...The Benefits of Legalizing Medical Marijuana There has been much discussion recently regarding the use and legalization of medical marijuana. In the United states, the use of medical marijuana is regulated under federal law. As of April 2015, 23 states have legalized cannabis for medical and therapeutic uses. However, there are important legal differences between medical marijuana at the federal and state levels. At a federal level, marijuana is classified as a Scheduled 1 substance under the Controlled Substance Act. Prior to 2009 state laws did not supersede federal laws, meaning the criminalization of medical marijuana was still possible under federal prosecution (S. Davison, J. Davison, 2011, p. 773-774). In 2009 Attorney General Eric...
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...Medical Marijuana Should Be Legal, the Benefits Outweigh the Risks Kathleen Shanks Professor Shultz Composition II - 56 March 15, 2015 The cry being heard throughout small-town America, “Medical marijuana should be legal, the benefits outweigh the risks!” Medical marijuana is a very touchy subject. Some people think it should stay illegal because of it being labeled as a non-beneficial street drug. Many states have already decided that the people of their state should have the benefits associated with the use of medical marijuana, Colorado, to name one, has worked it out so that there are laws regulating the growing, sales and consumption of this product. Other states are looking into the possibility of following suite with Colorado. There is a great amount of revenue to be made from growing and legal sales for medicinal use. They are also looking into the medical benefits to people with any number of illnesses. Some people claim that it is a “gateway” drug. Some claim it will ruin the economics of their town or county or even state, by not having the revenue created by those who break the law by selling, buying or using; if it is made legal. There are not enough people looking into the economic factor of being paid to grow so many plants per person being treated. After being a person who lost a loved one to cancer, it is easy to see where the use of medical marijuana could have helped that individual through what must have been the worst period of a life time. My father...
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...“Weed makes me fly wid out visa”, are words from a popular song by the renowned dance hall artist Adijah Palmer. This is typical of the messages that are conveyed through the lyrics of many popular Jamaican songs today, but is this the most rewarding use of marijuana? Would the development of a medical marijuana industry prove more beneficial to Jamaica? Would the decriminalization of marijuana in order for such an industry to be enacted be economically viable? Other questions to ask ourselves are, what is Decriminalization and how would decriminalization of marijuana help with enacting a medical marijuana industry? According to the Merriam-Webster decriminalization means “to remove or reduce the criminal classification or status of; especially: to repeal a strict ban on while keeping under some form of regulation”. Marijuana currently is a banned drug in Jamaica and for Jamaica to develop a medical marijuana industry which would therefore means large scale production of the drug for scientific research and medicine production. The drug would have to be legalized on a certain level to facilitate such. Note in the above definition for decriminalization it made mention of the drug being kept under some form of regulation which for this research basically means certain punitive usage of the drug would still be rendered as illegal. The scope of this research paper will cover areas such as, the economic state of the country and its ability to facilitate and withstand such an industry...
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...How effective is the use of medical marijuana? Can the treatments benefits outweigh the risks? In recent years the debate over the use of medical marihuana increased rapidly. Whereas a patient suffering from chronic pain in California can easily get a doctor’s prescription for medical cannabis, the German patient suffering from the very same symptoms would not be allowed to treat his ache with marijuana, which is the most common name for the hemp plant, or Cannabis sativa. Cannabis can be classified as one of the oldest drugs known to humanity. Its history dates back until the Neolithic times in China about 6,000 years ago. From there, the plant spread to India and the Middle East where it widely served as an analgesic, anticonvulsant, antispasmodic, antiemetic and hypnotic (Hall &Degenhardt, 2003). Moreover the hemp was reported to be a successful appetite stimulant as well as effective in treating a number of disorders, including tetanus, neuralgia, asthma and migraine as well as in alcohol and opium addiction and in the treatment of mental illnesses (McKim& Hancock, 2013). Not recognized at first as a substance producing intoxicating effects, marijuana’s use spread soon all over Europe and the U.S. in the 19th century, where it was used for medical purposes. The plants medical benefits were substituted in the early 20th century by pharmaceutical opiates, acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) and sedatives like chloral hydrates and the barbiturates, which could be given...
