Your daddy is dying. You visit him in the hospital as often as possible. He sits in his metal framed bed daily. Bed sores accumulate. The drugs have made him too frail and weary to remove himself from the maintained position. The stench of vomit and excrement linger in the stale air. That smell is all he knows, his sight practically nonexistent from the glaucoma. You just wish he could not be in the pain that he is in. He really needs to eat; he looks like a skeleton…
The legalization and decriminalization of marijuana for medical use is one of today’s most disputed issues. Various argument for and against the use of marijuana for medicinal therapy exist.
Marijuana, called Cannabis sativa scientifically, is a plant that has been used for medicinal and recreational purposes alike for almost 5000 years. It was first known to be used by the Chinese as medicine as early as 2727 B.C. (Hugghins/Mrugeshkumar, 1998). The ancient Egyptians were also well known for their uses of now-taboo drugs. The plant has spread from China to Africa and Europe, and eventually brought over to the Americas during the colonial times. Today in the United States, it is the most commonly used illegal drug.
Its active ingredient is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, known more commonly as THC. (Iverson, 2005) When smoked or ingested, the user is given a euphoric feeling, which is followed by calm, tranquil feelings. THC is known to help appetites and suppress vomiting, one of the reasons that supporters would like to use it for is starving patients without a will to eat, which is an argument that pro-cannabis supporters claim is a good purpose for cancer and AIDS patients.
On the other hand, this drug can also disorient the user. Then again, different drugs, including alcohol, can also give that effect. Except alcohol has few, if any, medically helpful purposes, yet it’s perfectly legal.
The reason many people want marijuana to be legalized varies. Many who support its medical use say that it is more effective and claim it to be less harmful and addictive than other certain legalized drugs. Advocates for legalization claim it is better than other drugs in many ways. Marijuana is not physically addicting, which cannot be said about certain already-legal prescription drugs. A user does not have withdrawal symptoms like a user of certain other drugs, even nicotine. Over time, a chronic user may become psychologically dependent on it.
There are many categories of people who could benefit from medical cannabis. They include many: glaucoma, AIDS, cancer, and multiple sclerosis patients. There is no cure for these diseases, but the pain can be treated temporarily with drugs.
Glaucoma is a painful disease causing optic nerve damage that, over time, can steal the sight of the person who has it. Patients would use marijuana to stop or reduce the constant pain they endure.
AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) gradually destroys the immune system of the patient who has acquired it. Over time, the person could be taking multiple drugs. More likely than not, people with this disease would use marijuana so they could feel hungry enough to eat, and gain weight.
With Cancer, nausea and vomiting are very common due to either the cancer itself or the chemotherapy. Marijuana would help with those effects, allowing the patient to eat. In some cancers, like brain cancer, pain is an issue that needs to be dealt with as well.
One drug, dispensed in pill form, has been approved for legal use. Marinol® (dronabinol) is a drug that uses delta-9-THC, the same main ingredient found in marijuana. Its purpose is to aid appetite and stop nausea and vomiting for chemotherapy and AIDS patients. Its side-effects are similar to those of marijuana, including “dizziness, feelings of exaggerated happiness, paranoid reaction, drowsiness, and thinking abnormally.” (Is Marinol Safe?, 2004)
However, several claim that this is less effective, and takes much longer to affect the patient than natural cannabis (Weil, 2002). Some claimed that the side effects were horrendous, and included extreme hallucinations (Milbouer, 1, 7). Also, since this drug is only meant to help appetite and reducing nausea, it leaves those who need pain relief sore.
Another point is the ability to control the amount of THC being put into the patient’s body. If the person is given a pill, there is one set dose. However, if that person has the actual marijuana, they can take as many or as few drags as they need.
Many people do not believe that marijuana should be legalized, for several reasons. The opposition’s arguments include the risk of lung damage and addiction of the patient who uses it. Smoking it can lead to lung disease, similar to that of a heavy tobacco smoker. Some worry that the weak immune systems from some diseases are more vulnerable to this. Marijuana is worse for the lungs than a cigarette. It is said that smoking 2 or 3 joints of marijuana is equally as bad as smoking 10 tobacco cigarettes. Although, one is not going to smoke as many joints as one would cigarettes. In addition, tobacco is physically addicting, while marijuana is not. If marijuana is unapproved for the risk of lung damage, then that brings up the issue why cigarettes are still legal. If the reason they claim it to be dangerous is addiction and disorientation, then why are alcohol and countless other drugs legal for people to use?
