Holly Scallions

Professor Dursema
15 April 2016
The possibilities are Endless

If Medical Marijuana could significantly reduce pain in one of your loved ones would
you give it a try? If it could decrease the amount of seizures that you or a loved one experiences
would it be worth the risk? Marijuana is not for everyone but patients should be allowed to pick
their own medical treatment. Medical Marijuana should be legalized because it is a healthier
alternative and does less damage to the human body versus prescription drugs. It should be
legalized and prescribed the same way that prescription drugs are to patients who have a medical
necessity. The three main topics that are benefits of medicinal marijuana are for pain
management, treatment of seizures and depression. The emphasis of this paper is to give a
different perspective on medicinal Marijuana and to debunk the things that you have been
advised about marijuana use and its substantial lack of benefits.
The best way to give credit where credit is due is to be able to fully understand all of the benefits
stemming from medicinal marijuana, the most effective way of doing that is to understand the
history of the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. The use of medicinal marijuana is not a
new topic, there are reports of its use dating back to over a thousand years. Records indicate that
the Chinese in 200 ce used marijuana as an anesthetic. In twelfth- century Africa, marijuana
(known as dagga) was used to treat snake bite, anthrax, dysentery, and malaria. Marijuana,
which tends to dry out mucous membranes, was used in fifteenth-century India to treat
congestion, and the juice of the marijuana seed was used for earaches.-Mcghee It is one

viewpoint that medical marijuana and its boundless capabilities of reliving or treating so many
different kinds of ailments can be called the most useful medicinal remedy.
Marijuana can be and is used for pain management in patients who are suffering from
cancer, MS, musculoskeletal pain and fibromyalgia. the average number of patients who
reported a reduction in pain of >30% was greater with marijuana compared with placebo ( odds
ratio = 1.41; 95% confidence interval, . 99-2.0) - Metts
The therapeutic effects of medicinal marijuana and the minimized damage that it causes
to the human body and brain versus harsh prescription drugs that are extremely addicting are
without a doubt unmeasurable in some cases. There have been reports of patients who are
approved for use of medicinal marijuana who prior to its use were on multiple different pain
management prescriptions who suffered from the negative aspects of pain medication, such as
constant fatigue, feeling like they are in a haze, nausea and vomiting, constipation and or
diarrhea who have stated once they introduced the medical marijuana into their daily regimen
that they were able to significantly decrease or completely stop taking the pharmaceutical pain
relievers. Marijuanas therapeutic uses are well documented in the modern scientific
literature. Using either smoked marijuana or oral preparations of delta-9-THC (marijuanas
main active ingredient), researchers have conducted controlled studies. These studies
demonstrate marijuanas usefulness in reducing nausea and vomiting, stimulating appetite,
promoting weight gain, and diminishing intraocular pressure from glaucoma. There is also
evidence that smoked marijuana and/or THC reduce muscle spasticity from spinal cord injuries
and multiple sclerosis, and diminish tremors in multiple sclerosis patients. Other therapeutic
uses for marijuana have not been widely studied. However, patients and physicians have

reported that smoked marijuana provides relief from migraine headaches, depression, seizures,
insomnia, and chronic pain (135).
Medical marijuana is also used in treating epilepsy and the seizures that come along with
it. There have been several cases studies about medicinal marijuana and the treatment of
seizures, for instance one journal study mentions a child by the name of Charlotte who was
diagnosed with SCNIA dravet syndrome. She suffered from 50 or more convulsive seizures per
day, her mother thoroughly researched medicinal marijuana and was more interested in the more
uncommon marijuana, a photo cannabinoid called cannabidiol, or CBD because that version of
medicinal marijuana showed to have no psychotropic properties and studies suggested that it
may work well in human patients with seizures. The mother started Charlotte on low doses of a
sublingual preparation of the plant extract and provided it to her child like she would any other
antiepileptic drug they had been given before and slowly increasing the dose watched as for the
first time in since Charlotte started having seizures she went seven consecutive days without one.
With all of that being said Joel Stanley are the individuals who bred the cannabis and thereafter
named it Charlottes Web.
Medicinal marijuana is also used to treat symptoms of depression in some cases. one of
the most common psychological reasons for which individuals use medical cannabis is for the
management of depression Babson Depression can stem from lack of sleep, if cannabis use
helps moderate sleep quality in turn decreasing and or limiting the depression issue. Medicinal
marijuana has been used for centuries to treat clinical depression, studies show that low doses of
cannabis increase serotonin levels in patients that also has a positive effect on their mood. The
case is made difficult by respondents strong arguments that they will suffer irreparable harm

because, despite a congressional finding to the contrary, marijuana does have valid therapeutic
purposes Justice John Paul Stevens, Raich v. Gonzales, June 6, 2005
In conclusion, the effects of medicinal marijuana outweigh the negative aspects of the
drug. If used with doctors prescription for medicinal purposes, medicinal marijuana has many
positive conclusions especially with the treatment of pain management, depression and treatment
of epileptic seizures. Medicinal marijuana should be legal in all states to aid in the treatment of
patients who have a medical necessity. If your loved ones were suffering and you had the
opportunity to assist them in feeling better and getting back to a normal everyday life wouldnt
you want to do that for them? Do whatever you could to ease their pain? Medicinal marijuana
may be an option for getting people back to feeling normal and functioning properly on a daily
basis. That in itself has to be worth a shot!

Sources Cited
Justice John Paul Stevens, Raich v. Gonzales, June 6, 2005. Print
Lynn Zimmer, Ph.D, John P Morgan Ph.D , Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Fact,
New York, Lindesmith Center, 1997, Print.
Nelson, Elizabeth Marie Mcghee. Medical Marijuana,ebscohost.com. Salem Press

Encyclopedia,
Jan 2015. Web. 04/15/2016.Print/ Web
Kimberly A. Babson Ph.D, Matthew Tyler Boden, Ph.D, Marcel O. Bonn-Miller, Ph.D. Sleep
quality moderates the relation between depression symptoms and problematic Cannabis use
among Medical cannabis users, The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse. Information
healthcare USA, 2013. Print/Web
Julius Metts. Medical Marijuana: A treatment worth trying? Vol 65 Number3 , March
2016. Print/Web