Medical marijuana refers to the processed flowers of the cannabis plant, concentrates, and food infused with cannabis. Medical marijuana has: been deemed relatively safe by trusted medical professionals, proven not likely to create crime, and has great potential for a revenue source. As of today, 20 states in the US and the District of Columbia have enacted laws to legalize marijuana for medical use. Among many known health benefits, medical marijuana can be prescribed to relieve several types of pain, nausea, and other symptoms caused by illnesses such as multiple sclerosis, cancer and AIDS. For thousands of years, marijuana has been used across the world for a variety of different ailments. In America, the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 made a tax required for medical and industrial cannabis applications, and federally prohibited marijuana throughout the United States for use otherwise. Following this, in 1970, the Controlled Substances Act placed marijuana under schedule 1. This prohibition stifled the growth of scientific research and application (Mathre 3). Many verified studies showing clearly beneficial properties of marijuana have led to subsequent legalization and is proving to be one of the most useful-versatile plants on Earth, both medically and industrially.
There are 5 main cannabinoids of the 80 found in marijuana that affect neurons: THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannibinol), CBD (cannabidiol), CBN (cannabinol), CBC (cannabichromene), and CBG (cannabigerol). Neurons are cells that process information in the brain. They do this by releasing chemicals called neurotransmitters, from the axon of one neuron to the dendrite of another. This changes the charge of the receiving neuron and if excited this signal is passed on a...
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Works Cited
Beck, Charlie. "Medical Marijuana Dispensaries and Their Effect on Crime." Www.mpp.org. Marijuana Policy Project, 17 Jan. 2010. Web. .
JP, Zajicek. "Result Filters." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 12 July 2012. Web. .
Mathre, Mary Lynn. "Marijuana Prohibition." Cannabis in Medical Practice: A Legal, Historical, and Pharmacological Overview of the Therapeutic Use of Marijuana. Jefferson, NC: McFarland &, 1997. 1-4. Print.
Oken, Barry S. "Cognition and Fatigue in Multiple Sclerosis: Potential Effects of Medications with Central Nervous System Activity." Journal of Rehabilitation Research & Development 1st ser. 43 (2006): 87-88. Web. .
Hallucinogens prevent the brain from receiving all of these messages in order. All of the information that we receive is through millions of transactions of neurons, like a computer, marijuana alters these transactions. After smoking, or consuming marijuana, it is distributed in the brain. The concentration of marijuana in the brain may be governed by an active transport process in the choroid plexus network of blood vessels in the brain which regulates intraventricular pressure by absorption and secretion of cerebro spinal fluid. One scientific experiment gave an example of how the distribution of marijuana in the central nervous system could affect man.
Nelson, H., Walker, M., Zackher, B., & Mitchell, J. (n.d.). Result Filters. National center for biotechnology information. Retrieved February 9, 2014, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?LinkName=pubmed_pubmed_pmh_cited&from_uid=15233153
Legalization of Marijuana has quickly become a controversial issue in America. In the United States, legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes is spreading to the state level. For example, in November 1996, the people of California and Arizona voted to legalize marijuana for medicinal reasons. As a result of Proposition 215 in California, patients now smoke marijuana provided their physician recommends its usage. A prescription is not required, and marijuana continues to be illegal to prescribe. The Clinton administration responded that it “would not recognize these decisions, and would prosecute physicians who recommend or provide marijuana to their patients.” Although California and Arizona are the only two states to have already passed laws regulating marijuana usage, twenty-six states and the District of Columbia have laws and resolutions regarding marijuana usage. These laws and resolutions range from establishing therapeutic research programs, to allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana, to asking the federal government to lift the ban. Despite the states’ desires to have marijuana legalized for medicinal purposes, the US National Institutes of Health examined all existing clinical evidence about smoked marijuana and concluded that, “There is no scientifically sound evidence that smoked marijuana is medically superior to currently available therapies.”
There are at least two active chemicals in marijuana that have medicinal benefits. One chemical is cannabidiol (CBD), which appears to impact the brain without a high. The second chemical is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which has pain relieving and other properties.
