The consumption of medical marijuana is among the substantial debates that have been implemented by diverse approaches. Close to thirty States in the U.S have legalized the use of medical marijuana including Washington DC. Medical marijuana can be defined as the consumption of cannabinoids under the prescription of a certified medical doctor. There is still inadequate research on the application of medical marijuana due to the limited and restricted access to marijuana. However, some states have legalized the use of medical marijuana in the control of specific infection symptoms. The legalization of medical marijuana varies among the states with some states legalizing either home cultivation or dispensaries sales or even both. There is still a debate about whether medical marijuana should be legalized in all the fifty states in the United States of America.
Those who propose for the legalization of medical marijuana cite at the various medical benefits associated with cannabinoids in the bodies of patients. The use of marijuana has been attributed to the increase of appetite in HIV/Aids patients. Marijuana is also used in the reduction and control of medical symptoms such as nausea and vomiting in cancer patients while undergoing chemotherapy. Researchers also associate medical marijuana to a chronic pain reliever and thus advocate for the legalization of medical marijuana.
There are also a number of adverse effects that have been attributed to the use of marijuana. The health effects of marijuana are both short term and long term including memory loss, hallucinations, and addiction. There is the need of analyzing the benefits and negative effects of medical marijuana to determine whether the plant should be legalized in all the fifty states in the US.
Benefits of Medical Marijuana
Medical marijuana should be legalized because its use is significant in the control and management of various medical symptoms. At the federal level in the US, marijuana remains an illegal drug, however, the medical use of marijuana has been legalized in more than thirty States. The use of medical marijuana is also legal in various developed countries including Germany, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and Israel. The legalization of medical marijuana is enhanced by the healthcare benefit of symptom management that is attributed to the use of medical marijuana. The medical symptoms include nausea, vomiting, chronic pain, and posttraumatic stress disorder (Hill, 2015). Patients find the use of medical marijuana effective because of the feeling of euphoria which subdues the pain that is associated with their chronic medical conditions.
Medical marijuana should also be legalized because of its high potential in fighting opium dependency. A large number of American citizens have been identified to be consumers of opioid which lead to the opioid epidemic. Opioids are pills used as painkillers in treating chronic pain. According to Bradford and Bradford (2016), the adverse effect of the consumption of opioids is the high rate of addiction that makes an individual dependant on the pills. The pills have also caused numerous deaths as a result of overdoses (Bradford " Bradford, 2016). The use of medical marijuana is, therefore, a significant way of reducing and managing the rising opioid killer deaths in the United States of America.
Medical marijuana should be removed from the list of schedule 1 drugs to enable adequate research to be conducted on medical marijuana. The use of medical marijuana dates back to thousands of years yet there is no sufficient scientific evidence that can be used to ascertain the effects of marijuana. Legalizing medical marijuana would enable health practitioners and scientific researchers to conduct adequate research on the impacts of medical marijuana consumption. Adequate research is significant in making the decision of legalization or banning of the drug. However, it does not seem appropriate to subject a drug with substantial health benefits under the schedule 1 drugs. Medical marijuana should thus be legalized in all the fifty states to enable adequate research on the impacts of medical marijuana.
Negative Impacts of Medical Marijuana
The use of medical marijuana has been declared illegal in various states in the US due to the short-term health of marijuana which is harmful to our normal physiological process. The use of marijuana presents various medical effects such as dizziness, prolonged fatigue, increased appetite and making the patient psychoactive (Pacula, Powell, Heaton, " Sevigny, 2015). These are short-term effects of marijuana which develop over time and alter the normal body functioning of a patient. An alteration of the normal body functions, therefore, presents negative impacts in the use of medical marijuana and thus declared illegal by various states in the US.
Prolonged use of medical marijuana also makes a patient tolerant to the medication. Tolerance develops when an individual is addicted to the use of marijuana and thus develops a dependency on the drug. Continuous use of marijuana by a dependent patient develops into medical marijuana tolerance and addiction. An individual's who are addicted to marijuana cannot do without consuming the drug which portrays the adverse effects of medical marijuana. The use of marijuana should thus be banned to reduce the risk of tolerance and addiction.
The acute effects of medical marijuana consumption have led to the abuse of medical marijuana by patients. Marijuana has constituents of THC which causes psychoactive symptoms in the users. Most patients, therefore, abuse medical marijuana for recreational use and thus using medicine for the purpose which is not intended (Mark Anderson, Hansen, " Rees, 2015). The abuse of medical marijuana puts many patients at risk of being dependent on the drug and thus the legalization of medical marijuana.
Conclusion
In conclusion, medical marijuana should, however, be legalized in all the fifty states to enable the users of medical marijuana to benefit from the drug. There is also no death causing effects that have been associated with medical marijuana, unlike some opioid pills. The government should implement the legalization of medical marijuana in all the fifty states to enable adequate research to be conducted on this fundamental research question.
References
Bradford, A. C., " Bradford, W. D. (2016). Medical marijuana laws reduce prescription medication use in Medicare. Health Affairs, 35(7), 1230-1236.
Hill, K. P. (2015). Medical marijuana for treatment of chronic pain and other medical and psychiatric problems: a clinical review. Jama, 313(24), 2474-2483.
Mark Anderson, D., Hansen, B., " Rees, D. I. (2015). Medical marijuana laws and teen marijuana use. American Law and Economics Review, 17(2), 495-528.
Pacula, R. L., Powell, D., Heaton, P., " Sevigny, E. L. (2015). Assessing the effects of medical marijuana laws on marijuana use: the devil is in the details. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 34(1), 7-31.
