In 1969, when Richard Nixon was president, he was looking for a way to consolidate existing federal drug control laws into one powerful federal statute to better control what many felt was a growing problem, which was the rapid increase of drugs (Haerens & Zott 19). By 1970, they produced the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act, and it finally went into effect on May 1, 1971. This act divided substances into categories based on their medical use and potential for addiction; marijuana was classified as a Schedule 1 drug, meaning that it is labeled as carrying a high potential for abuse, without currently accepted medical use in the United States, and/or lacking accepted safe use even with medical supervision (Gillard 15). Since …show more content…
In short, medical marijuana is just marijuana being used for medical purposes. However, Heather Griffiths, who has a PhD in philosophy from the University of Delaware and has worked as a survey administrator at the university’s Center for Drug and Alcohol Studies, defines medical marijuana as “…the medically controlled use of marijuana or tetrahydrocannabinol (THC, the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana) by patients seeking a means to address medical problems including nausea, vomiting, weight loss, multiple sclerosis, asthma, inflammation, glaucoma, poor appetite, spasticity, chronic pain, and acute pain” (Griffiths 11). The one question that has circled the globe is, should medical marijuana be legalized? Right now, medical marijuana is legal in 28 states out of the 50 states. However, I believe medical marijuana should be legal in all 50 states because it helps with multiple medical conditions. Although there are people who oppose this idea because of their differing opinions, there are more people who are for …show more content…
I will give 2 examples of opposing arguments, and then give my rebuttal to their argument. One of the first examples is that opposers of legalizing medical marijuana try to argue that marijuana is much more harmful than alcohol. These opposers main argument is simply that, “Compared to alcohol, marijuana is not safe” (Stimson 25). Alcohol is different from marijuana in many ways and opposers use these ways to argue their point. Marijuana is known to be more likely to cause addiction for an individual, be consumed to the point of intoxication, have no known general healthful properties, and is toxic/deleterious to an individual’s health (Stimson 28). Alcohol can also be seen as having fewer health risks when it comes to long-term consumption and it seems that it actually offers some health benefits. However, long term consumption of marijuana has an effect on the T-cells in our lungs and impairs short-term memory along with other things, and has toxic properties, which can lead to birth defects, pain, respiratory system damage, brain damage, and stroke (Stimson 29). Although this makes legalizing medical marijuana sound like a bad idea, there is an argument for
Medical marijuana is a distinctly looking plant that is grown around the world and can be used medically. Medical marijuana is when “the whole, unprocessed marijuana plant or its basic extracts to treat symptoms of illness and other conditions” (Abuse). Marijuana plants can grow to be anywhere from twelve inches to eight feet tall, they have five leaves, and are a flowering plant. The plant is very hardy allowing it to be grown in numerous place around the world.
The use of medical marijuana (slang: Acapulco gold, ace, bhang, cannabis, hash, dope, ganja, grass, weed, hashish oil, hemp, home-grown, honey oil, indica, Jamaican roach, sativa, sinse, sinsemilla, tea, weed oil) has a been a major topic of debate for countless years. People all around the United States have seen propaganda of some sort regarding the legalization of marijuana. For example, with the ongoing discussion of legalization throughout the states, it’s abruptly mentioned in the news, everyday conversations, school topics for debate, and within stories of social media. In the article, “Is marijuana prohibition coming to an end”, Michelle Johnson a North Carolina journalist, states “Legalizing marijuana for a medical or recreational
When President Nixon took office in 1969 he saw it as a god given opportunity for him to take charge of the country. A rise in drug trafficking and abuse in the 60’s led Nixon to administer the Controlled Substance Act. An act that set to label the addictiveness and medical purpose of drugs by 5 Schedules. Schedule one being the most addictive with no medical purpose and schedule five being less addictive with medicinal purposes. In 1973 He created the Drug Enforcement Administration or DEA, agents who enforced drug related laws and executed the punishments. The DEA also works to stop the trafficking of and distribution of drugs.
Marijuana has been used for medicinal purposes for a long time now, its origins date back 5,000 years. Medical marijuana refers to the use of marijuana to treat a variety of health conditions. Marijuana, for medical purposes is seeing increasing coverage in the media. Chief Research Officer, Kymron DeCesare from Steep Hill Labs
Before 1937, marijuana was freely bought, sold, grown, and smoked in the United States. Since that time, all of these activities have been illegal, but many groups and individuals have fought to decriminalize marijuana. The congressional decision to classify marijuana as a Schedule I drug in 1970 has made the legalization campaign more difficult, since it officially established marijuana as a dangerous, addictive drug with no medicinal benefits.