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...Ryan Kidwell English 101 March 26, 2014 Should Medical Marijuana Be Legalized? A major debate currently being discussed within the Senate and House of Representatives is a topic that has caused a great amount of controversy throughout the United States. This topic only really has two sides to it. One side is completely against it and the other is completely for it, there is no middle ground. The topic that has caused such a great amount of controversy is the discussion as to whether or not medical marijuana should be legalized within the U.S. Those who support the legalization of marijuana usually have three supporting arguments: Medical marijuana has various medical benefits, it is less expensive in comparison to other drugs, and other drugs are addictive whereas medical cannabis is not. But others who are against the legalization of marijuana have their own arguments. These people who are against legalizing medical cannabis typically have three main reasons as to why they disagree with legalizing it. These three main reasons are that marijuana is has no true medical benefits, that medical marijuana is already being abused by cardholders, and that marijuana is a gateway drug. Both sides have various supporting arguments, but with the evidence I have gathered, I believe that the legalization of medical marijuana is beneficial to those in need of it’s benefits. Ever since Congress placed medical marijuana in Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act, 20 out of...
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...A major controversial issue in the United States today is the debate over medical marijuana. Currently, the medical use of marijuana is legal in twenty-three states and Washington D.C. The federal government and the majority of states believe legalizing marijuana is simply too dangerous. Despite the many benefits medical marijuana offers severely ill patients, opposers believe legalization will eventually lead to recreational use. Protestants against marijuana argue the benefits have not yet been proven and could potentially be dangerous. According to How Is Colorado Doing Since Marijuana Legalization, some say it helps the economy and brings jobs while others say it creates more crime and puts kids at risk (1). However, many testimonials from patients and their loved ones provide evidence that medical marijuana has been nothing short of a miracle for them. Because of the benefits marijuana offers, legalization laws should be passed in all fifty states for the sole purpose of medical use; severely ill patients who could receive benefits are being deprived because of the possibility that the drug would lead to recreational use, increased...
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...history of marijuana and medical benefits Dona Rudd COM/172 March 20, 2012 Russell Murphy The history of marijuana and medical benefits Although possessing marijuana is a federal offense pending, some states allow the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, generating revenue for the states. There are 16 states’ and Washington DC, in which marijuana is being, used for medicinal purposes and not break any laws. Eighteen states’ are pending Legislation to legalize medical marijuana. There are documents stating that the Chinese used marijuana for paper, the process consisted of hemp around 2000 BC. According to Guither, P. Drug Warrant (2006), “America’s first marijuana law was enacted at Jamestown Colony, Virginia in 1619. It was a law “ordering” all of the farmers to grow Indian hempseed. There were several other “must grow” laws over the next 200 years. A person could be jailed for not growing hemp during times of shortage in Virginia between 1763 and 1767, and during most of that time, hemp was legal tender a person could even pay their taxes with hemp and try that today. Hemp was such a critical crop for a number of purposes including essential war requirements and rope, excreta. That the government went out of its way to encourage growth” Guither, P. ( 2006) (para 6). The history of marijuana Marijuana has many different names, Hemp, Ma, and Marihuana are just a few of the names in which marijuana is called. Marijuana and hemp are...
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...Medicinal Marijuana Really is Not That Bad James Johnson Course ENGL103-1303B-10 September 23rd, 2013 One of the largest debates currently is one over the medicinal use of medical marijuana. Through its use doctors can treat pain, nausea, anorexia, and muscle spasticity. Patients can lower their consumption of opiates to combat pain through the use of marijuana. The drug even brings quality of life benefits including improvements to sleep for insomniacs and the abatement of depressive symptoms for mental health patients. And not only does it benefit the user, but it could benefit the government through taxes on sold marijuana and created jobs in official dispensaries. Medicinal use of marijuana has a wide variety of beneficial effects with little downsides. Marijuana has many medical benefits. In R. J. Lamarine’s article Marijuana: Modern Medical Chimaera he wrote, “Short-term use of existing medical cannabinoids appeared to increase the risk of nonserious adverse effects” (2012). Few serious effects were found and it was found to have evidence of addiction in only a small percentage of users (Lamarine, 2012). In some ways medical marijuana can help the economy. Legal dispensaries for medical marijuana create jobs (Adams, 2013). If a drug dealer sells marijuana to someone on the street the government receives no money and it does not help the community. Medical marijuana can be taxed and that money can be used to fund public parks, schools, roads, and other areas of...