Another question to contemplate is, if a person is dying anyway, does it really matter? Those who claim they need it are terminally-ill patients with diseases that are killing them, so would the risk of lung damage really matter if they know they will only make it for a few more months? This drug is known to be disorienting, but if one has lost his or her sight, or is bedridden, that patient is probably not going to be operating heavy machinery. Many other drugs also will disorient the patient, so it is unclear why marijuana, of all of them, should be exclusion.
Another issue is the possibility of opening doors to legalization of other drugs. It is often claimed that marijuana is a “gateway drug,” which will lead users to try more dangerous drugs, such as cocaine and heroin. They think, “If this is legalized, what drug could be legalized next?” However, there is nothing to back this up. Ultimately, it is the person’s conscious choice whether or not to go on to do a variety of harder drugs.
On a side note, opponents are concerned that it could be abused. Soon everyone could be lining up in the doctor’s office to get some marijuana to take home for recreational use. They may claim that they have some kind of illness that requires them to toke a bowl. Or perhaps if someone had some marijuana, they might sell it to get extra money. It could be argued that abuse is a risk for any type of drug on the market, though; it does not inevitably mean that it will happen.
Many say that there could be more benefits found if they were able to do more research about its effects. The fact is, not a whole lot is known about the effects of marijuana. Since it is, for the most part, illegal to do studies on it, there are only a limited number of sources to go from. Some doctors believe that if they could work with marijuana, they could make ways to make it much less harmful than normally smoked, such as an inhaler or low-temperature vaporizer.
Supporters of marijuana say that if it were legal, it would be much safer for use. The only alternative now is to get it from the streets, and who knows with what that could be laced. This is compared to the prohibition of alcohol during the 1920’s, a period of time which led to the beginning of organized crime. People had nowhere to turn to find alcohol except the illegal dealers. If marijuana were legalized for patients, it would go to the right people, and it would be untainted; it could even reduce crime.
There have been laws passed for and against marijuana’s medicinal use in the United States. It has been approved for medical purposes by 10 states. Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont and Washington have passed laws allowing use for critically ill (Iverson, 2005). However, the Supreme Court has very recently ruled that anyone possessing or using marijuana, even with a doctor’s recommendation, can be punished for it. The states’ laws do not protect against this federal prohibition.
In closing, there are both potential applications of marijuana, as well as possible risks. Supporters say that it is a non-addicting way to relieve terminal patients. Those who counter say it is an unhealthy alternative that could potentially lead to legalization of worse drugs. I leave you with one question to ponder after looking over this information: Is it really such a horrible idea to let the patients who need some relief have some, even if only temporarily? Reflect on this. Just think if it were your dad.
Works Cited
"US Can Bar Medical Cannabis Use." BBC News: UK Edition. 06 Jun 2005. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4614635.stm>
"Supreme Court Allows Prosecution of Medical Marijuana." CNN.com: Law Center. 06 Jun 2005. <http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/06/06/scotus.medical.marijuana.ap>
Weil, Andrew, M.D. "Stop the Federal War on Medical Marijuana." San Francisco Chronicle 6 Jun 2002. <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/06/06/ED47351.DTL&hw=andrew+weil+marijuana&sn=001&sc=1000>.
"Is Marinol Safe?" Marinol (dronabinol). 2004. Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Inc. <http://marinol.com/marinol04.html>.
Hugghins, Stephanie Y., Shah, Mrugeshkumar K. "The Debate Drags On: Should Marijuana Be Legalized?" New Physician Dec 1998: 11-12.
Iverson, Leslie, M.A., Ph.D. "Marijuana." Microsoft Encarta Online. 2005. <http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761567358/Marijuana.html>.
Milbouer, Stacy. "Marijuana Helped This Cancer Patient Eat Again." The Telegraph 20 Jun 2005: 1,7.
