Legalizing Medical Marijuana

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Should medical marijuana be legal across the United States? Imagine a world where individuals who have chronic pain did not have to suffer anymore. Envision a cure for cancer, a disease many Americans are killed by daily. Picture people with severe, violent mood disorders being treated. Most people think the answers to these problems are simple and could be solved by over medicating patients. Today, there are twenty states in America who have legalized medical marijuana for specific health and medical related conditions (Medical Marijuana 1). The United States should legalize medical marijuana so patients who suffer from chronic pain can be treated, cancer could be cured, and mood disorders can be treated.
Legalizing medical marijuana in the United States could cure many health issues such as chronic pain. Bill McCarberg states that cannabinoids found in marijuana have been shown to be effective in reducing pain (1). For example, researchers “gave oral THC or a placebo at random to hospitalized cancer patients who were in severe pain. The THC relieved the pain for several hours in doses as low as five to ten milligrams, and for even longer at twenty milligrams” (Grinspoon and Bakalar 93). As a result, researchers were able to prove that marijuana can be used to relieve chronic pain for patients with severe cancer, and other painful diseases. Another example is a twenty-seven year old man who was referred to a neurology clinic for evaluation and treatment of his severe spasticity. The man experienced vision loss and acute weakness in both legs. He went through episodes of severe leg spasms at night. The man could not tolerate the side effects of pain medication; therefore he tried to relieve his leg pain with Tylenol and ...

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“Mother and Son: The Case of Medical Marijuana. (case study).” The Hastings Center Report
Sept.-Oct. 2002: 11+. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 31 Jan. 2014.
ProCon.org. “20 Legal Medical Marijuana States and DC.” ProCon.org. 13 Dec. 2013.
Web. 20 Feb 2014.
Seamon, Matthew J, Jennifer A Fass, Maria Maniscalco-Feichtl, and Nada A. Abu-Shraie.
“Medical Marijuana And The Developing Role Of The Pharmacist.” American Journal
Of Health-System Pharmacy 64.10 (2007): 1037- 1044. Academic Search Premier.
Web. 7 Feb. 2014.
Souder, Mark. “Marijuana Should Not Be Legalized For Seriously Ill People.” Terminal Illness.
2004. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 7 Feb. 2014.
U.S Drug Enforcement Administration. “Marijuana is Dangerous for Its Users and Others.”
Medical Marijuana. 2006. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web.7 Feb. 2014.

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