Medical Marijuana Research Paper

Legalization of Medical Marijuana
If something does more good ,than bad ,then is it truly bad? This is the case with marijuana. The United States groups marijuana in with much harsher drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and other opiates which are proven to lead to death. The federal government fails to realize the benefits which marijuana provides. These benefits range from helping the medical field expand into cheaper and more beneficial solutions to helping solve financial issues for state and federal governments. This implementation would be unnerving however most states have already legalized marijuana and their results provide a great pathway for a full legalization. Medical marijuana should be legal because it has legitimate medical uses,
will make America safer, and has already been implemented in 26 states showing how beneficial it truly is.
The United States is failing to recognize new research proving its benefits.
This is greatly alarming to the people in the United States because it reveals how narrow minded the government truly is. United States states that marijuana is a fairly unstable drug which is very addictive. However, this simply is not true since marijuana through all of human existence has only had 2 cases of overdose. Research shows that marijuana is not addictive and is highly beneficial in solving everyday struggles of many humans. It is proven that medical marijuana can help reverse the effects of smoking cigarettes, reduce cancer cells growth, treat glaucoma, and countless other medical issues everyone faces or will face. The state governments started to realize how the benefits of marijuana would greatly help in the medical industry, but the federal government does not agree. Due to this, these states are starting to take issues into their own hands by legalizing marijuana for medical and even for recreation purposes. Legalizing marijuana will also lower the crime rate in the United States. Currently marijuana helps funds drug dealers and criminal organizations while the government is wasting money on police forces to help counter this. If marijuana was legalized, the profits would dramatically decrease for people selling and they would quit selling. The money saved could help local schools and the community. This would be very frightening to implement, but 26 states have already done this
and their results are astonishing. Colorado, one of the first states to legalize marijuana, is now a leading state in booming economies as well as their unemployment rate has dropped drastically. Marijuana should be legal for medical purposes. Marijuana could greatly impact the medical industry for the better.
Cannabis is the main ingredient in marijuana. The National institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) reported that its effect on the body is just like any other natural made chemical in the body. The benefits range from treating simple headache to slowing down cancer cells. Drugs sold over the counter are more dangerous than marijuana yet those drugs are approved and are sold. Donald Abrams, chief of hematology-oncology at San Francisco general hospital, has done more research on marijuana than anyone in the United States (Weil, 127). He concluded in his research that inhaling cannabis can help reduce pain associated with nerve damage and can also increase effect of opiate pain relievers as well help patients sleep. This is greatly important because of how tough nerve damage can be on a person. They are usually recommended to use over the counter pain relief pills but if marijuana is stronger in relieving pain as well as helping them sleep more calmly why would anyone decline. Another usage for marijuana is that the cannabinoids have an ability to relieve chronic pain which included nausea and vomiting from chemotherapy (Park). Cancer is something that troubles every human because currently the current treatments to battle it are very costly on the human body physically and mentally. Chemotherapy is so frightening that some people are even tempted not to try to that method. If they were told about marijuana,
they would be less on the fence about this treatment because at the end the pain and trouble will be easily removed. THC, also known as Tetrahydrocannabinol, is another ingredient in marijuana. Many doctors believed that this is the chemical that does the most damage to the brain. They say that this leads to memory loss however this is not true. On September 7, 2016, Premier Webb did an experiment with mice testing pain relief with THC. The experiment showed that mice actually did have pain relief which is a major reason why doctors and therapist recommend patients to this drug. It also shows how since they are testing on mice already that human testing should not take too long. Elise Andrew conducted another experiment with mice were exposed to THC, main ingredient in marijuana, and his results were staggering. He found that mice with tumors actually went down when exposed to THC while the control group remained the same (Andrew). These experiments will allow the United States to accept this drug on the federal level. It shows how close we are to actually proving to the government that this drug has far more benefits and less harm unlike the other drugs which have been approved by them. These are all the known benefits but when the United States legalize on the federal level the research