Legalization of Marijuana

If your every waking moment was consumed by pain and nausea, you would ask for medication. What if the only medication legally available would leave you unconscious or do nothing at all? If you were the one suffering, would you resort to the only treatment that allowed you to live normally even though it was illegal? Thousands of people across the country are forced to break the law to ease their pain. They have chosen marijuana over anything legally available because it has various medicinal properties that cannot be found anywhere else. Due to these many unique medicinal uses, marijuana should be reclassified as a valid, legal form of treatment.

Marijuana has many unique uses as a form of treatment. It has been used effectively to combat the nausea caused by chemotherapy, to reduce the internal pressure of the eyes of glaucoma patients, and to prevent the "wasting syndrome" In AIDS and cancer patients.

As an alternative to using actual marijuana, modern science has developed a synthetic form of THC, the active chemical in marijuana. However, this synthetic drug, called Marinol, is useless for most everyday treatment because it has the unpleasant side effect of being a powerful sedative In addition to that; Marinol only comes in pill form, which makes it useless for patients taking it for nausea. Marijuana has neither

of those drawbacks. Because it is usually smoked, even the most nauseous patient can use it as well as easily regulate their intake No prescription drug offers the benefits and potential of marijuana.

Many people have testified to marijuana's validity as a unique form of treatment. Marijuana as a form of treatment has gained support from the medical community. Such prestigious medical publications as the New England Medical Journal have come out in support of medicinal uses for marijuana (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 1/30/97). In addition to that, a Harvard study showed that nearly 44% of doctors who treat cancer patients in the American Medical Association, a group officially opposed to marijuana, have actually recommended marijuana to ease the pain of their patients Even with this support, the federal government has refused any sort of clinical testing or reclassifying. Because of its medicinal value and the lack of an effective substitute, marijuana should be reclassified as a Schedule II drug instead of a Schedule I drug, which would allow it for certain medical uses. Other illegal drugs such as cocaine and heroin are classified as Schedule II, even though they are considered habit forming and dangerous, where marijuana, classified as a Schedule I, has never caused a death or overdose and is not considered addictive.

The federal government refuses to reclassify marijuana because there "is no proof that smoked marijuana is the most effective available treatment for anything. There can be no proof until marijuana has been tested in a series of clinical trials. There can be no clinical testing of marijuana because the federal government will not allow them. Anyone who has read the book Catch-22 will find this situation familiar. Unfortunately, people whose morality and patriotism prevent them from using marijuana to treat their cancer, AIDS, glaucoma, or other illness pay the price.

The other opponents of marijuana as a form of medical treatment have presented several illogical arguments against it. Many opponents argue that marijuana is a "gateway drug" that often leads to harder drugs. This argument is easily disproved by the fact that use of "hard" drugs in the Netherlands has decreased significantly since marijuana was legalized.

Parents are often worried that prescription marijuana will mean that more of it will get into the hands of kids. Some of these parents have prescriptions for Morphine, Prozac, Zoloft, Dexedrine, or countless other mood-altering drugs which they successfully keep out of their children's hands.

Marijuana should be reclassified so its unique medicinal value can be legally utilized to treat patients. How long