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...Should Marijuana Be a Medical Option? Isaac S Gray Colorado State University Global Campus Hum101-3 Critical Reasoning Michelle Vondley Ph.D Should marijuana be a medical option? Marijuana and its medicinal benefis has been a topic of discussion for centuries, in fact Patrick and Claire (as stated in Time magazine, 2009) states “as early as 2737 B.C., the mystical Emperor Shen Neng of China was prescribing marijuana tea for the treatment of gout, rheumatism, malaria and, oddly enough, poor memory. The drug's popularity as a medicine spread throughout Asia, the Middle East and down the eastern coast of Africa, and certain Hindu sects in India used marijuana for religious purposes and stress relief. Ancient physicians prescribed marijuana for everything from pain relief to earache to childbirth. Doctors also warned against overuse of marijuana, believing that too much consumption caused impotence, blindness and "seeing devils."” (para 1). As you can see the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes has been around for a very long time. Just as with any other medicines, drugs etc., just because it was used in “ancient times” or long ago doesn’t mean it is safe now, but to know the history in which it has been documented to be effective for medicinal purposes goes a long way in the debate of whether marijuana should be accepted as medicine. Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration hasn't approved marijuana for any health condition, some states allow its use for certain...
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...Medical Marijuana Shelby Taylor ENG/147 February 2, 2015 University of Phoenix Medical Marijuana Medical marijuana has risks and benefits just like all medical treatment does. People do not always see the risks and benefits of all medical treatments until it is one that has a major controversy in the United States. Some say the main ingredient in marijuana is useful for these diseases and others argue that the benefit of smoking marijuana is questionable because there are other forms of THC available. Sativex is a medication that is based on natural extracts of marijuana and can be administered as an oral spray. Marinal (FDA approved) is a legal pill form of medical marijuana containing a synthetic THC. The human body produces a natural version cannabinoid called endocannabinoids. Studies show that the endocannabinoids help regulate the body's responses to a variety of stimuli. These receptors are found throughout the body but are prominent in the brain. Cannabinoids in marijuana, like THC, bind to these receptors and produce various effects, such as reducing pain or anxiety, but also the feeling of being high. Medical marijuana can reduce nerve and chronic pain along with treating nausea with chemotherapy, loss of appetite due to AIDS, eye pain due to glaucoma, spasms and seizures triggered by multiple sclerosis, insomnia, and Crohns disease. Along with the benefits, the risks can be that of increased heart rate, fluctuations in blood pressure...
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...today is to legalize medical marijuana or to keep it illegal because of the high risks it poses. US Congress placed marijuana in schedule I of the Controlled Substance Act in 1972 because it was considered to have no use for medical purposes. Since then, 16 of the 50 states have legalized marijuana for medical use. Many studies state that marijuana can treat symptoms of cancer, pain, and many more serious illnesses. Opponents of medical marijuana argue that it lacks FDA approval. Researchers believe medical marijuana treats different serious illnesses. In 2002, Franjo Grotenhermen stated that “medical cannabis has treated effectively symptoms of nausea, vomiting, insomnia, anorexia, weight loss, and a lack of appetite.” “Medical marijuana has been known to stimulate eating habits to help cure anorexia, the lack of appetite and weight loss to help those people gain their weight back that could do them serious harm from the rapid weight loss (Grotenhermen, 2002).” Medical marijuana has also been known to treat more serious illnesses such as Sickle-Cell Disease, Fibromyalgia, Alzheimer's disease, and Tourette syndrome. Many of the case reports have shown that cannabis has helped to reduce tics caused by Tourette syndrome. A Research Institute in California called Scripps, did a study showing that THC an active ingredient in marijuana, prevents deposits from forming in the brain this is typically associated with Alzheimer's disease. Medical marijuana has been known to stimulate...
