Legalization of Marijuana - Research Paper Example

The same way, if people were able to look past the intoxicating nature of marijuana that leads to its abuse, they would be able to find several positive characteristics of this substance, which can be used to the advantage of several causes. These characteristics are plentiful, and thus reinforce the idea that marijuana should be legalized. One very well known medical use of marijuana is in the treatment and control of glaucoma (ProCon.org, 2011). This disease affects several people every year.

The main symptom is intraocular pressure in the eye, which is an elevated pressure, which causes nerve damage and impairs the vision of the patient, sometimes to the extent of blindness. While marijuana is not always helpful in curing this disease, it has an active ingredient THC, which helps reduce the intraocular pressure in the eye. This does not cure the patient’s glaucoma completely. However, it does prevent some of the irreparable nerve damage that glaucoma causes, and decelerates the rate of blindness onset for the patient (Jacob, pp. 75-120). Experts (Jacob, pp. 75-120) often criticize this use of marijuana as a glaucoma treatment due to two reasons.

First, they object to employing a psychoactive substance for medicinal purposes, because it has several disadvantages and side effects such as addictiveness and intoxication. However, it is important to note that the alleviation of the symptom of such a disease make the side effects seem small in comparison to the greater benefit that it provides the patients. The second reason why the use of marijuana is criticized is that it does not actually cure the patient’s glaucoma, but only delays the onset of the severe symptoms (Jacob, pp. 75-120). That is, there is no real cure attached with this treatment; it only controls them enough to cause a delay in the patient becoming blind or incurring nerve damage.

Again, it is important to note to view the situation from the patient’s perspective, who would welcome any delay in the onset of such impairing symptoms. Thus, this should provide some grounds for the consideration of the legalization of marijuana. Apart from this, an even greater medicinal use for marijuana is as a painkiller. The University of California conducted several studies (California Secretary of State, 2010), which concluded that marijuana could be a very effective painkiller for patients suffering diseases like cancer, HIV, and multiple sclerosis (Doheny, pp. 1-3). Cancer patients in the final stages of cancer experience high levels of pain to which ordinary painkillers are highly ineffective, leading to a high level of suffering for these dying patients.

Marijuana, besides its infamous reputation as a highly abused psychoactive substance, is also a very effective painkiller, which can greatly help decrease the pain of such patients (Messerli, pp. 1). However, it does not receive the due importance in this area due to its controversial nature. Furthermore, studies have confirmed its effectiveness as a painkiller for people suffering from spinal cord injuries and multiple sclerosis. All these conditions cause extreme pain to the patient, and hardly any of the painkillers administered to them are effective enough to alleviate the pain.

Therefore, the government should consider the use of