Marijuana

There are certain drugs which are considered as illegal here in the Philippines. One of which is the Marijuana which is known for some as “weed”. This drug came from a plant known as Cannabis Sativa. Marijuana is commonly smoked in order for it to be used. The early usage of marijuana was for medical purposes. During the time of Emperor Shen Nung in 2737 BC they used marijuana or cannabis for medical purposes namely: female weakness, gout, rheumatism, malaria, beriberi, constipation and absent-mindedness (C. Ksir, et al., 2006). Marijuana is illegal for it is known for its addictive effect and causes hallucination and makes a person “high” or very active. But with further studies of today, there are a lot of discovery already that marijuana has a lot of medical purposes. Another thing is that marijuana could be a good source of income. With these reasons, legalizing marijuana should be allowed for its medical and economic growth of our country. It is said that marijuana should be banned because of its addictive effect to its users. This drug has an active ingredient known as THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) which creates a physical addiction which makes a person active in using other drugs such as opiates and heroin. In fact it is said that ninety percent of heroin users started from using marijuana (S. Ople–Osorio, 1997, p.82). Smoking marijuana has the potential of making marijuana as abusive but, marijuana could not be consumed by smoking alone. Oral intake of marijuana could be done in order to use marijuana. A study has been done that oral intake of marijuana does not have a potential of being abusive (C. Ksir, et al., 2006, p.382). Therefore, making marijuana for medical purposes in a form of oral intake would not be a problem. Legalizing marijuana would affect the user’s social being. Let us say that marijuana is already leagalized. Being a human, we have the given the ability to choose what is right and wrong. We have our own function as a human. We