...Should Marijuana be legalized for Medical Purposes? Brian Daniels INTRODUCTION I. Should Marijuana be legalized for Medical Purposes? a. Should Marijuana be legalized for Medical Purposes? i. Some people agree and help aid the move to get marijuana legalized for medical use. ii. Other people disagree and help aid the move to keep marijuana illegal for medical and personal use. b. I both agree and disagree with the move to legalize medical marijuana. i. I agree the marijuana should be legalized for medical use. ii. But also disagree the marijuana should be legalized for the fact of abuse. II. Facts and information. a. As of 2012 18 states and Washington DC have legalized marijuana for medical use. b. As of November 7, 2012 there are 4 states Pending Legislation to Legalize Medical Marijuana. c. However, I am in favor for them to legalize medical marijuana in all 50 states, under strict guidelines to control the use of medical marijuana. BODY I. Pros a. It could be a source of additional tax revenues. b. Medical benefits such as those for cancer patients. c. Police and court resources would be freed up for more serious crimes II. Cons a. Marijuana is often used as a stepping-stone drug b. Driving while under the influence and other dangers would be increased. c. Some consider use of the drug as morally wrong III. Ethical, moral, or legal issues. a. Some religions prohibit the use of intoxicating substances (marijuana included) ...
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...Medical Marijuana If a substance can make someone who is ill feel better, why keep it from him or her? On the surface this sounds right. People who advocate making marijuana legal for medical purposes take this approach. What could it hurt? A closer look reveals that marijuana should not be legalized for medical use, because young people are given mixed signals about drugs, other drugs can be used that are easier to regulate, and there are more harmful side effects. Marijuana is one of the most abused drugs in America today. It is estimated that close to four million Americans regularly use marijuana. It is often one of the first illegal drugs that young people experiment with (Gassett2). Legalization for medical purposes would send a mixed signal to our youth. Young people are taught at a very early age about the harmful effects and the abusive potential of marijuana. If at the same time, they are told that marijuana is medically benevolent, the result could be confusion. Andrea Barthwell, former deputy Director of the office of National Drug Policy said this in 2004, “Children entering drug abuse treatment routinely report that they heard ‘pot is medicine’ and, therefore, believed to be good for them.” (19). At a time when recreational drug use is at an all time high, it would not be wise to legalize marijuana for medical purposes. The war on drugs begins with young people. If they are confused about whether or not a drug like marijuana is harmful, the battle...
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...address the issue of the legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes. The need for laws to be passed in order to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes, in the state of Ohio changes need to be made to our state laws, protecting individuals from prosecution for the use of medical marijuana. History of medical marijuana 2900 BC – 2013: Marijuana has been used for medicinal purposes as far back as 5000 years ago. It was first documented as being used by the Chinese Emperor Chen Nung for illnesses such as; malaria, constipation, rheumatic pains and female disorders and has over the centuries been used for ailments from treating venereal diseases, depression, glaucoma, inflammation, edema, depression and snake bites. It was in 1611 that the Jamestown settlers first brought the marijuana plant, which was commonly called “hemp” to North America; the hemp fiber was an important export at that time. Marijuana was used throughout North America for many years and was even grown by some of our Presidents such as; George Washington who it is said had an interest in the medical uses of marijuana. It was in 1850 that the United States added marijuana to their Pharmacopeia which at that time was the public authority which set the standards for prescriptions and over the counter medications. Up until the 19th century marijuana had been used all over the world for medicinal purposes. The following are events that led to marijuana being classified as a harmful and illegal...
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...Medical Marijuana Should Be Legalized By Antoina Wynn English 101 Ms.McCormick 21 April 2012 Medicine is the art or science of restoring or preserving physical condition as by means of drugs, surgery or obstetrics or any substances used in the treatment of illness (dictionary.com). From there one must ask what a drug is. The dictionary definition of drug is any substance recognized in the official pharmacopeia, any substance intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of disease in humans and other animals, or a habit forming medicinal or illicit substance, especially a narcotic. A cancer patient goes through chemotherapy in an attempt to cure their cancer and preserve their life, but this form of medicine causes nausea, vomiting, infections, hair loss, mouth sores, diarrhea, constipation and fatigue. These symptoms make the already sick patient feel much worse than they already were but medical marijuana can relieve many of the symptoms that chemotherapy causes. Marijuana or cannabis was once recognized in the US Pharmacopeia, so its medical uses are known and recognized. Medical Marijuana should be legalized because it still provides a safe alternative for healing and relief for a various range of illnesses Cannabis or Marijuana was classified as a Schedule 1 drug in the controlled substance act of 1972. Schedule 1 drugs are considered to have high potential for abuse, no medical use and not be safe for use even under medical...
