Marijuana for Medicinal Purposes
Medicinal marijuana should be made legal for medicinal purposes because it provides relief for people suffering from HIV/AIDS, Cancer, Epilepsy and Glaucoma. Research has shown it to be a drug contributing fewer negative side effects than most prescription drugs. Marijuana is non lethal and does not contribute to or increases the likelihood of death. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse: Advance Addiction Science (2018), “Marijuana also called weed, herb, pot, grass, bud or ganja is a greenish-gray mixture of the dried flowers of Cannabis sativa”.
Researchers and organizations have documented the medicinal benefits of marijuana, including the Institute of Medicine, the American College of Physicians, the American Public Health Association, the American Nurses Association, and the Epilepsy Foundation. The University of California in San Francisco researcher Dr. Donald Adams, M.D. has studied marijuana and Merinol in AIDS patients taking anti-HIV combination therapy. Not only was there no sign of immune system damage, but the patients gained more weight than those taking a placebo. Patients using marijuana also showed greater reductions in the amount of HIV in their bloodstreams.
Long terms studies of HIV/AIDS patients have shown that marijuana use (including social or recreational use) does not worsen the course of their disease. For example, in a six year study of HIV patients conducted by Harvard University researchers, marijuana users showed no increase risk of developing AIDS-related illness.
Arguably, medicinal marijuana has proven to be most effective for the relief of nausea and anorexia associated with Cancer and AIDS/HIV treatments. For cancer patients who not only go through the unimaginable pains and discomforts of the disease itself but also the process of treatment through chemotherapy, the option of using marijuana may prove to be helpful in relief of the symptoms.
There is a lot of scientific evidence that proves marijuana to be a safe and effective medicine. In 2009, the American Medical Association make a major shift in its position, calling on federal government to reconsider marijuana’s status as a Schedule 1 drug, which bars medical use under federal law. In 2013, a national survey of physicians conducted by the New England Journal of Medicine found that 76 % of doctors supported the use of marijuana for medical purposes.
Drug consumption is always connected to the risk of developing an addiction. Even such “harmless” and legalized drugs as alcohol and tobacco annually cause millions of deaths worldwide. However, in the case of marijuana, there might be exceptions, given that it is prescribed for medicinal purposes, and under the control of a doctor. This drug can ease pain, help seriously ill people alleviate or eliminate their symptoms, and can even become an alternative to traditional opiate painkillers. Therefore, under certain conditions and regulations, marijuana can be used for medicinal purposes.
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