Medical Marijuana
COM/156 UNIVERSITY COMPOSITION AND COMMUNICATION II
October 26, 2013
Christy Spindler
Medical Marijuana 2 Many people have a very slanted and negative view of marijuana, and it's medical uses. There is so many advantages as well as disadvantages to using medical marijuana, over traditional medications. The use of medical marijuana goes back farther in to United States history than many believe. While medical marijuana has been very regulated and controlled by the government for a long time, it was still being used for medical purposes. So far, 20 states and the District of Columbia, allow the use of medical marijuana and another 9 states are investigating and researching in to making medical marijuana available for medical use. In some cases, medical marijuana can be more effective, less addictive, and safer than traditional medications and better than public perception. Through the history of medical marijuana and the current use of it, we should be able to strip many of these misconceptions. The medical information is available, yet medical marijuana is still a taboo topic. There is sufficient information on medical marijuana to make the topic far less taboo and acceptable. Over the last 15-20 years people have heard of more people being prescribed medical marijuana. There are studies that prove that medical marijuana is less addictive than some prescriptions. It “relieves chronic pain from a variety of causes and reduces the need for addictive narcotic pain kills.” (http://www.vimm.ca/medical/marijuana-versus-addictive-pharmaceuticals/#sthash.BIFl4OSc.dpuf) Many pain patients have found they can relax while using medical marijuana. These patients find that they have less pain over all while using medical marijuana then without using medical marijuana. Medical marijuana has been found to “increase appetite, relieves nausea and vomiting, reduces pain and