Medical Marijuana in 21 States of the USA - Research Paper Example

Legalization of medicinal marijuana Backed up by growing public sentiment and of support from federal Government New Yorkmay get the green signal for legalizing medical marijuana in coming spring. It would be the 22nd state of USA to get this permission. It would be revolutionary legislation as far as the US financial capital is concern. In 1972, the American Congress kept marijuana in Schedule I of their Act of Controlled Substances. It was considered that there is no accepted medical use of Marijuana in medicine. After that time has changed, since then, 21 of 52 US states and Washington DC have legalized the medical use of marijuana. Recent inclusion will go to be New York. Over the years pro medicinal marijuana people has argued that it can be effective and helpful for different deadly diseases like cancer, multiple sclerosis, AIDS, pain, epilepsy and glaucoma. In support of their argument those protagonists of medicinal marijuana has come up with lots of medicinal studies done by prominent medicine companies and major Government reports. It is often being noticed that lots of patients with chronic diseases don’t response that much well in terms conventional treatments. They also used different histories of using marijuana as medicine around the world (Morgan, 201-206). This argument faced lots of opposition from different section of the American society. People are opposing very hard against this argument. Antagonists of these arguments are saying that marijuana is very dangerous for using medicinal purposes. It would make people additive about this dangerous habit. They also argue that already there are lots of legal drugs are present in the market. There is no reason for inclusion of marijuana into the lists of medicine. Anti people of this thought also argued that legalization of medicinal marijuana can give indulgence to harder and deadlier drugs. According to them Medicinal marijuana would destroy the in build immune system of human being. It can damage brain cells and can be problematic for lungs. People also argued that a particular group is trying to legalize medicinal use of marijuana only for entertainment purposes and there may be an unholy nexus of drug mafias. Medical marijuana is legal in 21 states of the USA. It is being noticed that maximum doctors across the USA still do not prescribe medicinal marijuana. Survey of WebMD has shown that almost 69% of the doctors and 52% of patients has supported different benefits of Marijuana. This report also recorded that 37% of patient is not confident about different benefits from medicinal marijuana. Almost 20% of doctors are uncertain about the usage of medicinal marijuana. This survey also revealed that doctors who have supported medicinal use of marijuana are mainly specialists of Cancer and blood related diseases. Almost 82% doctors were either oncologists or hematologists. This survey also said that support for medicinal usage of marijuana is also increasing in those states where it is illegal. According to this study 52% of doctors belong to those state where medicinal marijuana is illegal are supporting legalization of medicinal marijuana in those state also. According to WebMD more research are required to get full confidence of the doctors about the usage of medicinal marijuana. Currently 12 more states, including New York, Delaware and Montana are thinking of legalizing marijuana for medical purposes. Doctor and patients are confused and wary about different side effects of marijuana as medicine. People of New York are hoping to overcome the rest of the hurdle in the state Senate (Winterborne, 109-114). Advocates are trying very hard for coming up with a strict legislation regarding to the proper usage of medicinal marijuana. The legislation is limiting its usage for 20 particular serious conditions like cancer, AIDS, traumatic brain injury, multiple sclerosis, post- traumatic stress disorder and Parkinson’s disease. The new version of legislation is also stating that people below the age of 21 can’t take the smoke form of marijuana as medicine but they can certainly use the other forms of the marijuana as medicine. The state of New York would come up with the most stringent possible legislation regarding the usage of medicinal marijuana. New York is going to follow the model of Colorado. Colorado created a model of “Seed to Sale”. Here farmers grow marijuana and sale it to patients. Legalization of medicinal marijuana would generate huge revenue for New York in terms of taxes. According to Mr. Savino, 39 senators will go to support this legislation which should be enough for getting approval of the senate. Different organizations are conducting different public opinion polls for understanding people’s thinking about the whole development related with legalizing of medicinal marijuana. A poll was conducted in Siena College. It showed that 51% is supporting the wide spread usage of legalizing medical marijuana. 