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Dylan Oswalt

Aughenbaugh

English 12

6 February 2017

Why Medical Marijuana Should Be Legalized

Cannabis legalization is one of the most debated controversies in the United States of

America today. While there are two sides of cannabis legalization, recreational and medical, they

are two completely different arguments. Medical cannabis or often referred to as Medical

marijuana, has a vast list of benefits to help relieve complications when being treated for

diseases or cancer. Recent discoveries revealed that some children from all over the country who

suffer from forms of epilepsy have been able to be treated with a liquid form of medicine derived

from cannabis. The only problem is that all states have not yet legalized medical cannabis.

Although some states have passed their own form of legislation to legalize cannabis in

the form of medicine, cannabis still remains a schedule one controlled substance by the Drug

Enforcement Administration (Medical Marijuana). Patients who are prescribed cannabis in

legal states would still be liable to prosecution at the federal level. Schedule one drugs are listed

as highly addictive with no medical value. Our government needs to reclassify medical cannabis

to another level of scheduled drugs from its current classification which is a schedule one

controlled substance, to a better fitting classification which protects patients from federal level

offenses.

Cannabis has been at the summit of medical research for almost three decades now. With

over 20,000 documented studies and reports, enormous discoveries have been made positively

aiding the idea that compounds within cannabis offer safe means of therapeutic relief in those
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who suffer from chronic illness (Working to Reform Marijuana Laws). The cannabis plant is

made up of over 400 chemicals, sixty of these chemicals are identified as non-toxic and safe for

use. These sixty chemicals are were named cannabinoids (Medical Marijuana). Cannabinoids

contain the main clinically focused chemical, which is delta nine tetrahydrocannabinol, or also

known as THC. Medical researchers have concluded that cannabinoids can be helpful in treating

pain associated with chemotherapy, postoperative recovery, spinal cord injury, neuropathic pain

associated with metastatic cancer, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, and HIV/AIDS (Medical

Marijuana). The stimulation of appetite from cannabinoids is also helpful in treating anorexia

and other wasting diseases, including chronic diarrhea, tuberculosis, and unexplained weight

loss. Marijuana has been proven to help with epilepsy, muscle spasticity, parkinson's disease,

glaucoma and depression.

Many organizations at the local, state, and national levels have endorsed the use of

cannabis for medical purposes (Medical Marijuana). These include The AIDS Action Council,

American Public Health Association, American Academy of Family Physicians, American

Medical Student Association, and Lymphoma Foundation of America. In 2009, The American

Medical Student Association reversed its previous policy against cannabis use. They then urged

the government to reconsider marijuanas illicit status as a schedule one drug, and prompted

more research to be done into medical marijuanas benefits. In July of 2011, the Obama

Administration turned down an administrative survey seeking to reassess the Schedule I status.

Federal lawmakers continue to cite the drug's debatable categorization as the government's

ongoing criminalization of the plant and prosecutions against those who use it continues.

Currently more than sixty organizations support granting patients immediate legal access to

medical marijuana under a physicians supervision.

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Cannabinoids possess a remarkable record of safety when compared to other

therapeutically active substances, particularly prescription drugs. Even while people can and do

die from too much alcohol consumption, no one has ever overdosed on cannabis (Parks 23).

Most significantly, the consumption of marijuana regardless of quantity or potency cannot induce

any known type of fatality. Lester Grinspoon also states, There is very little evidence that

smoking marijuana as a means of taking it represents a significant health risk. According to The

World Health Organization in 1995, "There are no recorded cases of overdose fatalities attributed

to cannabis, and the estimated lethal dose for humans extrapolated from animal studies is so high

that it cannot be achieved by consumers (NORML").

Although the federal law mandates that marijuana is illegal for any use, including

medical purposes, some states have bypassed federal law and passed their own laws that legalize

the drug under certain circumstances. Gary Cartwright, an author who lives in texas which has

very strict marijuana laws, stated, In America, we spend nearly eight billion dollars trying to

enforce the laws of prohibiting the use and possession of marijuana. All we get for our money is

a huge increase in organized crime, an endless string of drug related murders, and the highest

incarceration rate in the civilized world. 2011, of the fifteen states that regulated medical

marijuana amongst their own specific state laws, New Jersey was the only program to deny

patients of personal cultivation. Concerns over crime associated with patient cultivation is very

real, but vastly exaggerated by opponents of the issue. Many patients cannot afford prices set by

the dispensaries. This leads to why patient cultivation should be a right amongst the patients.