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...Medical marijuana refers to the use of cannabis to treat disease or improve symptoms. It also refers to using the whole unprocessed marijuana plants or its basic extracts to also treat a disease or systems. Medically prescribed marijuana has a beneficial effect on patients who suffer from diseases. It treats the disease symptoms while alleviating the unfortunate side affects. As a result of improving a patient’s quality of life and help to promote a positive response to treatment. The following several sources are supported by factual details in which subsidize the thesis: websites by health.harvard.edu, Drugabuse.gov, Livescience.com,drugpolicy.org, raysahelian.com,norml.org,mayoclinc.com ,Wikipedia.org. A. ` With Medical marijuana being new in the drug industry, legalizing thee drug has been a problem but it helps out ways the pros for the drug. For example, the movement to legalize marijuana for medical use in the U.S. has renewed discussion about how this drug affects the brain, and whether it might be useful in treating psychiatric disorders. With that research has been done to expose that medical marijuana can be used for psychiatric disorders and as a replacement to many remedies for diseases. In the comprehensive 1999 review, for example, the Institute of Medicine(IOM) concluded that marijuana may be modestly effective for pain relief, appetite simulation for people with AIDS wasting syndrome, and control of chemotherapy- related nausea and vomiting. Although, there...
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...Cannabis Sativa, also known as marijuana, is a preparation of the cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug or used as a medicine. Scientists have identified 483 different chemical compounds in Cannabis Sativa. The main ingredient in cannabis is tetrahydrocannabinol, also abbreviated as THC. Cannabidiol, abbreviated as CBD, is a non-psychoactive oil derived from the Cannabis Sativa plant that is commonly used as a medicine; CBD comes from cannabinoids, one of the classes of chemical compounds that acts on cannabinoid receptors in cells that alter neurotransmitter release in the brain. Marijuana comes in many forms including oils, edibles, concentrates, etc. Marijuana doesn’t need to be smoked. The cannabis plant is one of the oldest...
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...Recently marijuana has been legalized in Colorado and Washington State for recreational use. Before that sixteen states and the national capital legalized marijuana for medical use. This is perplexing, knowing marijuana has been considered a schedule I controlled substance since 1972, according to the Controlled Substance Act. As defined by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), a schedule I controlled substance is; "Drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse". The conflict of interest leads to the question, what are the benefits, if any, of legalizing medical marijuana? While researching the benefits of marijuana in a medical standpoint, one must also look into the negative effects of the drug. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), there are several long and short-term health effects associated with marijuana. The most common short-term effect, euphoria, is persistent with marijuana as well as almost every other controlled substance. Euphoria is defined as “a state of intense happiness and self-confidence. The state of euphoria is caused by the mind-altering chemical, found in marijuana, called tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). THC is introduced into the bloodstream orally or through the lungs, once the THC reaches the brain, it releases the neurotransmitter called dopamine, causing the euphoric effect. The release of dopamine is also a contributing factor of addiction in marijuana users. The NIDA states that about 9% of marijuana users...
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...Medical Marijuana Marijuana legalization one of the most argued and discussed subjects worldwide. The topic is argued for it to be legal for medical uses, and recreationally. Opposing these arguments are the ideas that it’s a “high potential for abuse,” and it is harmful to those who ingest the drug. On the other hand, don’t a majority of prescriptions, drugs, and medicines that are legal, and are heavily used, all have a “high potential for abuse?” Medical marijuana being legalized for specific illnesses such as: epilepsy, crohn’s disease, and multiple sclerosis, will be life changing for those who suffer from those illnesses and diseases. This drug is the most widely used controlled substance in the world. Since marijuana has been illegal...
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