Legalization Of Marijuana Essay

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From Munir Slaiman

LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA: MEDICAL USE

Cannabis or Marijuana as commonly known has been used for thousands of years by many cultures to ease numerous ailments. Today, it is widely used to combat pain, glaucoma, AIDS wasting syndrome, multiple sclerosis, and nausea associated with cancer chemotherapy. There is no evidence that legal use of marijuana, as medical substance will lead to widespread abuse in-patients or in the population. For many years it has been used for medical treatment and nowadays the controversy is if it should be legalized.

Historically marijuana has been considered as having a medical value, and it was used before the twentieth century. Medical Marijuana has an article that explain the chronology of marijuana an shows that it has been used since the 1800 s when marijuana entered into western medicine.

Ohio State held the first conference of the medical use of marijuana in 1860, and in 1893 Britain s Indian Hemp Drugs commission advised against prohibition of marijuana. In the 1900 s laws have restricted the control of this narcotic. Also it was the beginning of the marijuana uses by the Mexicans and Southern Black immigrants by smoking rolled marijuana. In those years the Federal Officials spearheaded an anti-marijuana campaign. In

1936 the society was against marijuana use and made a documentary Reefer Madness about students smoking marijuana whose go insane and kills their parents. In 1937 the congress passed the Marijuana Tax Act, and doctors soon stopped prescribing it (713).

It also says that during the 1960 s and 1970 s Congress rewrote drug laws because young people were abusing marijuana. They wrote that this would be in a rank on Schedule I, which means that it cannot be prescribed. However, in 1972 the National Organization for Reform of prescribing Marijuana Laws (NORML) made a petition in favor of prescribing marijuana. The Institute of Medicine in 1982 says that this drug show a promise in the treatment of a variety of disorders. In 1988 the Drug enforcement Administration (DEA) declared that it s one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. In the 1980 s cancer patients began smoking marijuana to ease the pain and nausea produced by chemotherapy. AIDS Patients also began using marijuana in the 1990 s for these same reasons and appetite loss (713). It shows that since many years marijuana has been a resurgence of interest in medical benefits. Through time marijuana legalization has gone through many struggles.

The magazine The CQ Researcher says that: The perennial debate over whether sick people should be allowed to smoke marijuana to help ease pain or nausea caused by chemotherapy or other ailments are heating up . A March report by the prestigious Institute of Medicine fueled the controversy when it said smoking marijuana is risky but also recommended that critically ill patients be allowed to use it in closely monitored trials. Critics of medical marijuana argue there is no scientific proof the drug is therapeutic, but scientists insist that marijuana s constituents could someday produce safe medications for a

variety of ailments (705). It would be inhuman to deny ill people of marijuana while in pain, therefore this drug should be legalized for medical purposes.

There currently exists controversy concerning smoking and using marijuana as a medicine (The California Narcotic Officers Association). Marijuana legalization has been one of the most controversial issues. It has been illegal in The United States since 1937, and it has yet to stop marijuana usage. A drug war was started in the 1980 s, and it has had no long-term effect on the usage of marijuana. But regardless of perspective, the presence of marijuana in the popular media is hard to ignore.

Due to the facts many people argue with the legalization of marijuana because there are many factors in this debate. This debate is because marijuana provokes dependence.

Marijuana has a high potential for abuse and that abuse may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence. This dependence and associated addictive behaviors have been well described in the literature. Medical Marijuana should not be permitted because chemicals in marijuana are fat soluble which means they do not pass through the body, but leave blood stream and embed themselves in cells causing the chemicals to be released slowly (Dudley 70).

Research shows that marijuana damages short term memory, distorts perceptions,

impairs judgment and complex motor skills, alters heart rates, and has the potential to trigger severe anxiety, paranoia, and lethargy" (Shalala 10).

Some scientists believe that marijuana does not cause the psychosis, but an individual may already have a physiological disorder that is inactive and marijuana could

possibly awaken the disorder. Schizophrenics are at a higher risk for adverse psychiatric effects when using marijuana and heavy use can precipitate a schizophrenic episode. There

is little evidence that there are any longer term effecting cognitive ability, and little evidence that moderate users have any cognitive defects after the intoxication wears off. Marijuana is not associated with any increase of mortality (Sidney 87). Most physiological harms that are attributed to marijuana are actually from the act of smoking or inhaling smoke.

The main active chemical in marijuana is THC (delta 9- tetrahydrocannabinnol). The strength of the drug is measured by the amount of average THC in test samples confiscated by law enforcement agencies . Marijuana today contains 4 10 times more of the major psychoactive ingredient THC than it did a decade ago (Leshner).

THC both increases and decreases different types of immune system cells, but after much research there is no proof that it either weakens or strengthens the immune system.

Scientists are studying whether THC and other chemicals are found in marijuana may have other medical uses. Some think that these chemicals could be useful for treating severe pain. But further research is needed before such compounds can be recommended for the treatment of medical problems. Some of them are glaucoma and AIDS.

In Cannabis in Medical Practice the author claims that: There is an obvious beneficial role for the use of cannabis in the treatment of HIV /AIDS . Many studies of cannabis itself have shown it to be well tolerated, to have a very wide therapeutic range, to not have lethal dose, and it appears to be superior to Marinol (the major psychoactive ingredient in cannabis) . For many patients, cannabis is

the medicine that makes the use of other medicines possible. Concerns about the immunosuppressive effects...

Channel 6000. Pot approved for Alzheimer s patients... 8 pars.26 Jun.2000

Dudley, William. Marijuana. San Diego, California. 1999.
Hawaii Becomes First State to Approve Medical Marijuana Bill. New York Times.
Late edition (East Coast). 23 pars. 16 Jun. 2000. Honolulu, 14 Jun.
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?TS=9611691 =1&fmt=3&Sid=1&Idx=2&Deli=
Methre, Mary Lynn. Cannabis in medical Practice. McFarland
& Compan, Inc., Publishers. Jefferson, North Carolina.
Medical Marijuana. The CQ Researcher. Congressional Quarterly Inc.
Volume 9, No. 31 August 20, 1999.
Roffman, Roger. Marijuana as Medicine. Madrona Publishers. Seattle.
1982.
Leshner, Alan. Marijuana: Facts Parents Needs to Know. National
Institute on Drug Abuse. 1995. US Department of health and human service.
Shalala, D.E. 18 August 1995.Say No to Legalization of Marijuana. Wall
Street Journal.
Cohen, Sidney. "The Drug Dilemma". 2nd Edition. Washington, D.C.
1969. Chapter 4. McGraw Hill, Inc.
The California Narcotic Officers Association.
http://www.geocities.com//capitolhill3904
Rayl. Marijuana: The Good, The Bad, The Truth . USATODAY. Health. 23 pars.
16 Jun.2000. 16 March.2000. http://www.usatoday.com/life/health/doctor/lhoc112.html
Marijuana and Medicine . Assessing the Science Base. Institute of Medicine.
Chapter 3. pag.4. http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/marimed/ch3.html.
Morris, Kelly. The Cannabis remedy --wonder worker or evil weed? The lancet, London.
Dec20-Dec27, 1997. http://www.proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?ts=9611700
Sidney, S. Marijuana use and Mortally . Friedman GD. 1997. American Journal of Public
Health.
"The Use of Marijuana". Nei Statement. National Eye Institute. National Institute of
Health. http://www.nei.nih.gov/news/marij-html
215NOW!. wysiwyg://144/144/http://www.215now.com/
Proposition Debate. California Proposition.http://www.vidya.com/caprops/215/ You should cite this paper as follows:

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