Should marijuana be legalized?

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Why You should take intrest...

For those of us who don't smoke marijuana the legalization probably isn't a big deal and there are more important things however legalizing marijuana could be beneficial to all and directly impact our lives. If you search for marijuana on your search engine you are likely to come up with sites like this. Most people upon seeing that kind of a website would assume that all marijuana is for is getting high. This is just one of the many myths about marijuana. If one does more research it is plain to see that this is simply not the case. Marijuana use is higher than might be expected among middle school and high school students according to ONCDP. It is not the young that I want to focus on though, it is the benefits to the sick and the elderly. There are many arguments for the legalization of marijuana such as economic gain,keeping people out of prison, and according to some people would be fulfilling our rights as Americans. Just as there are many arguments for the legalization there are many arguments against like health, the fact that marijuana is considered to be a gateway drug, and more people would be smoking. Although some people argue against marijuana for health reasons, I am for marijuana legalization because it does have health benefits. The drug in marijuana was found to counter the inflammation of the brain in Alzheimer's patients, for example. By doing this it allows there brains to stay active longer. “The active principle in marijuana, Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), has been shown to have wide therapeutic application for a number of important medical conditions, including pain, anxiety, glaucoma, nausea, emesis, muscle spasms, and wasting diseases." This quote was taken from a report from a study on the effects of marijuana on sick people. Not only can marijuana help slow the effects of Alzheimer's it can also be used as an effective treatment for the effects of cancer. It can reduce the vomiting and pain that chemotherapy causes as well as giving the patient an appetite. There is even some new evidence that marijuana can cure cancer. Another fatal disease that marijuana helps with is AIDS. Some cases suggest that smoking marijuana can help get rid of the drug induced dementia in AIDS patients. It can also help them keep weight on which can be one of the major problems associated with AIDS. Marijuana does this through its main ingredient, which is specific to marijuana. If you still don't think that marijuana has benefits to outweigh its cons, here is a good website that describes in detail both the pros and the cons. As you can see there are more pros than the ones I previously mentioned. Medical marijuana is not a theory made by a bunch of hippies, in fact there are many scientific studies proving that marijuana does in fact help as well as many first hand accounts. According to this website 60 of the chemicals in marijuana help with a range of diseases. I can't find very many reasons not to legalize marijuana. I am hoping that this blog might help convince you logically why it is a good idea to have marijuana legalized.

4 comments:

APERRY said...

I did not realize marijuana (I think you spelled it wrong in your title) is used for that many things. I am not sure if I agree that it should be legalized because it is still a drug and can become addictive and can consume alot of peoples lives. Even if it does become legal in the medical field, just like pain pills people are probably going to be selling it under the table! There are many people that are addicted to pain medication and cannot get off and some people even die!Pain pills are legal but does that mean they are good or right to use?

Kryssi said...

Though I don't trust that your argument is correct on the medical benefits of marijuana, I'm a bit confused. How exactly does smoking marijuana help Alzheimer's patients or reduce dementia in those suffering from AIDS?

-Kryssi
http://abortion102.blogspot.com

Elizabeth said...

I did spell it wrong, its never been one of my strong suits. Have you ever taken a pain killer for a headache-do you know anyone who has? Are you or this person addicted? If you answered yes and then no your answer is simple pain killers are good to use. Imagine taking a test with a killer headache. Now imagine that you have a headache but you don't have the pain killer because it is illegal but you know it is out there and you know it can help. This is the case with many sickly people and marijuana it is not legal but it can help keep them alive. The question then becomes do we sacrifice a few for many or do we fight for the few we can save. Is it fair to those people to know that something can help them but they can't have it? These are all questions that need to be examined closer to find out what exactly needs to be done but they are all questions whose answers can impact the lives of thousands.

Elizabeth said...

Kryssi-when you posted your comment I hadn't finished my post, if you read the rest and still have questions I'll be glad to answer them.