The Marijuana Controversy

The Marijuana Controversy

The General perspective that society throws on marijuana is that equal to any drug; negative. However, many researchers have found that the effects of marijuana for medicinal purposes can be beneficial to the right patients, as well as the United States government. The negative effects from marijuana use in a medicinal environment are far less than that of most over the counter drugs, while the benefits remain the same. There are instances in which marijuana was legalized for people with prescriptions from licensed doctors; however, full legalization is leaps and bounds away from the current status. Another way full legalization could help is money the government uses to try and fight marijuana distribution, can go towards something more useful, such as homeland security. Still another controversial fact is that drug money is often used to finance Terrorist organizations, especially in the Middle East.

In today's society there is an infinite amount of over the counter drugs. Life without the simplest drug for some people would leave them to suffer in pain. One drug that is needed in some cases for a patient to function comfortably is marijuana. Many are trying to legalize this drug to benefit society and for the comfort of a select few. Even though, marijuana can be used for a medicine, many still question if it should be legalized in the United States.

Some people can use marijuana being that they have a prescription for it issued by a doctor. Marijuana use "(Murillo, 2005). The question still arises in the minds of many, should marijuana be legalized in the United States today (American Academy, 2004). Marijuana can be used as a medicine and many know this. It can help people deal with every day pain that they suffer from. In on e case, a 35-year-old woman, Sue, smoked marijuana for a year to deal with the nausea she suffered after she had ruptured a blood vessel in her brain. She would always be nauseated or she would vomit everything up. Marijuana had many advantages over Dronabinol and it is a lot cheaper (Cunningham, 2204, pg 23) Marijuana can be used for a number of medical problems: Cancer, AIDS, Glaucoma, Multiple Sclerosis (spinal cord injury), Epilepsy, and pain in general (Cunningham, 2004, p. 22). Marijuana is a very powerful drug against many illnesses. This just helps prove that there is a high demand and a constant need for the medicinal purposes of marijuana.

Marijuana is highly abused and it does have negative effects. It can have a negative impact on short term memory, concentration, attention span, motivation, and problem solving, this goes to show that marijuana hinders learning abilities (American Academy, 2004). There have also been reports of side affects from over the counter drugs that equal and out weigh those of marijuana. One argument by the Nation Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws (NORML) "no one has ever died from an overdose of marijuana but that 50,000 Americans die from alcohol poisoning and another r400, 000 die from cigarette smoking every year (Murillo, 2005). In knowing