medical marijuana Essay example

Submitted By crazynessa
Words: 799
Pages: 4

Marijuana has been used for years as leisure to many people. What some people do not know is that, with doctor’s approval and/or supervision, it can be used as treatment and even a cure for many things. So why are we so skeptical? By doing some research and digging deeper into the subject, we can find some pros and cons to medical marijuana. But what happens if the pros outnumber or overcome the cons? Why are we still debating something that some states already have solved? The issue of legalizing medical marijuana is obvious. There are groups who support it, and ones who do not. People either use it wisely, or abuse it. The argument is that if medical marijuana is legalized, people will misuse and abuse it. On the other hand, there are people who genuinely will need this and use it to treat their sickness. People for the use of medical marijuana (pros) argue that it can be a safe and effective way to treat symptoms of cancer, AIDS, MS, pain, glaucoma, epilepsy and other medical conditions. People opposed (cons) argue that it is too dangerous to use, lacks FDA approval, and that other legal drugs basically make the use of marijuana unnecessary. (ProCon.org) This issue came into the public eye in 1996 when the state of California made the use of medical marijuana legal for people who were suffering from AIDS, cancer and other painful diseases. (pbs.org) Soon after, other states followed and we now have 20 states that allow the use of medical marijuana. There are plenty of legal drugs that are abused all the time. To me, I feel that if there is a way to control the substance, and the distribution is being highly monitored, there should not be a problem for people who really need it, to use it. If these 20 states can do it without falling apart, why is it so impossible here? If it treats these diseases, and actually works, then we should be able to use it. People shouldn’t have to suffer because our government is so afraid. Marijuana has been used as medicine since 2737 BCE! (Advanced Holistic Health) The only thing is that people have abused its use since then, and that is why we are in this issue today. Currently, there are a few federal laws and regulations about this subject. Some of these include VHA Directive 2011-004, Memorandum for Selected United State Attorneys, and Gov. Gregoire’s Letter and Petition to the Federal Government. The VHA directive 2011-004 allows access to clinical programs for veterans participating in state-approved marijuana programs, Memorandum for selected United State Attorneys is there for guidance regarding the Ogden memo in jurisdictions seeking to authorize marijuana for medical use, and Gov. Gregoire’s letter is was made seeking to have marijuana rescheduled so that it can be prescribed as a medical treatment for appropriate patients. (MRSC) I have to say that I agree with these policies seeing as they all are for using marijuana for medical use and are seeking to have the substance very controlled and supervised. I believe our government should look into these laws and