, twenty nine states in the United States have legalized medical marijuana, (State) along with select countries around the world. Different regions of the world have varying views and laws for medical cannabis. Medical marijuana can drastically improve the quality of ill people’s lives, and ease pain that otherwise make daily life miserable. According to two well known professors at University of Salerno, cannabis has been used to relieve chronic pain, muscular cramps and neurological or spinal pains (Bifulco and Pisanti). Although medical marijuana’s purpose would be to alleviate pain, some are concerned that it could be a gateway drug, which means it could potentially lead people to become addicted to stronger substances.

Research has verified an inundating amount of marijuana benefits for patients who suffer from medical conditions in the United States. Studies which have been conducted have revealed that marijuana alleviated victualing disorders and astringent nausea and regurgitation accompanying chemotherapy, weight loss associated with HIV infection, AIDs and cancer, kineticism disorders including dystonia, Parkinson’s disease, and tics associated with Tourette’s syndrome, and seizures in patients with epilepsy.

One of the benefits of marijuana is its diverse medicinal uses. Doctors prescribe marijuana as an alternative drug for many types of cancer, AIDS, Alzheimer’s disease, arthritis, various breathing and gastrointestinal disorders, Tourette syndrome, and many more and more that are waiting for discovery as further research takes place. Patients use marijuana to alleviate symptoms such as general pains and discomforts, nausea, lack of appetite, and anxiety. The legalization of medical marijuana will help soothe the growing opiate crisis in the United States and the more local crisis here in South Jersey; medical marijuana is far less addictive than prescription painkillers that lead to the use of opiates. Most agree that legalizing marijuana for medicinal use is a necessity; the real controversy lies with the issue of legalizing it for recreational use. Legalizing marijuana has three standout benefits: the