On Legalizing Medical Marijuana - Essay Example

Legalizing Medical Marijuana Affiliation Legalizing Medical Marijuana Marijuana can be utilized in the medical world for treatment of several disease symptoms. It has the capability of reducing pain, treat epilepsy, glaucoma etc. Marinol is a prescription medicine used to relieve multiple disease symptoms. It can be used to treat nausea in patients who have undergone chemotherapy. Marijuana on the other hand can relief patients of pain and treat certain conditions such as cancer. It has been proved that from cannabis provide greater pain relief compared to similar amounts of marinol. Sabe (2007) argues that marinol and marijuana have common cannabis elements. Marijuana improves the immunity system of a human. This has the effect of controlling adverse symptoms related to HIV/AIDS. Marijuana has several administration routes. It can be smoked directly from the cannabis plant leaves or ingested in the form of marijuana pills. In some cannabinoids, oral administration has slow and irregular absorption. However, smoking marijuana leads to a high rate of absorption, making it a fast pain relieving substance. Marijuana contains more than 60 chemical substances. When smoked, these substances are introduced to the body. This increases its effectiveness in treating certain disease symptoms compared to other medicines that contain one element. Marijuana is safer than some of the drugs being abused by people. Many other drugs, including prescribed drugs, cause death due to overdose. No death due to marijuana has ever been reported. When patients with neuropathic pain are given marijuana doses, the pain symptoms ease within a short time. This is effective when the patient receives high or low doses through smoking. Patients suffering from multiple sclerosis experience spasticity. In studies where marijuana extracts are administered to such patients, spasticity condition was improved. In most cases, these patients had failed to respond to anti-spasticity drugs adequately. Patients develop spasm frequency and mobility impairments. Extracts from cannabis sativa, when administered to the patients, lower spasm frequency and improve mobility. These substances have manageable side effects in the patients compared to other drugs. Smoking marijuana has little effects on the health of a person. No case of lung cancer has ever been reported from smoking marijuana (ProCon, 2012). Marijuana affects the normal working condition of the brain and the nervous system. The drug impairs judgments, which results to accidents on the roads and work areas. The memory of the individual is affected and they exhibit poor learning abilities. In studies where patients were given marijuana to treat intraocular pressure, none of the patients responded effectively compared to other medical drugs. Smoking marijuana caused an increase in heart rate and a decrease in blood pressure. Cannabis destroys the bronchial mucosa when smoked. This leads to acute or chronic bronchitis in the individual. The smoke destroys cells in the bronchial passage, which leads to lung infections. The immune system of the air sacs is wakened leading to infections. In patients suffering from HIV/AIDS, marijuana causes fungal and bacterial pneumonia. This suggests that marijuana affects the immune system leaving them vulnerable to opportunistic infections. Marijuana contains several chemical substances compared to marinol. These substances are uncontrolled, and may have some toxicity in the body. Marinol contains one substance that has been tested and controlled (ProCon, 2012). Marijuana causes addiction. Children who are exposed to marijuana at a premature period abuse other drugs such as heroin in adulthood. Reduced appetite, weight loss, sleep difficulties, and restlessness are withdrawal symptoms of marijuana. Individuals taking marijuana have complications in paying attention. The working memory of individuals is affected making it difficult for them to synchronize their attention functions. Young persons have developing brains that must amass knowledge and other social skills. Marijuana causes “high” feelings in the patients, which affects their learning skilfulness. Their brains are characterised by poor retention abilities and they might engage in deviant activities such as crime. Cannabis leads to early development of psychosis. Studies indicate that young children who use cannabis develop more than six symptoms of psychosis at a tender age. This is caused by accumulation of toxics rather than infirmities. Cannabis use in adolescents should, for that reason, be discouraged. Cannabis augments the development of incident psychotic symptoms. Persistent use leads to persistent symptoms, which ultimately lead to psychotic disarrays. Based on its ability to relieve severe pain in patients, medical marijuana should be legalized. Legalization will lead to augmented research that can eliminate the noxious chemical substances in cannabis. Marijuana works well than some pharmaceutical medicine and its integration in the medical practice can boost the number of substitute treatments available for patients. Marijuana comes from the cannabis plant that grows in many areas of the globe. Smoking has been proven to be a more effectual administration method than oral ingestion. The patients can use the substance without laboratory or industrial processing, a fact that eliminates the cost of processing the drug contrasted to other medicinal substances in the market. The patients also get the chance to control their dosage depending on the relief they get. The user can choose to stop or continue depending on the relief. Most prescription drugs must be taken as per the prescription even when the symptoms are cleared. Legalizing marijuana will reduce the effects of drug abuse. The government will enact laws that control the use of the drug. According to Pantana (2007), patients in New Mexico can access marijuana after the Governor signed the medical marijuana legislation. This will eliminate back street marijuana vendors that sell the drug indiscriminately. Cannabis is also safer than most of the prescription drugs in the market. Overdosing on these drugs leads to death. However, there is no reported death due to marijuana. This is a safer alternative and non lethal medication alternative. The government can also generate revenue from the sale of marijuana. Dealers of marijuana can remit taxes to the government as part of the law. These taxes provide revenue to the government. Based on the fact that marijuana treats and prevents multiple disease conditions, it legalization can provide medical practitioners with a product that can serve multiple purposes. This can reduce the need for several types of drugs. References Pantana, P. M. (2007). America -- a purpose-driven nation: One nation -- one God -- one law. United States: Xulon Press. ProCon. (2012). Medical Marijuana. 101 Peer-Reviewed Studies on Marijuana. From http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000884. [Accessed at May 31, 2012]. Sabe, C. (2007). Medical Marijuana: Caregivers Journal. San Francisco, CA: Gardners Books. Read More