26% of the students are the limited plan suggested by Cuomos the Governor of New York. 21% of the student also said that it should not be used at all for the medicinal purposes (Walker, 45-52). Parents and lawmakers are very much concerned regarding legalization of medical marijuana in New York. Different recent studies have shown that it would not enhance the smoking habit of their children. Study conducted by the Journal Adolescent health reveals that legalization of marijuana for medicine purposes does not enhance the pot smoking habit of high school students. The state of New York is moving closer and closer to legalizing the usage of medical marijuana. This cause is getting support from different parts of the society. Even republican Senators are also supporting the usage of medicinal marijuana. It is now up to the leadership of senate to conduct a voting over it. The inclusion of marijuana for medicinal purpose is a very sensitive and important issue for The New York state government. Day by day demand is increasing in support of the marijuana legalization. But Government doesn’t want to take any hasty decision about this highly sensitive issue. The Senate is intentionally taking time before coming up with any decision. Using of medicinal marijuana is not at all a conventional way of treatment. There are lots of questions and limitations are there. It is not at all very easy for the state Government to come up with a decision. In the last few years Richard Gottfried and Savino and have repeatedly tried hard for the legislation for legalizing medical marijuana in New York. The bills always has been passed in the democrat dominated assembly but got stuck in republican dominated senate. Now recently republican senators are also supporting this legislation of legalizing medicinal marijuana (Beau, 67-75). The main important thing everyone is eyeing that whether a voting related to the legislation would be allowed or not. The present scenario indicates that, if the voting is done in the floor of the State senate then the bill would be passed with a huge number of votes. A sense of passing the bill is there but no one is sure about the time frame. Previously the Governor of the State commented that controlled marijuana program need not any legislation. It has raised several questions among the related group of people. It poses lots of questions whether the Federal Government would allow this bill without the state senate legislation (Caulkins, Angela, Beau and Mark, 90-101). The whole developing scenario is clearly pointing out that changes are always a time consuming factors. People of New York are raising their voice for very long period of time. Still the change is not taking place. People of New York are showing example of other 21 states as their support for the change. Lots of researches and surveys are being done about the matter. Most of the research reports are coming up with different arguments and facts for legalizing marijuana (Steve, 78-81). Modern day’s different diseases are getting very complex in nature. Only the conventional medicines are not enough for curing all those diseases. It is the high time to come up with any alternative medicinal system like usage of marijuana for medicinal purposes. There are lots of options for research and study about the subject. At the end of the day it must be taken care that the usage of medicinal marijuana should be proper. If it can be done in a proper way it would generate lots of revenue for the state government. A faulty usage of medicinal marijuana can be very costly for the whole society. All different issues must be considered. In the present situation it is very evident that the medicinal usage of marijuana is gaining popularity and it is a matter of time that it would get green signal from the state senate. People of New York and USA are keeping close eyes on all developments related with the matter. Lots of different pharmaceutical companies are also keeping close eyes on different developments. It could be a new area or market for their business. It could be a very decisive development for whole pharmaceutical industry. Works Cited Beau, Max. Medical Marijuana. New York: Xlibris Corporation. 2010. Print. Caulkins, Jonathan., Angela Hawken, Beau Kilmer and Mark Kleiman. Marijuana Legalization: What Everyone Needs to KnowRG. New York: Oxford University Press. 2012. Print. Morgan, Kayla. Legalizing Marijuana. Minnesota: ABDO. 2010. Print. Steve, Elliott. The Little Black Book of Marijuana. New York: Peter Pauper Press. 2011. Print. Walker, Jon. After Legalization: Understanding the Future of Marijuana Policy. Washington: FDL Writers Foundation. 2014. Print. Winterborne, Jeffrey. Medical Marijuana Cannabis Cultivation: Trees of Life at the University of London. London: Pukka Press. 2008. Print. Read More