maxbaer99

Max Baer

Professor Cosner

Legal marijuana?

Marijuana has become a big debate in America in terms of use medically and recreationally through the streets of America. Doctor Peter Grinspoon of Harvard brings up the point of CBD as a form of medical marijuana without the effects of the high saying “ patients report many benefits of CBD , from relieving insomnia, anxiety, spasticity and pain to life threatening conditions such as epilepsy”. Another use from the medical marijuana according to Harvard is the use of it as a NSAID which is the same as advil or a pain reliever, this is one of the leading uses for medical marijuana in America. Dr. grinspoon brings up how marijuana also lets patients let about their day without being so drugged up they can’t do anything. It also is used to help with weight loss and nausea with patients struggling to keep food down. Studies have also shown marijuana to help parkinsons disease and lessen the tremors and other chronic pains such as back pain or arthritis. Marijuana is legal in 33 states medicinally but is still illegal on the federal level.https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/medical-marijuana-2018011513085

this is giving another heated debate in the government as to if the government should be able to come in and raid legal marijuana dispensaries.

According the to DPA “drug policy alliance” marijuana is medicinally used all over the country but the laws restrict all types of people from getting the medicine due to the federal government overall illegalized marijuana on a federal level but allowing states to choose their own laws over it. This allows for the DEA to come in and raid dispensaries and take all the money and cannabis and just leave with. If you aren’t in a state that allows medical marijuana and that’s the medicine you need the laws make it pretty hard to obtain unless to travel to a legal

state but then you have to drive it back home which is then illegal. If the government could

legalize the drug then they could do a ton more research and make it a ton safer then what it already is. This would move the world of research forward and advance medicine to help more people.

The university of Utah has been doing research on this topic for some time now and they brought up how back before the prohibition in 1937 the use of cannabis as a medicine was a top 3 prescribed drug for patients at the time. Marijuana is classified as a schedule 1 drug also meaning it has no medicinal effect for a patient and can be addicting. As we have come to know the drug more we have laearned it helps relieve any type of pain you may have from a headache to cancer treatments to neurological disorders. There are also multiple ways to ingest of the marijuana, you can smoke it which gets the THC and CBD into your bloodstream instantly or ingest it through food or a pill which will take longer for it to effect you but is healthier than smoking due to all the smoking carcinogens. The university also brought up how getting the world to learn to know the drug as medicine instead of a party drug may lessen the desire for teens to rebel and use it recreationally.

according to drugbuse.gov the legalization of medical marijuana in some states has decreased the use of opioids and overdoses. The legalization of tis drug medicinally and recreationally could help lessen the amount of hard drug users and get them onto a safer regulated drug or get them medicinal help they need to get off a hardcore drug. The two main parts of cannabis are THC and CBD the “THC” is the chemical that gets the user high and the psychoactive effects while the CBD gives the user the relation feeling. This is making it for researchers now to look at both of the chemicals and see what the benefits and draw backs are from both of them and which one can be used best for whatever issue. They have found in studies on rodents that some marijuana types can help reduce cancer cells and slow the growth of cells or tumors.

A doctor on the opposite side of the argument was interviewed on fox and he said that marijuana legally is a bad idea. He believes the legalization of the drug will lead to people not believing how dangerous it can be and increased use around the country. He goes down the route that the drug may reduce the crime rate and drug violence, but is that that more important then the health of the community? With the increase of growers being able to grow higher more potent marijuana that’s making it even more dangerous to use. Smoking the drug can also lead to breathing problems like asthma due to smoking it and clouding up your lungs with all the harmful toxins. Use of the drug long term can lead to laziness, withdrawals from family or friends and a dissatisfaction with life. Anyone with schizophrenia can get worse symptoms with marijuana and people with increased risk for heart attacks become even more at risk when smoking marijuana because it increases you’re heart rate for up to three hours after smoking.

With all these debates going on about the legalization of medical and recreational marijuana there are all kinds of new research and studies going into the drug to find out once and for all if its safe to use and if it has any benefit for the people as a whole. This debate has fueled a fire In the government and between the people and the government because many people have a strong opinion on the subject. With all this research going on and all these debates I bet the government will come to a final opinion on marijuana within the next couple of years on if it should be legal country wide or not.

“Pot Is Dangerous, Not Funny — a Doctor Tells Us Why.” Fox News, FOX News Network,

www.foxnews.com/opinion/pot-is-dangerous-not-funny-a-doctor-tells-us-why.

NIDA. “Marijuana as Medicine.” National Institute on Drug Abuse, 27 Jun. 2018, https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/marijuana-medicine. Accessed 18 Apr. 2019.

“Cannabis in the Clinic?” Cannabis in the Clinic? The Medical Marijuana Debate, learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/addiction/cannabis/.

Grinspoon, Peter. “Medical Marijuana.” Harvard Health Blog, 9 Jan. 2018, http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/medical-marijuana-2018011513085.