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...The Medical Marijuana Controversy Medical Marijuana is a large controversial subject in today’s society. You may hear about it in the news, on the radio, in a magazine, it is a matter you hear about on a daily basis. As you may know Marijuana has been used for as long as we have known it for recreational and enjoyment purposes. Only in the last decade have you heard of the drug has being more commonly used for medical purposes such as cancer, HIV and other severe medical conditions. These controversies consist of the two opposing views on medical Marijuana; those who support it and its legalization and those who are against it and believe it should be banned. According to thorough medical research and studies, Marijuana does show signs of relief and treatment for numerous medical conditions. Diseases and illnesses such as cancer, Alzheimer’s, Arthritis, HIV/AIDS, depression and many more effect are large percentage of people in the United States today. With very few or no treatments and cures for these illnesses, medical Marijuana has become an alternative for people suffering. Marijuana contains an active ingredient known as THC or tetrahyricannabinol. This ingredient provides the “high effect” after smoking the drug. The American Cancer Society states how clinical tests established that, THC reduces pain and other symptoms of cancer. With this being, the FDA has approved the THC in Marijuana for medical and therapeutic uses. (Tashkin) Although Marijuana might have a...
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...The Viewpoint of the Society on Medicinal Marijuana Everything in the society is changing, especially the laws. Legal and illegal drugs are everywhere in society. People, especially teens, know someone who has drugs and could easily get access to them. Drugs like marijuana are one of those easily accessible drugs. Marijuana is still one of the common drugs and is still considered illegal under the federal laws in the United States. Some states such as California have passed laws allowing marijuana legal to smoke and sell. The medical marijuana is to use for medicinal purposes and can only be prescribed by a doctor. Researchers and scientists support the use of marijuana as a medical drug. Some people like patients may view this positively, because the medical marijuana actually worked on them as they get a lot better. Despite some viewpoints in favor of the use of marijuana, it is still an unethical use of the drug, because there are still negative effects of using marijuana. Even though patients who are suffering from illness or disease and are using medical marijuana, patients viewed that it helps them feel better. With the increase of medical marijuana, the worldwide report estimates between 200 and 300 million people are now smoking marijuana (Earleywine 29). With 40% of the public using marijuana as medicine, it has changed the needs and values of our society. The use of medical marijuana can treat patients with many different ailments such as pain, nausea, vomiting,...
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...Each day the medical field is evolving and creating new means of sustaining life by way of medications and treatments to chronically ill patients. Adapting treatments and medications to new medical discoveries is common in medical testing. Many treatments for life-threatening and chronic illnesses have wretched side effects such as nausea, depression, and loss of appetite – these severe side effects are forcing many patients to make the choice to refuse current treatment methods or medications that would otherwise extend or save their lives. Recent discoveries have shown that using marijuana as form of treatment for chronic illnesses such as HIV/AIDs, cancer, fibromyalgia, and multiple sclerosis, has shown to have justifiable healing and sedative reprieve without otherwise having to suffer the nasty side effects that other treatments have to offer. Current legalization forces patients with chronic and life-threatening illness to either suffer horrendous medicinal side effects from treatment and illness, or break the law by self-medicating by way of marijuana. Medical marijuana should be legalized for the chronically ill as an alternative treatment method to painful and horrid side effects of current treatment methods that are in place. Marijuana originates from the dried parts of the Cannabis Sativa or hemp plant and is known by hundreds of street names such as pot, weed, and grass. The hemp plant has existed for thousands of years with archaeologists discovering hemp fibers...
