Download check these out from a debate on legalizing

Answers to “Marijuana impairs ones ability to drive safely, thus
endangering themselves and others.”
-Marijuana is less impairing than legalized substances such as prescriptions and alcohol.
Claim
Support
Marijuana intoxication in drivers is no way unusual
compared to many medicinal drugs.
In 1996, the National Highway Transportation Safety
Administration (NHTSA) conducted studies on
marijuana’s effect on actual driving performances on
freeways and urban roads in the Netherlands with various
dosages of marijuana.
No increased risk for road trauma was found for drivers
exposed to cannabis.
Accident Analysis & Prevention, a peer-reviewed journal,
reported in its article titled "Psychoactive Substance Use
and the Risk of Motor Vehicle Accidents," by K.L.L.
Movig et al. (Vol. 36, No. 4, pp. 631-636, July 2004):
"The objective of this study was to estimate the
association between psychoactive drug use and motor
vehicle accidents requiring hospitalization.[...]
The risk for road trauma was increased for single use of
benzodiazepines and alcohol [...] High relative risks were
estimated for drivers using combinations of drugs and
those using a combination of drugs and alcohol.
Increased risks, although not statistically significant, were
assessed for drivers using amphetamines, cocaine, or
opiates.
No increased risk for road trauma was found for drivers
exposed to cannabis."
July 2004 Accident Analysis &
Prevention
Answers to “Legalizing marijuana for medical purposes would lead
to increased drug abuse among children/teenagers.”
-Since marijuana was legalized for medical purposes in California, there has been no
increase of drug abuse among children or teenagers.
-There has actually been a decrease in drug abuse among the teens and children.
-The average marijuana user today is now older than ever before. Most smokers are past
the stage of adolescence.
Claim
Support
Since medical marijuana was legalized for
medical purposes in California in 1996,
there has been many studies conducted to
see how it has impacted children and
teenagers. The results were the same time
after time – there was no increase in drug
abuse among the teens and children.
Mitch Earleywine, Ph.D. and Karen O’Keefe, Esq. stated in their 9/05
report "Marijuana Use by Young People: The Impact Of State Medical
Marijuana Laws":
Not only has there not been an increase,
there has actually been a decrease in the
use of marijuana by teenagers.
Percentage of Cannabis (marijuana) Use in
Past Six Months
Grade 199119931995199792
94
96
98
9th
19.4%
30.4% 34.2% 32.5%
11th
29.4%
40.0% 42.8% 41.6%
- Sept. 2002 California Student Survey
The average age for marijuana users has
risen.
"Nine years after the passage of the nation's first state medical
marijuana law, California's Prop. 215, a considerable body of data
shows that no state with a medical marijuana law has experienced an
increase in youth marijuana use since their law's enactment. All have
reported overall decreases of more than the national average decreases
-- exceeding 50% in some age groups -- strongly suggesting that
enactment of state medical marijuana laws does not increase teen
marijuana use....
199900
19.2%
34.7%
2001-02
19.3%
34.0%
According to, “Why Marijuana Should be Legal,” by Ed Rosenthal and
Steve Kubby, the average age of marijuana users has risen.
Answers to “Marijuana is more damaging to your health than it is
helpful”
-Marijuana does not cause lung cancer.
-No one has ever overdosed on marijuana alone.
-Marijuana does not have hazardous effects on the brain.
Claim
There has been no correlation made between smoking
marijuana and lung cancer and/or damage to the lungs
(i.e. emphysema).
Support
Lester Grinspoon, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard
Medical School, wrote in his opinion article, "Puffing is the Best
Medicine," published May 5, 2006 in the Los Angeles Times:
"[T]here is very little evidence that smoking marijuana as a
means of taking it represents a significant health risk.
Although cannabis has been smoked widely in Western countries
for more than four decades, there have been no reported cases of
lung cancer or emphysema attributed to marijuana.
There is no known account of anyone ever overdosing on
marijuana. It is near impossible.
I suspect that a day's breathing in any city with poor air quality
poses more of a threat than inhaling a day's dose -- which for
many ailments is just a portion of a joint -- of marijuana."