Cannabis is very simple to grow with the right knowledge and skill. It has been

cultivated by humans for over thousands of years for medical use. As most patients still prefer to

just buy their medicine from a local dispensary, having a complete and full legal system for
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cannabis should include home cultivation for patients. This would eliminate the possibilities of

not being able to afford your medicine, or not being able to reach it through the dispensary

model. Americans for Safe Access suggests registered patients and their designated caregivers be

granted the ability to allow personal cultivation of small amounts individually or in small groups

as long as state law is followed precisely (Patients Should Be Allowed to Grow Marijuana

Plants as Medicine). Even though the state you live in may have legal laws for personal

cultivation, perfectly following these laws does not dismiss you from federal law and you can

still be fully prosecuted (Parks 27).

Arguments against legalizing marijuana are mainly about its similarities with smoking

tobacco. According to Mayo Clinic, marijuana smoke contains 50% - 70% more carcinogens

than tobacco (Medical Marijuana). Cannabis consumers have many ways to consume THC, but

mainly it is through ways of smoking the buds of the cannabis plant. When smoking cannabis,

there is false superstition amongst the community that holding in the smoke will grant a greater,

more potent feeling to the user. This is not true, but holding your breath longer with smoke inside

of your lungs exposes them to such carcinogens longer offering a greater chance to damage

easier. A report from 2006 by Paul Armentano who is a part of the National Organization for the

Reform of Marijuana Laws, Observed that though cannabis smoke contains many carcinogens,

the cannabinoids within the smoke are non-carcinogenic and also demonstrate anti-cancer

properties (Medical Marijuana). British Lung Foundations 2002 report stated that three to four

marijuana cigarettes is equal to the damage twenty tobacco cigarettes would do to the bronchia

mucosa. The report also mentions that smoking marijuana could weaken the immune system

(Medical Marijuana).
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The National Institute on Drug Abuse or also known as The N.I.D.A., research has shown

that marijuana use causes, distorted perceptions, impaired coordination, difficulty with problem

solving, and problems with learning and memory. The research also states that these effects can

last days or weeks, but long term use on the brain has shown inconclusive results (Medical

Marijuana). The N.I.D.A. also believes long term use of marijuana can lead to addiction.

Related increases with cannabis use are depression, schizophrenia, and anxiety. Other reports

conclude that though the connection between marijuana smoking and increased risk of lung

cancer is unproven, long term cannabis smokers experience the same effects that long term

tobacco smokers do (Medical Marijuana). Problems like daily cough, phlegm, and increased

risks of lung infections. Although the N.I.D.A. acknowledges the therapeutic value of THC

helping with pain relief, nausea, and loss of appetite, they do not endorse it medically because of

the many unknown chemicals and effects from smoking, which is the main way of consumption

amongst users. However, they do support the idea of developing synthetic or purified drugs from

the cannabinoids in marijuana (Medical Marijuana).

Court cases throughout the 1970s up to the present day are still working in favor of

patients who make their case about responsible medical use even though federal law still forbids

the use. In 1978, glaucoma patient Robert Randall sued the F.D.A. and other government

agencies for being convicted of cultivation cannabis. The case Randall V. U.S. argued that

marijuana was a medical necessity for himself, which is protected under the common law

doctrine of necessity. The result was in favor of Randall and the F.D.A. then created the I.N.D. or

the investigational new drug compassionate access program. This gave individuals the right to

petition for legal access to medical marijuana. The I.N.D. was closed down in 1992 to new
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patients. As of 2010, 4 patients are still receiving medical access to cannabis through the

program (Medical Marijuana).

Although the views are shifting towards legalization, there are still many factors of

cannabis to consider. Many people believe cannabis is the largest gateway drug to other harmful

substances.
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Works Cited

McCarberg, Bill. Marijuana Can Help In the Treatment of Pain. Marijuana. Ed. Noah

Berlatsky. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from Marijuana and

Pain Management. 2012. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 19 Jan. 2017

Medical Marijuana. Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection. Detroit: Gale, 2015. Opposing

Viewpoints in Context. Web. 10 Jan. 2017

Parks, Peggy. Should Certain Drugs be Legalized. Drug Legalization. San Diego: Reference

Point Press, Inc. , 2009. 23-29. Print.

Patients Should be Allowed to grow Marijuana Plants for Medicine. The Legalization of

Marijuana. Ed. Noel Merino. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2016. Opposing

Viewpoints in Context. Web. 17 Jan. 2017

Working to Reform Marijuana Laws. Medical Use. NORML, 2017. Web. 20 Jan. 2017.