Legalisation of Marijuana for Medicinal Purposes - Introduction

For all of you who don’t know, Cannabis is a drug that comes from plants such as Cannabis sativa. It is a depressant drug which makes you feel somewhat sluggish and contains delta -9 tetrahydrocannabinol or in short, THC.  The general opinion on Marijuana is that it’s a harsh, addictive drug which is a detriment to your health; however that is only a perception.  I believe that Medicinal Marijuana which is currently unavailable to the vast majority of the world should be available to those who could really reap the rewards of this controversial drug.

Marijuana in comparison to other drugs

First of all, here are some studies conducted in 1997 by Dr Henningfield. In his work he discusses the fact that the withdrawal symptoms and intoxication rate of Marijuana are much lower in comparison to other harsh drugs such as Heroin, Cocaine and Alcohol, just to name a few. So what exactly do these studies show? Well in short, Alcohol is on par with addiction to class ‘A’ drugs such as Heroin. How does that make marijuana look? You can get alcohol in New Zealand at the age of 18, yet a drug which side-effects pale in comparison is considered illegal.  Alcohol poisoning is common very common and can at times lead to death. Yet here we have Marijuana classed as illegal when no such overdose is possible and can even be used for medicinal purposes.  You see alcohol and tobacco promoted everywhere, on television, in movies and so on and so forth. This is simply because the Government earns a lot of money from these industries, despite the proven detriments of consuming these drugs. Well enough money not to do anything about it at least.

Medicinal Marijuana Purposes

Marijuana is also used to ease pain and help cure various diseases and conditions. People against medicinal marijuana use do not see it as a good idea of intake by smoking the drug. Now however people use vaporizers which extract the essential compounds used to reap these miraculous benefits.  Let’s use Glaucoma as an example. For those who don’t know, Glaucoma is an eye disease which alters the optic nerve and can eventually lead to permanent blindness and other various eye deficiencies. It has been proven that marijuana does in fact dramatically reduce the pressure in the eyes however it is only for a limited time. We also have migraines, something nobody wants anything to do with. A century ago, marijuana was often and most highly recommended to help remedy the harsh symptoms of a migraine. Philip Denney said “Cannabis is one of the best medicines for migraines. It’s so effective – it works rapidly, and it has limited toxicity, although lung damage from smoking is a concern.” Luckily in today’s era, technology is vastly improving and will continue to do so.  New types of medicine are being developed as we speak, so who’s to say that marijuana is not being experimented with? Because it most definitely is, and while research is being conducted we will only be able to learn more about this wonder drug and what it can do in favour of us humans.

Here's a short video on someone who found medicinal marijuana very useful.

Why does Marijuana have such a negative connotation in the first place?

Well there are many causes to its bad reputation and a lot of it is based around propaganda and corporal greed.  Back when President Nixon of America came to power, his campaign was heavily based upon the fact that he wanted to keep Marijuana illegal. Once he was elected president he began to promote commercials stating that Marijuana has properties which cause cancer, and that Marijuana causes communism. However the majority of his information was invalid and he had no solid proof or evidence to back up his statements. You must remember though that this is mid 1900’s where technology was limited. At the same time though I doubt Nixon had any intention of looking into the matter. Back in the early 1900’s and several decades before that, the #1 industry in America was lumbering but was threatened by the rising hemp industry.  This was crucial reason for Nixon’s ruthless campaign against Cannabis and thus the negative view on the topic was formed.

Medicinal Marijuana helps suicide rates drop in younger adults

New Zealand has a very high suicide rate, and also the highest rate of cannabis arrests in the world. With that being said, research recently conducted in the USA shows that once the use of medicinal marijuana became available, there was a notable difference in suicide rates of young adults. What’s interesting about this all is that the rate is still continuing to slowly fall while in other states where medicinal Marijuana is not available, the suicide rate continues to rise.  I’m not saying that based on this alone that Marijuana should be available for medicinal use but it should definitely play a factor in a proposed bill as these are potential lives which could be saved.

10 Links

Here are my 10 links associated with medicinal marijuana use

Link 1

This article is about a father living in the USA who has a baby diagnosed with a life threatening tumor. With all hope lost, he tries a method of treatment using cannabis oil and it ulitmately changed the course of the babies life.

Link 2

This article covers the many ways in which medicinal marijuana can be effective. It mainly discussing sicknesses suck as migraines, asthma, and various eating disorders.

Link 3

Link 4

This article talks about the legalisation of marijuana in USA, but more specifically in the state of Colorado. It goes on to talk about various attempts to legalise the drug in America, and also clears up a lot of the negatives which people believe marijuana provide.

Link 5

This article heavily focuses on the comparion between marijuana and alcohol use. It thoroughly explains a lot of the misperceptions people have between the two, and reveals the harsh side affects of alcohol and that marijuanas side effects pale in comparison.

Link 6

Link 7

Link 8

Link 9

This article discusses the rates of cannabis use in New Zealand, and the initiatives implented in America in regards to medicial marijuana. It then goes on to explain the drop in suicide rate in younger adults.

Link 10

References

Denny, P. (2005). Testimony to the Arkansas legislature in support of House Bill 1303, "An Act to Permit the Medical Use of Marijuana," Retrieved from http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=000218