Legalizing Marijuana For Medical Purposes

As I grew up in a little town in Kentucky that was infested with drugs, I never knew why someone would jeopardize their life using illegal substances. Growing up all I heard was, “don’t do drugs.” Marijuana is a popular drug used and sold in my hometown. Legalizing marijuana has been debated all over the nation for decades. Legalizing marijuana could help society in many aspects. It can be used for medical and recreational uses all across the world making it the most frequently used illegal drug.

It comes from leaves and flowers of the plant Cannabis sativa, which contains chemicals that result in getting “high”. Medical marijuana laws are different depending on the state. The US Food and Drug Administration has not approved marijuana to treat any medical condition.

Medical Marijuana, when used properly and not abused has been proven to have positive affects for people with chronic pain, people with seizures, help people that have trouble eating and lastly helps with patients that have anxiety or have shown feelings of depression.

Legalizing medical marijuana also has risks and plays an important role in government spending. Body Chronic Pain Patients with chronic pain have testified to using smoked cannabis to relive pain, improve sleep and improve their mood. Many of these patients have made an effort to treat this pain with numerous interventions but were not successful. A 60-year-old man had lower back pain for over 19 years after suffering a fall at work. He tried multiple steroid injections, selective nerve root blocks, lidocaine infusions and a trial of spinal cord stimulate.

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All of these attempts to reduce his pain had failed. In an effort to obtain better control of his chronic pain, he began using medical marijuana after receiving a certificate from a local specialist at the medical marijuana clinic. It was proven that the marijuana improved his pain and he wished to continue to use the medical marijuana. Another way medical marijuana has been proven to help people with chronic pain are patients who are going through chemotherapy. Chemotherapy in the course of cancer treatment causes an extreme and unbearable nausea, lack of appetite and weight loss. The symptoms are clearly counterproductive in helping an individual contend with an ongoing fight against cancer. There are new pharmaceutical medications that seem to be as effective as marijuana in the treatment of those disorders. According to Cerda, state medical laws can be seen as one indicator of group level approval of marijuana use.

These laws legalize marijuana use, when authorized by a physician for medical purposes such as nausea and vomiting from chemotherapy. Patients with Seizures There has been preclinical and clinical data and controversies surrounding the use of medical marijuana for the treatment of epilepsy. There is a story about a 5-year old girl Charlotte who was diagnosed with a rare disease that has caused her to constantly have seizures. Her seizure frequency was about 50 convulsive seizures per day. Her parents and doctors tried countless procedures and treatments in order to slow down her disease. Eventually they decided to give marijuana a try, with the help of the Stanley brothers, they were able to give Charlotte weed that was high in CBD so she wouldn’t get stoned but would still feel the effects. Soon after, Charlotte was able to play, talk and only suffered from about one seizure a week. Marijuana was able to have work while prescribed meds seemed to make these people worse. CBS was also the only drug that worked to help Charlotte without causing any long or short-term damage.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta points out that there are no reports of fatal marijuana overdoses. He also found that sites of marijuana show that the CPD found in certain strains and doses, is great helper in reducing the pain from diseases. Like the example I gave earlier, and many more stories that have the same ending, medical marijuana has been proven to help combat seizures and the side effects associated with it, when other prescribed drugs have not helped. Despite all of the challenges of medical marijuana as a potential therapy for epilepsy, what is not controversial is the need to help these children who suffer this disease. Not only are many of these children out of options with how to deal with this disease some families have invested heavily to move to states where medical marijuana is legalized in order to help their child with this disease. Anxiety and Depression Anxiety and depression are two mental health issues that play a role in many individuals life, whether it’s personally them or whether its someone they are close to. Many people use the words anxiety and depression loosely.

They use these words meaning other things than a clinical diagnosis. Depression is more than a momentary low mood and anxiety is a serious illness. About 24.8% of adults suffer from either anxiety and depression and have still suffer to this day. Medical marijuana has been proven to reduce anxiety and allows people with anxiety disorders to function more normally. For some, this might mean the ability to leave the house to go to work or school each day. For others it may mean the opportunity to reframe their trauma experience to understand that their level of anxiety is not necessary. Marijuana is efficient in treating depression and anxiety. It can be used in conjunction with other therapies to improve results. According to Moreira, medical marijuana is able to help the side effects of these diseases that affect so many individuals across the country, Dr. Gupta also points out that the use of marijuana often helps people not only feel more relaxed, less anxious but some even feel more creative.

Those who use the drug often see an increase in their activity and some say they even have a better outlook on which they are personally. Certain strains allow for you to create better feelings and adjust to the fast life around you. Making decisions is easier when marijuana is used to reduce anxiety, while other medicines used for anxiety and depression tend to cloud judgment or slow thought and reaction times. Government Expense The legalization of marijuana could help the government save money. Law enforcement spends countless hours arresting for the possession of marijuana. They could spend this time dealing with real criminals like murders. The Washington Post reported more arrested were made in 2016 for marijuana possession than for all crimes combined that the FBI classifies as violent. Accentually there is one arrest for marijuana every minute in the United States. Making these arrest takes away from the more urgent issues in our society.

The urban city courts are filled with drug-related (over half being possession of marijuana) crimes, leaving little time to deal with other offenses. This probably is not just being a major issue in society. As you can see it has been an arising problem for quite some time. Marijuana is not proven to have a direct connection with violent crimes. We spent more time and money on people with possession of marijuana than trying to find out who murdered a police officer in a small town or the child being abusing in the home. It cost approximately $3.6 billion a year to imprison people with a charge of possession of marijuana. The government could save that money to help our society in a more effective way than for putting someone in prison for a drug that does no harm.

Not to mention the hundreds of people being arrested for possession are being harmed by this because they can’t get a job with this showing up on their record. If they can’t get hired because of a small charge, then the unemployment rate increases. This hurts our society because they can apply for an unemployment check which hurts the people who are actually working hard for a living. Risks Through medical marijuana has many benefits; there are still some risks that are associated with legalizing it across the country. First, there should only be certain amounts that should be given to a patient in need to protect against addiction.

The negative effects of marijuana are often found in extreme cases when adolescents use too much prematurely. In young developing brain, you are extremely sensitive to anything you put in your body. When smoking marijuana too early it can allegedly affect the white matter in your brain as well as stop producing the natural cannabinoids you should be producing, which is why someone may feel they need marijuana constantly. Although, these cases are rare and not yet conclusive it is something for people to be aware of. Conclusion Marijuana used for medical purposes and observed carefully outweighs any potential negative effects marijuana may yield. It has been proven to help patients with chronic pain that other prescribed medication has not been able to control.

All ages of patients suffering from seizures, medical marijuana has been proven to regulate those seizures as well as the side effects that are involved. We can cut government spending by legalizing it also. Lastly, marijuana often helps people not only feel more relaxed, less anxious but also some even feel more creative. In order to effectively combat the stigmatization of weed, this, it is the responsibility of educators to inform the public about the possible benefits, and even risks of marijuana, Respondents to a survey exhibited a strong desire for educational opportunities about medical marijuana at all levels of medical education.