The history of drug use dates back for thousands of years with diverse purposes throughout humanity. According to Levinthal (2012), the drug-taking behavior gained federal awareness in the early 1900s, due to the lack of drug control regulations. Moreover, Levinthal (2012) mentions four major drug control laws which were established, including: (1) The Harrison Narcotic Act 1914, (2) The Marijuana Tax Act 1937, (3) The Boggs Act 1951, and (4) The Controlled Substance Act 1970. The drug control laws formed help regulate importation, manufacture, selling, or distribution of drugs within the United States (Levinthal, 2012).
“In the 1960s, as drugs became symbols of youthful rebellion, social upheaval, and political dissent, the government halted scientific research to evaluate their medical safety and efficacy” (Drugpolicy). Therefore political action was taken to reduce the drug presence that swept the nation. President Nixon declared a “war on drugs.” This created a new policies such as no-knock warrants as well as mandatory sentencing. Nixon also increased the size and the amount of federal drug agencies nationwide. Mandatory sentencing where judges would have less discretion and therefore guides were made. This concept is often times called, “the one shoe fits all” which shows how everyone will get punished with the same amount of years creating a concise sentence. According to Drugpolicy.org, Nixon placed marijuana as a Schedule One drug, which made it one of the most restrictive drugs due to this category. Other drugs that are considered class ones are, LSD, Heroin, and
The use of medical marijuana is a controversial topic because many find it beneficial as others find the usage to be recreational. Many people may find that the usage of medical marijuana may eventually be over prescribed. The use of medical marijuana has increased over the years for treatments to multiple diseases and conditions, but it was not always this way. Although it has been dated to early years, there were periods of times where medical marijuana was illegal. In my opinion, I think treating patients whom are
Legalizing marijuana is crucial to the medical field because many patients cannot use this marvelous plant to relieve their pain. This plant can help patients with multiple sclerosis, nausea from cancer chemotherapy, HIV, nerve pain, and seizure disorders. Many patients must go behind the doctors back and consume cannabis or give it to a loved one to relieve their pain. Only twenty-nine states have allowed the use of medical marijuana. Furthermore, that means that twenty-two states do not allow the usage of any form of Cannabis. Marijuana should be an all-around legal
Medical Marijuana Marijuana is medicine. It has been used for thousands of years to treat a wide variety of ailments. Marijuana (Cannabis sativa L.) was legal in the United States for all purposes - industrial and recreational, as well as medicinal until 1937. Today, only eight Americans are legally allowed to use marijuana as medicine. NORML is working to restore marijuana's availability as medicine.
Medical marijuana has been a very controversial issue nationwide. Many speculate that marijuana is a harmful drug. When in reality marijuana is a medicine, which has been proven be doctors and researchers, especially in small countries. Marijuana help those who use it with chronic pains and illnesses. Medical marijuana is helpful to individuals with severe chronic pain and comes from a natural growing plant. Marijuana should be a medical option because the benefits of marijuana greatly overwhelm those that oppose to the drug.
Medical Marijuana is any part of the plant that you use to treat health problems. People use it to get relief from their symptoms, not to get high. Most marijuana that’s sold legally as medicine has the same ingredients as the kind that people use for pleasure. But some medical pot is specifically grown to have less of the chemicals that cause feelings of euphoria. Marijuana plants have hundreds of chemicals, known as cannabinoids. The two main ones are THC and CBD.
Cannabis is the most hated but yet very beneficial drug in the world. The United States has had strict laws against the use and distribution of marijuana since 1937. (The Union, Brett Harvey) Federal and state laws on medicinal marijuana are very different from each other. Cannabis has a lot of health benefits, this is the reason California was the first state to legalize it for medicinal purposes. (How weed won the west, Kevin Booth) People in America have been getting arrested for the use and possession of marijuana since it was outlawed. Charlie Lynch was one of those people in 2008. (Lynching Charlie Lynch, Rick Ray) I believe medical marijuana should be a legally taxed substance in the United States.
The term medical marijuana refers to the use of the whole unprocessed marijuana plant to treat a symptom or disease. Researchers believe the use of medical
Medical cannabis, or medical marijuana, is cannabis and cannabinoids that are counseled by doctors for his or her patients. the employment of cannabis as a drugs has not been strictly tested attributable to production restrictions and other governmental rules. restricted proof suggests cannabis can: scale back nausea and vomiting throughout therapy, improve appetite in folks with HIV/AIDS, and scale back chronic pain and muscle spasms.