Summary: The Medical Marijuana Debate

1554 Words4 Pages

The medical marijuana debate ascends from conflicting cultural views more so than the science of medicine. The controversy being the decriminalization of marijuana in order for medical providers to prescribe it as a treatment option. This paper will use an inductive argument to analyze the arguments supporting medical marijuana and against its use while avoiding arguments supporting marijuana’s recreational use. The benefits of legalizing marijuana outweigh the associated risk factors as marijuana can be used to treat neurological disorders, chemotherapy patients, loss of appetite and weight related to AIDS, glaucoma, and many more health related issues. Marijuana is a safer treatment option and less toxic than many of the harsh drugs currently …show more content…

The benefits of marijuana outweigh the harm and because medical marijuana meets the principle of double effects four conditions, it is morally acceptable to allow physicians to prescribe it. Morally acceptable actions should not be illegal and the government should reclassify marijuana as a Schedule II drug for it to be considered “legal”. Failing to permit physicians to prescribe marijuana as a treatment option is a violation of the ethical principle of nonmaleficence as they are unable to provide an effective treatment for their patients thus leading to the patients harm. The therapeutic advantages of prescribing medical marijuana outweigh the risks and can improve a patient’s quality of life by preventing and relieving suffering. The ultimate goal of a physician is employing a form of treatment that will produce the most benefit and elude the most harm to the patient. It is respect for a patient’s autonomy and the duty of a physician to provide care that leads to my conclusion that is it morally and ethically sound to legalize marijuana and permit its use for medical treatment and …show more content…

Granting the approval for marijuana to be utilized for medical purposes will support further research on its benefits and can prime the FDA’s approval of this substance. Currently, 23 states allow for the medicinal use of marijuana and upon these considerations more states should follow in suit. References Barnes, R. E. (2000). Reefer Madness: Legal & Moral Issues Surrounding the Medical Prescription of Marijuana. Bioethics. doi:10.1111/1467-8519.00178 davidagler.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.davidagler.com/teaching/bioethics/drugs/Handout6_EthicsOfMedicalMarijuana_Clark_v2 J, C. P. (2000). The Ethics of Medical Marijuana: Government Restrictions vs. Medical Necessity. Maa, E., & Figi, P. (2014). The case for medical marijuana in epilepsy. FigiEpilepsia,55(6), 783-786. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/epi.12610/full Sides, H. (2015, June). Science Seeks to Unlock Marijuana’s Secrets. National Geographic. Retrieved from http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2015/06/marijuana/sides-text Stolberg, S. G. (1999, March 18). Government Study On Marijuana Sees Medical Benefits. New York

Show More
Related

  • Marijuana Should Be Illegal

    606 Words  | 2 Pages

    Based on the conclusion made by the US National Institutes of Health, marijuana should remain illegal. Although it does have many medicinal benefits - including improving the appetite in chemotherapy and AIDS patients, reducing muscle spasms associated with epilepsy and multiple sclerosis, and alleviating eye pressure in glaucoma patients - there is no proof that marijuana is the most effective treatment. The main active ingredient in marijuana (THC) is already available in its legal form, Marinol; it does in fact have therapeutic applications; therefore, the whole substance of marijuana does not necessarily need to be legalized. In addition, marijuana has many side effects that may harm patients. If marijuana does become legal, multiple legal drawbacks would occur. For example, it is highly likely that doctors may take bribes from healthy patients to prescribe the drug for recreational use. This would make legalization too difficult to regulate because prescriptions may end up in the wrong hands. In addition, legal marijuana may provide drug dealers with an easy opportunity to escape prosecution for trafficking and dealing drugs. “Reversed psychology” would not work in this situation, for the legalization of marijuana would inflict more chaos and crime than it would attempt to prevent.

    Read More

  • Medical Marijuana Should Be Legal

    928 Words  | 2 Pages

    Cowley, Geoffrey and Mary Hager. “Can marijuana be      medicine?” Newsweek Feb. 1997: Vol.129 Issue 5 page 22.      <http://ehostvgw8.epnet.com/delivery.asp?…&startHitNum=     13&delType=FT>.

    Read More

  • Medicinal Marijuana in Texas

    1717 Words  | 4 Pages

    Wingerchuk, Dean. "Cannabis for Medical Purposes: Cultivating Science, Weeding Out the Fiction." The Lancet 364.9431 (2004): 315-16. Print.

    Read More

  • Legalization of Marijuana

    1053 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ever since marijuana’s introduction to the United States of America in 1611, controversy of the use and legalization of the claimed-to-be Schedule I drug spread around the nation. While few selective states currently allow marijuana’s production and distribution, the remaining states still skepticize the harmlessness and usefulness of this particular drug; therefore, it remains illegal in the majority of the nation. The government officials and citizens of the opposing states believe the drug creates a threat to citizens due to its “overly-harmful” effects mentally and physically and offers no alternate purposes but creating troublesome addicts hazardous to society; however, they are rather misinformed about marijuana’s abilities. While marijuana has a small amount of negligible effects to its users, the herbal drug more importantly has remarkable health benefits, and legalizing one of the oldest and most commonly known drugs would redirect America’s future with the advantages outweighing the disadvantages.

