Summary Of Marijuana Legalization

The people of this country, the world we live in today is being plagued with diseases inside this nation, and little is being done to help these individuals on a broader spectrum. The people need to come together as a nation and put into law what needs to be done for those that are medically ill. According to the infographic from Legal Issues, these states; there are four different current levels of legalization for medical marijuana, those four being operational, not yet operational, Cannabidiol (CBD)-specific, and non-functional (“Marijuana Laws”). Stated by Steve Bloom, CBD-specific states are the ones that have so far only legalized the usage of cannabis oil extracts, as long as the percentage of CBD outweighs the percentage of Tetrahydrocannabinol
Pain medications that are typically opiate based, usually called opioids, are being prescribed by physicians for patients with chronic pain. According to Brian Krans, the most addictive prescribed medications are Adderall, Ritalin, Codeine, Darvocet, OxyContin, Percocet, Valium, and Xanax (“The Most Addictive Prescription Drugs on the Market”). Also, according to Nora Volkow M.D. these opioids that are being prescribed have skyrocketed from 76 million in 1991, to right around 207 million in 2003, in which the US alone is accounted for almost 81% for OxyContin as well as Percocet (“America’s Addiction to Opioids”). Patients shouldn’t have to risk the chance of addiction when they are taking the medications in the proper way. Even though staying within the proper dosage like the doctor prescribed it is difficult for a person to become addicted to them it still happens every day. This country should look at the overall problem with addiction to pain killers, and realize that with the legalization of medical marijuana a lot of these addictions wouldn’t exist. As well as, it would give patients a wider range of medications, made from medical marijuana, that could be used with lesser possibilities of becoming addicted to
With medical marijuana, so far a drug has been produced to treat Multiple Sclerosis (MS), called Sativex, which is currently only available in European countries. Earlier Gilenya was mentioned as a leading medication for MS with some of its side effects. With the legalization of marijuana, this country would also start using the drug Sativex to treat MS patients. According to Drugs.com, Sativex has shown to only have one side effect that appeared in every 1 in 10 patients, which was feeling dizzy or tired. When adding in the full list of Sativex’s side effects, common and uncommon included, Sativex only has sixteen total side effects compared to the current leading US pharmaceutical medication Gilenya which has a list of nearly fifty (“Sativex Oromucosal Spray”). With that shown it should be clear to see that with the legalization of medical marijuana, pharmacies would have to readdress their current medications to compete with healthier as well as safer