Legalization of marijuana in the United States has received much attention and controversy in recent months. The federal government outlaws the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, despite proven research studies that have discovered the plant’s potential to treat the lives of many Americans affected by disease and chronic pain. Medicinal use of the marijuana plant dates back to 2700 B.C. in China. Emperor Shen Nung discovered its’ healing properties and recommended marijuana for a variety of ailments (Mack and Joy 14). Today, bias views and laws plague the advancement of marijuana in present day medicine.
Ever since marijuana’s introduction to the United States of America in 1611, controversy of the use and legalization of the claimed-to-be Schedule I drug spread around the nation. While few selective states currently allow marijuana’s production and distribution, the remaining states still skepticize the harmlessness and usefulness of this particular drug; therefore, it remains illegal in the majority of the nation. The government officials and citizens of the opposing states believe the drug creates a threat to citizens due to its “overly-harmful” effects mentally and physically and offers no alternate purposes but creating troublesome addicts hazardous to society; however, they are rather misinformed about marijuana’s abilities. While marijuana has a small amount of negligible effects to its users, the herbal drug more importantly has remarkable health benefits, and legalizing one of the oldest and most commonly known drugs would redirect America’s future with the advantages outweighing the disadvantages.
Wilson, Clare “The Case for Marijuana by Prescription." Marijuana (Contemporary Issues Companion). Tardiff, Joseph, ed. Farmington Hills: Greenhaven Press, 2008. 63-70. Print
Bibliography 1) Friedman, Milton. “Prohibition and Drugs.” Newsweek. 1972 2) Potter, Beverly. The Healing Magic of Cannabis.
Cannabis is a natural plant that has been made illegal by the United States, and has been a controversial topic ever since the 1920’s. Marijuana is a substance that has been used hundreds of years ago as an herbal medicine and also can be used for textile products from hemp, which is from the Cannabis Sativa plant. Because of marijuana being categorized as a schedule one substance, it has no medical value and cannot be researched in the United States. Marijuana is said to be a gateway drug and is very unhealthy for adolescents with premature brains. The marijuana prohibition should finally come to a close because there are many benefits from cannabis and it is less harmful than both alcohol and tobacco.
Despite the 1976 ruling by the federal government that marijuana has “no acceptable medical use”, sixteen states have passed medical marijuana laws that allow for patient use o...
Marijuana is the third most common leisure drug in the United States after alcohol and tobacco. Millions of Americans smoke marijuana despite the strict laws against its use. Marijuana is less dangerous compared to tobacco or alcohol. Smoking marijuana can cause breathing problems and coughing just like cigarettes and some people get addicted after using for a while. Regulating and legalizing marijuana will bring Americas greatest cash crop under law, create economic opportunities and jobs in the formal economy as opposed to the underground market. Adopting a legally controlled market for marijuana will ensure that consumers buy the products from a safe and legal source. Marijuana has been approved in some states for medical uses to ease the effects of different health challenges. Colorado and Washington legalized m...
"Legalization of Marijuana." Student Resource Center. Detroit: Gale, 2012. Discovering Collection. Gale. MINITEX. 20 Mar. 2014
The first law that regarded marijuana in America required farmers to grow hemp in the year 1619 for clothing, rope, and other materials, but “as early as 1840, doctors recognized the medical applications of marijuana, and the drug was freely sold in pharmacies for over a century.” (Rich and Stingl). In 1937, the use and possession of marijuana was made illegal, but “before 1937 marijuana was freely bought, sold, grown, and used.”(Rich and Stingl). In 1970 the congress decided to classify marijuana as a schedule one drug, which has made the legalization more difficult, “schedule one drugs are considered dangerous, addictive, and have no medical benefits.”(Rich and Stingl). Marijuana fits the schedule one drug classification because marijuana is dangerous to people’s health, has been found to be addictive if used daily, and also has no medical benefits because marijuana can cause more health problems than it can cure.
2. Marijuana is a product of the hemp plant and contains the chemical THC that is the most potent of over 400 chemicals found in marijuana and mainly affects the brain.