Should Marijuana Be Lagalized? Essay, Research Paper

Legalizing marijuana for medical purposes has been a debate for many years. Many institutions have opened up to help terminally ill patients receive their dosage of marijuana. One of them being Cannabis Healing Center in California, which was shut down by the government in 1998 because selling or using marijuana for any reason is illegal no matter what. “It’s a violation of federal law to cultivate or distribute marijuana. Federal law supersedes state law” (Marmion 2). Even though marijuana has no scientific basis, it has proven to help many people suffering from nausea due to chemotherapy and weightloss due to AIDS. On the other hand, there are many reasons why marijuana should not be legalized like the outcome of smoking marijuana or how it is harmful to the people and the society.

Marijuana has been around for thousands of years. It was a commonly prescribed medicine for the ill until 1937 when it was proposed as an illegal drug. Marijuana basically acts on the brain, mostly the part of the brain that affects consciousness. “By acting on these higher brain systems, marijuana produces some of its most striking medicinal benefits, affecting perception of pain, mood, hunger, and muscle control” (Gieringer, Mikuriya, and Rosenthal 13). It helps patients who are going through chemotherapy by stopping their nausea and increasing their appetites. Martina Valdez had been getting chemotherapy for her minuet form of leukemia. She says that using marijuana eased her nine months of chemo by stopping her nausea and increasing her appetite. “The marijuana stopped my nausea during chemo and encouraged my appetite. It allowed me to regain my strength and normal body weight. I lost about 15 pounds when I was using anti-nausea drugs prescribed by my doctors. Those drugs didn’t work at all for me” (Condor 1). Using marijuana increases the value of life available to some chemotherapy patients.

Not only does marijuana help chemo patients, it also helps AIDS victims keep their weight steady. Many AIDS patients and doctors have found that marijuana helps them fight nausea and improve appetite and weight. Wayne Justmann, an HIV positive patient, was prescribed three to four joints a day by a doctor to gain weight. “Because my body doesn’t have the energy to fight the disease the immunity system just weakens” (Marmion 1). Results have shown that people who have AIDS and take marijuana have gained 40 to 50 pounds a week (Gieringer, Mikuriya, and Rosenthal 36).

Some patients don’t like to the idea of smoking so there are alternative ways to deliver the drug in the body like inhalers or patches. “Inhalation results in a rapid onset of effect (ten to fifteen minutes) and allows for extremely fine patient manipulation of the dose (titration)” (Randall 140).

Even though marijuana is considered a Schedule 1, meaning that it has high abuse possible and no recognized medical use, it is one of the safest drugs to take. “Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man” (Bernards 25). Unlike other drugs marijuana does not cause fatal overdoses. It also is not addictive. “Marijuana can help control nausea and keep weight on. We shouldn’t be worried about AIDS and cancer patient becoming addicts” (Condor 3). Users can take it for many years and just stop whenever they believe they don’t need it anymore. “When experts compare marijuana with alcohol, nicotine, cocaine, opiates, caffeine and other psychoactive drugs, they rank it at or near the bottom of the list in terms of dependence, reinforcement, withdrawal potential” (Gieringer, Mikuriya, and Rosenthal 15).

Patients who are going through chemotherapy or are taking medication for AIDS are probably digging themselves in a big financial hole. Michael Ferrucci who is a cancer patient takes marijuana to ease the pain from the chemotherapy. “They gave me morphine, Marinol and another drug called Zofran, which was effective. But it was $150 a dosage. Marijuana was the most effective drug of all. It made the symptoms go away. It stopped the nausea. It relieved the pain. It gave me peace” (Boudreau 2). If marijuana was made legal people can grow it in their very own back yard at almost no cost. But only after a doctor determines the dosage and how many times a day to reduce the chance of any harm.

Many people have misunderstandings about this drug like if a person takes this drug it will lead to other more addictive, harmful drugs. In this country, almost everyone who uses any other illicit drug is more likely to be interested in others, which doesn’t prove that marijuana leads to other drugs. “There is no conclusive evidence that drug effects of marijuana are casually linked to the subsequent abuse of other illicit drugs. It doesn’t follow from those data that if marijuana were available by prescription for medical use, the pattern of drug use would remain the same as seen in illicit use” (Haynes 2).

Despite the fact that marijuana has many beneficial uses to it if it were legal, there are also arguments on how it can be harmful to people and the society. One health concern connected with the use of marijuana for HIV patients is the risk of respiratory infections form smoking. Smoking is known to lower resistance to respiratory infections. “Marijuana has potential as medicine, but it is undermined by the fact that patients must inhale harmful smoke” (Schmid 1). One specific danger with smoked marijuana is contamination with bacteria and fungus spores, which is said to cause a lung disease that can be life-threatening to AIDS patients. To prevent this from happening, patients should make sure not to smoke contaminated marijuana.

Taking marijuana also affects attention, short-term memory, tracking, and coordination. When doctors recommend marijuana they advise patients to stay away from driving and that they might feel like they are a little sleepy. It is also sometimes said to cause symptoms that include delusions, hallucinations, inappropriate emotions, and disordered thinking. “Clearly, marijuana is a substance which produces serious behavioral toxicological effects. Any situation in which safety, both for self and others, depends upon alertness and capability and control of man-machine interaction precludes the use of marijuana” (Bakalar and Grinspoon 139).

If marijuana were made legal then there would be an increase in drug-related accidents at work and on highways. Daily marijuana users have a 30% higher risk of injuries than non-users, which will probably increase accidents caused by intoxication (Gieringer, Mikuriya, and Rosenthal 81). Pregnant women would be able to purchase drugs and then deliver a tiny immature baby that would most likely die. By legalizing marijuana kids would think that it is safe to take drugs because maybe someone in their family is taking it for medical purposes. It would also encourage more recreational use. The easier it is to obtain the more people will use it, which will lead to more drug addicts.

Regardless of all the debate on the legalization of marijuana, the positive aspects seem to have my vote. Marijuana is one of the safer drugs out there. It has been proven to help many patients who are going through chemotherapy and AIDS get back to their normal lives. The only reason why marijuana has not been approved as a legal drug is because no one wants to spend the necessary money to meet the standards of government research and because no one is sure if marijuana even has a future in the medicine field. “Marijuana makes it possible for some terminally ill patients to live while dying. Quality of life means a patient retains a measure of self-esteem and self-control throughout the dying process. Marijuana greatly improves the quality of life available to some chemotherapy patients” (Randall 140).

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