will vastly expand into other areas of the medical field. This will lead to more benefits and more ways to help the citizens in their daily lives. Legalizing marijuana will not only help patients in need but also everyone living in the United States. Since marijuana has little to no downsides, drug sales for marijuana are marginally higher than other substances. If the United States legalized it, the drug dealers would have no point of selling something that yields little profits and risk their lives in prison. Patients would no longer need to go to shady dealers in order to help themselves since they can quickly go to a local legalized seller and buy it safely. When the alcohol prohibition was taking place in 1920s, sales of alcohol were through the roof and this is the same case with buying illegal drugs. Kids get a rush from just trying to get something that is not allowed to. If marijuana became legalized then just like getting other medicines to help improve a student’s ability to focus are easily attainable through a doctor, marijuana will be the same. To insure medical marijuana is safely implemented we have to follow have a good guidelines set. Doctors have to prescribe this drug and not just freely go pick it up from a local salesman. If needing validate the drug, the people should be able to use the state’s prescription drug monitoring program to check for their worrisome prescribing (Metts). Local police will also be able to focus more time on real damaging drugs. Currently the police are spread very thin on the issues they need to address. If they no longer have to put the amount of manpower currently needed to stop marijuana sales they will be able to stop major drug deals. The police would also through the profits gained via marijuana sale taxes be able to reinvest into more protective gear and body cams to protect themselves and the public. Legalizing marijuana will lead to safer schools and safer streets for everyone while also helping treat negative effects of treatments. Legalizing marijuana is not a risk because many states have already legalized it and the results are astonishing. “Two years after marijuana became legalized in Colorado their drug-related charges has dropped by 23% (TFTPROJECT).” This means the police force is no longer having to focus on stopping drug dealers and more on violent crimes. The revenue raised from cannabis tax improves the local schools and programs for the youth. The Tony Grampsas Youth Development program is set to receive 23 million this year. This money would not have existed if marijuana was not legal. This project has led to teen drug usage decline as well as deaths from opiates painkillers have significantly decreased. States like Mississippi do not have a state lottery to help gather funds for local schools but by legalizing marijuana they would no longer have to. Marijuana federally legal would also create jobs. The transportation industry would increase leading to more jobs. State governments would also quit needing to raise taxes in order to properly function. “California is estimated to get over $1 billion in marijuana taxes (Savorn)”. The federal budget would also increase. The Budgetary Effects on Marijuana Prohibition reported “taxpayers pay around $14 billion per year on war against marijuana.” The $14 billion federally could help out states which do not get enough in taxes that year. This election year 5 more states will vote on whether they will legalize marijuana as well. This causes great trouble for the citizens who are unsure of the true legality of the drug. Federal law prohibits carrying the drug while local police accept the legality. If the states all legalized marijuana and the federal government still fails to fix this, state governments will start acting more independent leading to a greater distrust between states and federal governments. The federal government needs to realize the states are going to legalize it so they should start as well so a clear boundary is set. Overall, the aftermath of legalizing marijuana is amazing and helps local communities improve and thrive. Marijuana does more good than bad so why is it considered bad? Research shows the THC and cannabis have great medical issues. They help across the board from a simple headache to glaucoma. Mice testing reveals our original thoughts on the drug is completely false and the real results are that the drug does so much good the bad is vastly overshadowed. Marijuana will also help make the United States safer. The drug dealers would lose incentive to risk jail time for a small profit. Just like most prescriptions drugs kids would no longer want them since it’s not considered a dangerous drug and will slowly quit trying to buy it illegally. The patients who are going to treatments will no longer need to go through shady channels in order to get a little relief. The way they get the illegal drugs put their lives in more danger than the drugs themselves. Since states like Colorado have legalized marijuana already, the risk is no longer there. Colorado has seen a 10.1% decrease in overall crime, 10 million dollars came from taxes in 4 months, and thousands of jobs were created in a small time window. This can be predicted to occur across the country but only higher since it will be truly legal. The United States needs to revisit its viewpoint on marijuana because the new research proves it needs to be legalized for the benefits of the people.