MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Medical Marijuana-extended arguments



Abstract

In this study we try to explore the concept of “Medical Marijuana” in a holistic context. The main focus of the research is on “marijuana as a drug” and its relation with “medical science”. The research also analyzes many aspects of “medical marijuana” and tries to gauge its effect on “patients”. Finally the research describes various factors which are responsible for “the controversies that surround the use of medical marijuana” and tries to describe the overall effect of “marijuana” on “the field of medicine”.

Medical Marijuana-extended arguments

Thesis statement

“The use of marijuana as medical drug is justified as it provides relief to thousands of patients. Therefore, marijuana's medical usage should be legalized under drug laws.”

Introduction

Marijuana (also called pot or cannabis) is a drug which obtained from a plant. The drug is used for various purposes and has been used by human beings in all cultures and civilizations since thousands of years. Although, marijuana is considered a drug as it is an addictive substance, people throughout history have been using it as a medicine to gain relief from many health related problems. The drug, or the medicine for that matter is smoked, it could be chewed or even rubbed into one's skin for consumption. In the United States, marijuana is extremely popular not only as a drug, but patients suffering from diseases like HIV/AIDS, cancer, and number of other diseases use marijuana to gain relief from pain (Garofoli, 2005). Since marijuana is an addictive substance, and it was often used by people as a drug and not as a medicine essentially, the US government in the 1930s imposed a number of laws on the usage of marijuana and declared it illegal under drug laws to prevent abuse of the drug. Under the law, doctors have been forbidden to prescribe marijuana to their patients because marijuana contains a compound called THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), which the federal government declared as a Schedule I Drug with an elevated possibility for abuse. Since marijuana's declaration as an illegal drug, patients who have been using marijuana have been protesting against the laws which prohibit the usage of 'medical marijuana'. For this, voters in some 10 states across the US have successfully made the authorities legalizing the said drug. Though patients using marijuana for medical assistance in those 10 states are secluded from suit by the authorities, they are not protected from federal prosecution. That's because the Supreme Court in June 2005 reaffirmed the federal government's ability to fine, arrest or jail medical-marijuana users (Garofoli, 2005)

Discussion and Analysis

The debate over medical marijuana

There has been an ongoing debate over medical marijuana, which integrates different avenues like constitutional laws, politics and medical research. There are a number of queries that have arisen from that debate but no concrete decision has been reached so far (Hertzberg, 2005). Users assert that marijuana is harmless when it is used as a medicine; whereas the opponents of this drug stress that the drug gets highly abused when it becomes legalized and addicts openly ...