Medical marijuana has been the topic of discussion in the medical field as well as in Society itself. In 1937 the Marijuana transfer act was passed. While this didn’t make marijuana illegal it was prohibited to produce. When the controlled substance act was passed in 1970, marijuana became illegal. Marijuana is considered at schedule 1 narcotic, in order for a drug to be considered a schedule 1 narcotic, the drug must; “have a high potential for abuse, have no currently accepted medical use in the United States, and have a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision.” Other drugs among this list are Heroin, Ecstasy, LSD and GHB (the “date rape” drug) there are many arguments when it comes to this subject, the major issue being the overall safety. Many doctors and patients agree to disagree when it comes to medical marijuana. With all the studies that have taken place and the fact the 15 states are now recognizing marijuana to be legal as long as its prescribed by a licensed doctor it may be time to take another look at the cannabis plants and consider to change the fact that is can no longer be a scheduled 1 narcotic since is does have current acceptable medical use for treatment in the United States.
Many doctors agree that marijuana serves its purpose in the medical community. “Jocelyn Elders, M.D. wrote in a 3/26/04 editorial published in the Providence Journal in Rhode Island: The evidence is overwhelming that marijuana can relieve certain types of pain, nausea, and other symptoms cause by such illness as multiple sclerosis, cancer and AIDS-or by the harsh drugs sometimes used to treat them. And it can do so with remarkable safety. Indeed, marijuana is less toxic than many of the drugs that physicians prescribe every day.” The psychoactive effects that marijuana has on the body are the reason why it’s used in the medical industry. It decreases intra-ocular pressure which is the main reason why it’s used in glaucoma patients. “According to the Drug Policy Alliance, no medical tests presently utilized to detect brain damage have found any evidence that even from long term high dose use of marijuana to be harmful.” Studies have shown that the use of marijuana is not as harmful as once believed. “It was once believed that marijuana kills brain cells that theory was originated from a report that dates back 25 years ago and also has not been sufficiently corroborated.”
While many physicians agree that medical marijuana is safe to use, many disagree. Reasons why many physicians disagree are because of the lack of studies done to prove that there are no long term effects from using this drug. Marijuana has been known to increase heart rate by 20-100 percent after smoking. Many studies have also shown that marijuana smoke contains carcinogens and tend to be an irritant to the lungs. Many physicians simply won’t prescribe marijuana because they encourage a patient to smoke anything, given the damage it does to the lungs and other health issues that may arise regarding lungs such as bronchitis. A way to get around any health issues that derive from smoking this drug would be to ingest it instead. However not many studies have been done to understand the long term effect of ingestion. Marijuana also comes in a form of a pill called Marinol. Physicians also seem to agree upon the fact that marijuana does cause, difficulty remembering things in short term memory or retrieval of information from the long term memory. This drug also causes anxiety, slowed reaction time and paranoia. With all of this information out there why would any physician prescribe a drug that does this to a patient? The lack of evidence stating that this drug has a need for medical use vs. the fact that is does more harm than good.
Federal Government also plays a large role in the ethical issues that arise from medical marijuana. While it may be legal at the state level it is not legal at the federal level. Many arrests have been made and it was patients that are legally prescribe marijuana that are being arrested and classified as criminals. Dispensaries are also being raided and people being arrested. How can this be legal? The first step in correcting this action is making it so that state laws and federal law coincide with one another regarding medical marijuana. According to United Nations “marijuana is the most widely used illicit substance in the world.” The courts also play a major role. Everyday citizens are being arrested and found guilty. In recent news the President Obama has campaigned to stop the raids; however that has not been done thus far. “The president believes that federal resources should not be used to circumvent state laws, and he continues to appoint senior leadership to fill out the ranks of the federal government, he expects them to review their policies with that in mind, White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said.” Even though medical marijuana is legal in 15 states in “2005, a ruling argued that federal interests trumped state law.” Many different people from all walks of life have an interest in medical marijuana and while we may not all agree on the legalization of marijuana one thing does need to change, federal and state laws must protect those people who do legally get prescribe marijuana and those who are legally in the dispensing business not be punished. Marijuana is rapidly becoming legal in many states, it time for the government to jump on board with state laws and recognize this as a legal substance and stop punishing those who are using and dispensing this drug legally according to their state laws.