    Read More

  • Why Marijuana Should be Legalized

    2031 Words  | 5 Pages

    Wilson, Clare “The Case for Marijuana by Prescription." Marijuana (Contemporary Issues Companion). Tardiff, Joseph, ed. Farmington Hills: Greenhaven Press, 2008. 63-70. Print

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Cannabis

    860 Words  | 2 Pages

    A controversial topic that has spread throughout the nation of the United States of America, and that is also widely popular, is the issue on cannabis. Cannabis is infamous for its natural state as a plant, and also for its ability for allowing people of all kinds to become “high”. A bad name has been given since there has been much negativity and false claims towards the subject. Cannabis is used medicinally to help those in need to aid to medical disabilities, disorders, as well as chronic pains. This plant is an issue through the laws of congress and year after year, lobbyist to this day are still fighting for its legality. In this paper, I will present an argument in support of legalizing the use of cannabis, and then argue that this argument has certain flaws that

    Read More

  • The Future of Marijuana in the United States

    2704 Words  | 6 Pages

    Mikuriya, Tod H. (1969). Marijuana in Medicine: Past Present and Future. California Medicine 110(1), 34–40.

    Read More

  • Should Marijuana Be Legalized?

    1250 Words  | 3 Pages

    Legalizing Marijuana has been a common subject for debate in the United States. As the debate continues on in the political system, marijuana has become the most popular illegal drug in the United States. There are many arguments for and against the legalization of marijuana ranging from the effects on the mind and body to the economic possibilities after legalization. Both sides embrace strong facts and stronger support, but much of these facts consist of similar research with contradicting results. The side that tends to have the most and the strongest support in the most prominent arguments, economics, health, and criminal association, is the group for legalizing marijuana.

    Read More

  • Is Medical Marijuana Real Medicine?

    1577 Words  | 4 Pages

    "The Debate Over Medical Marijuana." Marijuana. Ed. William Goodwin. San Diego: Lucent Books, 2002. 75-91. Drug Education Library. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 27 Feb. 2012.

    Read More

  • Marijuana Should Not Be Legal

    1208 Words  | 3 Pages

    Joy, J.E., Watson, S.J. & Benson, J.A. (1999). Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

    Read More

  • The Fight Over the Legalization of Marijuana

    1102 Words  | 3 Pages

    Is marijuana as bad as many people say? The term “Marijuana” is a mixture of a dry shredded green or gray leaves and flowers of the hemp plant Cannabis sativa. Marijuana also has several names such as dope, weed, Jane, grass, pot, reefer, herb, ganja and boom. Marijuana is commonly smoked in cigarettes because it has an active ingredient, TetraHydroCannabinol (THC), passes from the lungs into the brain by the bloodstream, which transports THC to other organs to produce a relax state (Edition, 2013). Currently, because there are many advantages and disadvantages of legalization marijuana that it will be explained later, Marijuana becomes a huge political issue.

    Read More

  • Legalization of Marijuana

    1281 Words  | 3 Pages

    In determining the ethicality of legalizing marijuana, it is necessary to understand the background of the issue, and to identify the most important stakeholders. In the 1930s, many states began outlawing the substance; ironically California was the first of these states (Rendon). In 1937, the federal government outlawed the substance, which pushed the growth and sale underground (Rendon). In 1970, President Nixon declared the substance a Schedule I Substance, which indicates that the substance has “a high potential for abuse” and “no currently accepted medical use” (Controlled Substances Act). The federal government has specified that for marijuana to have an accepted medical use, it must “be subjected to the same rigorous clinical trials and scientific scrutiny that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) applies to all other new medications” ("Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about Marijuana"). There are numerous stakeholders in an ethical dilemma of this magnitude, which...

    Read More

  • The Legalizing Marijuana Debate

    898 Words  | 2 Pages

    Kluger, Jeffrey, Szalavitz, Maia. November 22, 2010. The Science of Pot. Time Magazine. pg. 37

    Read More

  • Medical Epilepsy Essay

    1339 Words  | 3 Pages

    Marijuana has been a heated debate for generations. For years, people have argued whether or not Marijuana should be legalized despite the drug’s negative side effects. For instance, “The Case for Medical Marijuana,” (Maa & Figi) (2015) cases such as Charlotte Figi’s show the importance of the legalization of marijuana. For some legalization means life or death. New scientific proof suggests that Marijuana is much safer than other chemical compounds used in other medications to treat epilepsy. Although Marijuana has negative side effects, the positive effects of marijuana are more beneficial and less harmful than the side effects from most synthetic medications used to combat the disease. Therefore,

    Read More

  • Persuasive Speech: Marijuana Should Be Legal

    1717 Words  | 4 Pages

    ... the medical value. It should be used by those people whose last alternative for relief is marijuana. These people who are ill should not be punished by suffering. Prescription drugs are not to be taken unless prescribed by a doctor.

    Read More

More about Summary: The Medical Marijuana Debate

Open Document