Persuasive Essay On Medical Marijuana

3-12-13

Medical Marijuana

Pot, weed, ganja, grass so many different names for the same thing, Marijuana. A combination of shredded leaves, stems and flower buds, marijuana has been a part of humanities medicine chest for over 5000 years. One of the 50 fundamental herbs of traditional Chinese medicine, some think it as a medicine some think of it as a drug. New Hampshire being the only state in New England without medical marijuana; a recent poll shows that 79% of adults in New Hampshire agree with medical marijuana. I think that Medical Marijuana would have great benefits for the people who can’t find a stop for their pain in New Hampshire. Since 1996 voters in 20 states have voted yes to the medical marijuana bill. People
are coming to their senses and realizing that this plant growing from the ground can be used for medical treatment for many different reasons. Cannabis, marijuana, is a valuable aid; it provides relief of pain, nausea, glaucoma, powerful appetite stimulant and many more. Marijuana’s medicinal properties may protect the body again some malignant tumors and are neuroprotective. Even though there are all these benefit there is still some downfalls. Because the most common way to get it into your system is smoking you have a chance of worsen your respiratory. When under its influence you might have some problems with your attention, balance and judgment. It also increases your heart rate, which makes a risk for heart disease. The potential of forming an addiction to marijuana is lower than most prescription drugs. The main component in marijuana is THC. THC, tetrahydrocannabinol, is an FDA approved medication. Controlled clinical trials have been held and showed benefits, and the marijuana plant itself is a different story. There is no scientific evidence to date that is sufficient enough to gain FDA approval. The FDA requires carefully conducted studies with patients in the 100’s to 1000’s; it needs to show how the benefits outweigh the risks. Doctors must come up with well-defined and measureable ingredients that are consistent from a unit to the next that allows the dose and frequency to be determined My mother, being a diabetic who is Anorexic and has Glaucoma I think medical marijuana could benefit my mother in more ways than one. Medical Marijuana is a useful treatment for Anorexic; it stimulates the metabolism and causes increase in appetite. It could be very helpful if there were an anorexic person who was refusing to eat; a lot easier to stimulate an appetite a little by marijuana than to be getting feed from a tube. THC doubles appetite on a visual scale. Most patients retain a stable body weight after seven months. I think it would help my mother gain weight and keep it on. Glaucoma is an eye condition a lot of diabetics get where the optic nerve becomes damaged reducing side vision eventually causing blindness when you have higher-than-normal pressure within the eye.
When marijuana is smoked it does lower the pressure in your eyes however it’s only for a short period of time, about three to four hours. Glaucoma needs to be treated 24 hours a day so in order to get the treatment needed you would need to use marijuana six to eight times a day. Your mood and driving functions may get affected. Medical marijuana can be used to temporarily lower you eye pressure, but its not recommended for treating glaucoma on a daily
basis. Medical Marijuana has big effects on patients with Multiple Sclerosis. Multiple Sclerosis is a chronic often-disabling disease that attacks the central nervous system causing numbness in limbs, paralysis and other specific symptoms to each person. Medical marijuana is an effective treatment for pain and spasticity experienced with this disease. “Patients reported 50 percent less pain while using marijuana, and test that graded that intensity of muscle tone by measuring such things as resistance in range of motion and rigidity.” Marijuana is very beneficial to these patients. People are using Percocet, Vicodin and Oxycontin for pain relief and are getting seriously addicted and are falling to the streets and theft to get the drugs them need to feel normal again.
“With the number of people becoming addicted to pain killers and other prescription drugs on the rise, most people who are pro medical marijuana are quick to point out the key differences that make medical marijuana a great alternative.” Deaths from prescription drugs are killing more than illegal drugs. Medical Marijuana is a great alternative to prescription drugs, it is impossible to over dose of marijuana. If you take in too much than needed it might cause sleepiness and or a depressed
feeling. The “Gateway Drug” Theory is what most people are scared off of about Medical Marijuana. It is a scientifically proven fact that marijuana is not a gateway drug in anyway, shape or form. “There is absolutely no correlation whatsoever that creates a cause and effect chain of reactions that leads someone to smoke marijuana and than decide that they need to try heroin, it simply just does not work that way.” Saying marijuana is a gateway drug is like saying the caffeine in your soda will lead you to using cocaine. It just doesn’t work that way. When someone smokes marijuana it stimulates the cannabinoid receptors disrupting functions if the natural cannabinoids. Over stimulation of the receptors in key brain areas produces the marijuana “high.” Even though THC activates in the brain the same way most other drugs do: by stimulating the brain cells to release dopamine. When the smoke in inhaled it causes a euphoric feeling, a response to a pleasurable thing. Most risks related to the use of medical marijuana are to the smoke. Smoking marijuana is the fastest way to get the medicine into your system. There is plenty of different ways to get it into your system though. You can vaporize it, drink, eat or take capsules. Even though smoking it is the most used way to get it into your system they are making new, more effective ways every day. In 2011 there were 758,000 arrests nationwide for marijuana. There are tens of thousands of people arrested and convicted for marijuana violations every year. For a schedule 1 controlled drug that’s a lot. The extent of which marijuana prohibition enriches Mexican drug, cops need to be out in the world taking care of real drugs like cocaine not marijuana that is being used for medication. The benefits of medical marijuana out-weight the risks in many ways for many people. Medical marijuana would better so many people’s lives, if it was legal people with Multiple Sclerosis, Aids, Epilepsy, Chronic Pain and the list can go on and on. Although the doubts come back to legalization of Medical Marijuana is sending a message to young people who aren’t sick but may feel the drug has government’s approval and use it for recreation use. It is feared that after legalizing medical marijuana will lead to the decriminalizing of the drug. “Intentions are to help people. But there is a larger group…and their goal is to legalize marijuana for recreational use and this is one way to start the process.” I think that yes the use of Medical Marijuana should be ok. It should just be on a close watch who can and cannot get it.