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...Legalization of Marijuana Michelle Shepard Soc 120 July 16, 2012 Danielle Camacho There is no denying that the drug problem in our country today has reached an epidemic proportion. The problem has gotten so out of hand that many options are being considered to control and or solve it. Trying to end the drug war may not seen to be the best answer in the beginning, but those so-called wars on drugs have not been very successful at stopping the drug wars. I feel that there should be some different options. The legalization of marijuana is an option which hasn’t received much of a chance, but should be given one. Given that marijuana has known important medical uses, such as the alleviation of nausea, and the treatment of glaucoma, can the government justify banning it just because some individuals use it for recreational purposes? Is it even the business of the government to regulate the private lives of its citizens? I really don’t condone the use of any kind of drug use, but a drug such as marijuana should be legalized to a certain extent, because marijuana helps people with some medical conditions they may have. In order for one to solve the ongoing issue of the legalization of marijuana one must take a look at the classical theory of deontology. Deontology is the classical theory where the reason for which an act is done is assessed. (Mosser, 2010) When assessing the issue of the legalization of marijuana, one must question the exact reasons as to why individuals...
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...In Virginia, a bill for medical marijuana is to be established on Tuesday by the Virginia house committee. However the bill was not passed, but if it had been passed medically prescribed marijuana can be used for medical purposes. However, many people believe marijuana is a gateway drug and can lead you to other harmful drugs. That is not the case because people have control over what they put into their bodies. Medical marijuana is legal in some states but it should also be legal in Virginia. Medical marijuana should be made legal in Virginia because it can help those with medical conditions, medical marijuana is a classified drug that has not caused a single death, and it can help those who are on chemotherapy. Medical marijuana can be used...
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...history of marijuana and medical benefits Dona Rudd COM/172 March 20, 2012 Russell Murphy The history of marijuana and medical benefits Although possessing marijuana is a federal offense pending, some states allow the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, generating revenue for the states. There are 16 states’ and Washington DC, in which marijuana is being, used for medicinal purposes and not break any laws. Eighteen states’ are pending Legislation to legalize medical marijuana. There are documents stating that the Chinese used marijuana for paper, the process consisted of hemp around 2000 BC. According to Guither, P. Drug Warrant (2006), “America’s first marijuana law was enacted at Jamestown Colony, Virginia in 1619. It was a law “ordering” all of the farmers to grow Indian hempseed. There were several other “must grow” laws over the next 200 years. A person could be jailed for not growing hemp during times of shortage in Virginia between 1763 and 1767, and during most of that time, hemp was legal tender a person could even pay their taxes with hemp and try that today. Hemp was such a critical crop for a number of purposes including essential war requirements and rope, excreta. That the government went out of its way to encourage growth” Guither, P. ( 2006) (para 6). The history of marijuana Marijuana has many different names, Hemp, Ma, and Marihuana are just a few of the names in which marijuana is called. Marijuana and hemp are...
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...Legalizing Marijuana Anita L. Lewis Soc.120 Introduction to Ethics& Social Responsibility Jack Isbell March 30, 2013 In 1996 California voters first approved an initiative legalizing possession and sale of marijuana for medical purpose in Proposition, thirteen other states followed suit. In addition, two more states have passed laws that, in one case, permit physicians to prescribe it (Arizona) and in another, allow it medical use as a legal defense in a prosecution for unlawful possession (Maryland): bills to legalize marijuana have been introduced in the state. In 2009 the U.S. Department of Justice (Do) announced that prosecutorial priorities should not target individuals whose actions are in clear and unambiguous compliance with existing state laws providing for the medical use of marijuana.” Judges in states that have legitimized medical marijuana are increasingly faced with the need to decide whether to prohibit medical marijuana use as a condition of probation. In 1972, marijuana was placed in schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, which reflected the U.S. government’s view of it as having” no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States. Specifically, it indicated that individuals with cancer or other serious illness who use medical marijuana and the caregivers who provide the medical marijuana in accordance with state law should not be the focus of federal prosecution. In many of the states that have...
