In the past few years, marijuana has been a very controversial topic. There are people who absolutely want it legalized and people who are absolutely not for it. Medical marijuana has many benefits. Cannabidiol has been proven to help with many illnesses, disorders, and cancers. Cannabidiol has also been proven to relieve depression and PTSD symptoms. Marijuana can also be used to reduce dependency on dangerous painkillers such as fentanyl, Vicodin, methadone, oxycontin, codeine, morphine, etc… It has also been proven that it is impossible to overdose on medical marijuana. If marijuana became legal it would bring in a substantial amount of revenue for state and federal governments, as well as create many new jobs. There are many states who have legalized medical marijuana and have not ended up with a loss of productivity.
Marijuana has been named as something that could potentially endanger lives and make more problems for the country, however, based on how many medical benefits it has and how much it could help the economy, the positives associated with medical marijuana vastly outweigh the negatives. The marijuana plant contains more than 100 different chemicals called cannabinoids. Each one has a different effect on the body. Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) are the main chemicals used in medicine. THC also produces the 'high' people feel when they smoke marijuana or eat foods containing it. Medical marijuana is legal in 33 states which include the District of Columbia, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia.
There are two FDA-approved drugs, dronabinol, and nabilone, that contain THC. They treat nausea caused by chemotherapy and increase appetite in patients with extreme weight loss caused by AIDS. Continued research might lead to more medications. The FDA approved a CBD-based liquid medication called Epidiolex for the treatment of two forms of severe childhood epilepsy. The United Kingdom, Canada, and several European countries have approved nabiximols which is a mouth spray containing THC and CBD. It treats muscle control problems caused by MS, but it isn't FDA-approved. Marijuana has many health benefits. Some of these benefits include helping with epilepsy, chronic pain, and nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy. CBD oil helps stomach aches, joint aches, and muscle aches. According to Cancer.org “More recently, scientists reported that THC and other cannabinoids such as CBD slow growth and/or cause death in certain types of cancer cells growing in lab dishes. Some animal studies also suggest certain cannabinoids may slow growth and reduce the spread of some forms of cancer.” Marijuana also helps treat and reduce the severity of epilepsy.
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Marijuana can help treat appetite loss associated with HIV/AIDS and cancer. Medical marijuana can also help with menstrual cramps. Medical marijuana uses the marijuana plant or chemicals in it to treat diseases or conditions. It's basically the same product as recreational marijuana, but it's taken for medical purposes. Medical marijuana is very different from many prescription drugs because you can’t overdose on medical marijuana. Although many people try to claim that if you start smoking weed or eating edibles you can end up overdosing, there is nothing in medical marijuana that could cause an overdose. You can certainly experience a “bad high” or unwanted symptoms from ingesting too much medical marijuana, but the chances that you’ll die from it are impossible. There is no one who has died from overdosing on medical marijuana. According to the National Cancer Institute, “cannabinoid receptors, unlike opioid receptors, are not located in the brainstem areas controlling respiration.” So too much marijuana can’t cause damage to organs. Cannabis does impact motor skills and can increase heart rates, but there are solutions to these problems, such as physically moving to a more relaxing and comfortable environment or using calming methods to ease an anxiety attack. In fact, when and if you need to head to the emergency room, most medical professionals will simply talk you down and, in extreme cases, give you a sedative. Making medical marijuana legal will help make sure that companies are regulating places that distribute medical marijuana making sure that the consumers are getting quality medical marijuana and not medical marijuana that has potentially been laced with lethal drugs. If companies were to do something to medical marijuana it would be easier to detect who messed with the medical marijuana. Many chronically ill, cancerous patients will get medical marijuana illegally if they truly need it to help the pain.
Making medical marijuana legal ensures that they are getting pure medical marijuana instead of medical marijuana from a drug dealer who put some random chemicals into the marijuana to “make it stronger.” Making medical marijuana would also help the economy greatly. Marijuana is easy to grow and eco-friendly. According to Halcyon Organics “Legalizing and regulating medical cannabis will take this profit center away from murderous criminals and transfer it to licensed and regulated businesses. By taking these revenues from organized crime, we can significantly weaken them financially. Additionally, we will be able to control how and to whom medical cannabis is dispensed by setting responsible standards to which businesses must adhere.” You can grow marijuana in almost any type of weather and it can lessen the amount of carbon dioxide produced. If medical marijuana was legal it would bring in a substantial amount of revenue for federal and state governments. Colorado made more than $750 million in business revenue from marijuana. According to Halcyon Organics, “Cannabis prohibition is expensive. Harvard economist, Jeffrey Miron, estimates that state and federal governments spend an excess of $20 billion per year fighting this little green plant. Much of this cost comes from burdening our justice system, wasting law enforcement’s time, and using $125/day of taxpayer money incarcerating cannabis offenders. To add insult to injury, these efforts continue to fail as cannabis is more available than ever before.” Medical marijuana also helps lessen the opioid crisis that is taking over the United States.
Medical marijuana is also known to help with the opioid crisis. In 2016 a study was done by Health Affairs and it found that there were 1826 fewer daily opioid prescriptions given in the states where marijuana was legal. The study shows that it can help with the opioid epidemic because weed has no addictive agent in it and it also numbs pain. According to Greenlight Approved, cannabis can help increase the efficacy of prescription narcotics, which often stop working well as patients with chronic pain build up resistance. This is significant because complete withdrawal from prescription drugs is not an option for many patients. A showed a 64 percent decrease in opiate use when patients used cannabis in combination with their prescription drugs. Medical marijuana is very useful to people who need it, and I saw that personally. My father got diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia in July 2015. AML is a type of cancer in which the bone marrow makes abnormal myeloblasts (a type of white blood cell), red blood cells, or platelets. He had it aggressively for almost four years. My father had excruciating pain from the cancer and the chemotherapy. He started smoking medical marijuana and eating edibles to cope with the pain caused by cancer and chemotherapy. When I watched him have the medical marijuana in his system I could tell that the medical marijuana was helping him immensely with his pain. Watching my father be relieved from some of the pain that he had been dealing with for years all because he ingested medical marijuana made me realize how great medical marijuana could be if used properly. Before watching my father ingest medical marijuana I was against it being legalized for reasons I am unsure of, but after seeing the good it can do to patients in extreme pain, I realized it is very useful in today’s society with all of the cancers, chronic illnesses, and diseases that are currently an issue in the United States.
In 2017, there was an 11-year-old boy from the United Kingdom who had over 100 seizures a day from his epilepsy. He came to the United States to get a form of treatment containing cannabis oil. His mother later reported that he had not had a single seizure for 300 days. She also stated that the cannabis oil had improved his autism by providing better eye contact and engagement in books and toys. Cannabis oil also shows benefits in immune functions, emotional and mood regulation, vascular health, digestive function, and neuroplasticity. This is proof that medical marijuana can be very useful to people suffering all over the world. There are two main strains of medical marijuana and those are the indica and sativa strains. The Indica strain is usually a short plant with very bushy leaves. The Indica strain also grows faster and grows better in cold climates with shorter seasons. The Sativa strain is a tall plant that has narrow leaves, longer growing cycles and grows better in warm climates with longer seasons. Indica strains are believed to be physically sedating, perfect for relaxing with a movie or as a nightcap before bed. Sativas tend to provide more invigorating, uplifting cerebral effects that pair well with physical activity, social gatherings, and creative projects.
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