To Some people, it’s a relaxing herb, something to temporarily pull the mind from reality. The aroma is unmistakable, the potency various, and there are roughly sixty five million people smoking it. I’m talking about Cannabis Sativa, the illegal strain of hemp known as marijuana. This plant provides many medical benefits that far outweigh the side effects. It has yet to be proven to be addictive or deadly. Marijuana as it stands right now is an illegal narcotic, but I think the drug, with it’s physical, psychological, spiritual, but most importantly, medical benefits, should be legalized. Marijuana is one of the oldest cultivated plants. (Nahas,1986) The first people to introduce the potential healing properties of marijuana were the …show more content…
Since then, marijuana has undergone many tests and thorough analysis for its use as a medical value. The NIH (National Institute of Health) is one of the many advocates for medicinal marijuana. They claim that marijuana may be helpful in the alleviation of chemotherapy, to reduce nausea and enable the patients to eat. The drug also helps in the stimulation of appetite and reduction of the loss of lean muscle mass in AIDS patients. These AIDS victims also find that the drug also helps with the “wasting syndrome” that often characterizes the terminal illness. It has also been proven it can prevent epileptic seizures.(Potter, 1998) In addition, marijuana aids in the reduction of interlobular fluid pressure in the eyes caused by glaucoma, which can causes serious damage to vision, and in some cases can lead to blindness. Migraine sufferers have found relief form their headaches, and victims of spinal injuries and multiple sclerosis reported that marijuana controlled their spasms.(Randall, 1998) Pro marijuana legalization groups such as the Physicians Association for AIDS Care and the National Lymphoma Foundation argue that marijuana should only be used to treat terminally ill patients. (Mack, 2001) Among those patients are the AIDS victims who find that marijuana stimulates their appetites so they can fight off dangerous emaciation, and cancer patients for whom the drug alleviates
Marijuana has been around for hundreds and thousands of years and has been used in numerous
Marijuana is no longer used just to achieve euphoria or by hippies to show rebellion against the United States authorities. In today’s world you do not need a lava lamp and a van down by the river, you can now receive marijuana from doctors. The medicinal use of marijuana is fairly new in the U.S. One of the most common diseases medical marijuana patients suffer from is glaucoma. Although it is now legal, recent studies show hemp may not be the answer for glaucoma patients. The benefits of marijuana’s use for glaucoma treatment has not proven to outweigh its risks.
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,
Other states have legalized the drug for both medicinal and recreational use. The use of marijuana dates back many, many years ago as early as 2900 BC when a Chinese Emperor referenced the drug as one that possessed both yin and yang. The drug was recognized for its medicinal uses in 2700 BC when the Chinese Emperor Shen Nung discovered healing properties linked to the drug (“Medical Marijuana Historical Timeline” para. 1). Today the drug has been credited as a major benefit to patients suffering from diseases such as AIDS, cancer, and multiple sclerosis alleviating them from excruciating pain associated with the diseases.
Marijuana has been used for many millennia with some of the earliest mentions dating back to 2700 BCE in China. It has “long been considered valuable as an analgesic, an anesthetic, an antidepressant, an antibiotic, and a sedative”, it has also been “administered internally to treat gonorrhea and angina pectoris” (Abdullah). Also, unlike many other drugs, “chronic use does not establish a physical dependence, nor does the regular user suffer extreme physical discomfort after withdrawal” (Abdullah).
Marijuana has survived the passing of time and still helps the sick today. The advanced stages of treatment for patients with Cancer, AIDS and other diseases often include, terrible nausea, vomiting, and different types of pain. Patients have reported much relief from
The earliest use of medical marijuana came from ancient China. In 2737 BC, the Chinese emperor, Shennog, wrote a book that included cannabis (marijuana) as a treatment for many conditions. He thought cannabis was helpful for constipation, gout and rheumatism. In the same way, researchers found a second century ancient Egyptian text called the Fayyum Medical Papyrus that is believed to contain the earliest record of using cannabis as a treatment for tumors. Lastly, the ancient Greeks used cannabis to dress wounds and sores on their horses after battle. They also gave it to humans for ear pain and inflammation. The use of cannabis as medicine dispersed throughout Asia, the eastern coast of Africa, Middle east and finally to America.
studied, marijuana has proven to be effective for many difference health conditions and is leading the
The argument for medical marijuana legalization has been one of the controversial debates that have raised heated discussions in many conferences worldwide. Therefore, this essay will provide a consistent and comprehensive argument to support the position that medical marijuana should be legalized. In this essay, the stand will focus on the fundamental aspects behind treatment. In addition, it will present evidence for how marijuana treatment provides heaps of benefits for terminally ill patients as well as pain relief options for others. As if so, this essay corroborates that legalization will allow substance controls and regulations, in turn, minimizing the chances for abuse or addiction.
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.
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
Marijuana has a long medical history, ranging from its anecdotal use in ancient times, through medical prescribing in the 19th and early 20th centuries to modern. "The first record of cannabis as a medicine can be found in the oldest Chinese pharmacopeia, Shen Nag Ben Cao Jing, written in the Eastern Han Dynasty (25 AD to 220 AD). It was indicated for rheumatic pain, malaria, constipation, and disorders of the female reproductive system" (Greenwell, 2012, Vol. 26 Issue 1). Pain is one of the most common reasons that medical cannabis is recommended. "Scientists have long known that tetrahydracannabinol (THC), the active ingredient in marijuana, is an effective pain killer" (Mcdonagh, 2003). Studies of medical marijuana show significant
Some people like to call it marijuana, some people like to call it weed, and some people like to call it cannabis. But have you ever took the time to get to know about this drug? Marijuana has been introduced to the world all the way back to 2337 BC. At first the focus was on it’s power as a medication for people to use such as rheumatism, gout, malaria,
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
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.