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...LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA FOR MEDICAL USES The legalization of marijuana for medical purposes has been questionable for many years, and it has been an active debate in the United States even up to now, with many different issues on which people have many different opinions. There is opposition to the legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes because it has the potential to be used incorrectly, however it is also considered that there is the potential for marijuana to be used in relieving the suffering of many seriously ill patients. Marijuana has been used by people for thousands of years to provide relief from many different serious medical problems. For thousands of years marijuana was not only legal, it was a common crop. It is only in the past ninety years or so that marijuana has been found to be not only unusable, but also harmful and extremely illegal in some States in America (Blaszczak, 2014) .Up to now 23 states in America have legalized marijuana for medical uses, each state has its own regulations to control details such as allowable quantities and registration requirements (State by state marijuana law, 2015). However, the debate on the legalization of its medical uses is still going on in the rest of the states in America. Marijuana is defined as a shredded, green-brown mix of dried flowers, stems, and leaves from the plant named Cannabis sativa. Marijuana has been used as an agent for achieving a feeling of intense excitement and happiness since ancient...
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...MEDICAL PURPOSES FOR MARIJUANA 1 Medical Purposes for Marijuana CM 101 MEDICAL PURPOSES FOR MARIJUANA 2 MEDICAL PURPOSES FOR MARIJUANA MEDICAL PURPOSES FOR MARIJUANA 3 Abstract In the medical field there are many uses for marijuana, scientifically known as cannabis sativa. The main psychoactive chemical compound in cannabis is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the plant is known to contain about sixty cannabinoids; however, most of these “minor” cannabinoids are only produced in trace amounts. Besides THC, another cannabinoids produced in high concentration by some plants is cannabiniol (CBD), which has been shown to block the effect of THC in the nervous system. (wikipedia.org) Many research teams from the United States to Madrid have reported findings of the beneficial use for cannabis. Clinical trial studies have proved that the use of cannabis in patients with HIV/AIDS, cancer, and patients that suffer from chronic pain has significantly improved their quality of life. (Ellis et al. 2008 op. cit.) Although clinical studies have...
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...Conflicting Federal and State Medical Marijuana Policies: A Threat to Cooperative Federalism Todd Grabarsky* Abstract The legal status of medical marijuana in the United States is something of a paradox. On one hand, federal government has placed a ban on the drug with no exceptions. On the other hand, over one-third of the states have that legalizes the cultivation, distribution, and consumption of the drug for medical purposes. As such, the usage of medical marijuana is an activity that is at the same time proscribed (by the federal government) and encouraged (by state governments through their systems of regulation and taxation). This Article seeks to shed light on this unprecedented nebulous zone of legality in which an activity is both legal and illegal, an issue that one scholar on the subject has deemed “one of the most important federalism disputes in a generation.” The issue has become heightened as two states have legalized marijuana for recreational (non-medical) purposes as a result of recent 2012 Election. This Article examines the issue from a federalism perspective. It begins by arguing that unpredictable enforcement by federal authorities in states that have legalized medical marijuana not only threatens state drug policy, but also the efficacy of federal enforcement. This argument is based on the premise that the federal drug ban exists as a cooperation between the states and the federal government. That the federal government relies on the assistance...
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...Name and Number Date Submitted Marijuana Legalization Marijuana, commonly known as bhang, weed, stone and pot is produced from the plant called Cannabis Sativa. It remains illegal in many countries while others are fighting to legalize it. Some states in the U.S.A such as Colorado and Washington have already won the battle to legalize marijuana yet in other African countries it remains illegal yet it is used as a drug (Earleywine 12). Marijuana is speculated to have many clinical trials and medical benefits have been done to prove the hypothesis. According to my point of view, the purpose marijuana legalization should only be medicinal use. All other reasons for legalization should be abolished and prohibited. Marijuana over a long time has been used as medicine in the ancient ages. Many individuals benefit from the therapeutic use of marijuana. Over decades, marijuana has been embraced for its power to relieve pain. Legalization of marijuana for medical purposes has showed several advantages in health fitness. Currently, it is said that most of international health organizations in the world grant their patients the legal access and use of marijuana but under physician supervision. In Canadian Medical Association, there have been suggestions that there should be broad public health approach to evaluating and discuss the use marijuana. It is correct to conclude that legalization of marijuana should only be for medical purposes but not other purposes like recreational drug. States...
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