May
5, 2006 Lester Grinspoon
The British Medical Journal stated in a 9/20/03 editorial by
Stephen Sidney, M.D., Associate Director for Clinical Research
at Kaiser Permanente (Vol. 327, pp. 635-635):
"No acute lethal overdoses of cannabis are known, in contrast to
several of its illegal (for example, cocaine) and legal (for
example, alcohol, aspirin, acetaminophen)
counterparts."
(9/20/03) British Medical Journal
Marijuana use does not cause brain damage.
* According to Time Magazine, a 165lb person would have to
smoke 900 joints in a 15 minute period to overdose.
Lynn Zimmer, Ph.D. and John P. Morgan, M.D., wrote in their
1997 book Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts:
"None of the medical tests currently used to detect brain damage
in humans have found harm from marijuana, even from long-term
high-dose use....
The claim that marijuana destroys brain cells is based on a
speculative report dating back a quarter of a century that has
never been supported by any scientific study."
(1997) Lynn
Zimmer
Answers to “Why not just take the legal version of Marijuana- Marinol?”
-They do not have the same effects because Marinol is taken as a pill while
marijuana is smoked.
-The goal of scientists and doctors is to make Marinol as close to marijuana as
possible.
Claim
Because Marijuana is smoked rather than taken in
pill form, as Marinol is, there is a difference in the
effect it produces. The smoking allows the THC to
get into the bloodstream more quickly and allows
the patient to control their level of relief.
Support
Professor Donald Abrams, M.D., who has
conducted U.S. Government approved research at
U.C. San Francisco into the effects of smoked
marijuana and AIDS patients, noted in a lecture on
May 17, 1999:
"When we look at the pharmaecopia, when taken by
mouth, delta-9 THC [Marinol] has a very low 6 to
20 percent absorption, and it's very variable from
one person to another....
Smoking THC, the THC is rapidly absorbed into the
blood stream and redistributed with a considerable
amount of it destroyed by combustion. Peak plasma
levels are achieved at the very end of smoking and
decline rapidly over 30 minutes, as if it were given
intravenously, whereas, if taken by mouth, it's a
slow and doesn't reach very high peaks and takes a
long time to disappear.
Patients who have taken both Marinol and
Marijuana overwhelmingly prefer Marijuana.
The amount of THC one is exposed to might be the
same, but certainly the effects are much different. In
patients who say, 'I can control the onset and the
duration much easier if I smoke than if I swallow it'
are telling us just what we know from the
pharmaecopia."
(5/17/99) Donald Abrams
Robert Gorter, M.D., Ph.D., stated in an October
1998 interview with AIDS Treatment News:
"My patients who had experience with both
cannabis and Marinol almost always preferred
cannabis, because Marinol had more side effects,
including headaches and a hung-over
feeling."
(10/98) Robert Gorter
Answers to “If marijuana is legalized, people will become addicted to it”
-Marijuana does not have the characteristics of an addictive drug.
Claim
Support
A defining characteristic of an “addictive drug” is
symptoms of withdrawal which marijuana does not
possess.
David Borden, Executive Director of The Drug
Reform Coordination Network, emailed this
statement to ProCon.org on 2/14/02:
"Addiction is an imprecise term that relates to five
different properties of drugs researchers have
defined: withdrawal, reinforcement, tolerance,
dependence and intoxication. Dr. Jack
Henningfield of the National Institute on Drug
Abuse rated various drugs for these five effects and
found marijuana roughly tied with caffeine as the
least addictive overall." (2/14/02) David Borden
* Colin Blakemore, Ph.D. and Leslie Iversen, Ph.D.
wrote in an editorial published in The Times
[United Kindgom] on 8/6/01:
"For some users, perhaps as many as 10 per cent,
cannabis leads to psychological dependence, but
there is scant evidence that it carries a risk of true
addiction. Unlike cigarette smokers, most users do
not take the drug on a daily basis, and usually
abandon it in their twenties or thirties.
Unlike for nicotine, alcohol and hard drugs, there
is no clearly defined withdrawal syndrome, the
hallmark of true addiction, when use is
stopped."
(8/6/01) Colin Blakemore and Leslie
Iversen
Answers to “There has been no long term studies conducted proving the
benefits of marijuana.”
-Through the Compassionate IND program, long-term studies have been conducted.
Claim
There have been long terms studies. The Compassionate IND
(Investigational New Drug) program was started in 1976 and it has
been helping certain qualified patients receive medical marijuana for
30 years.
Support
George McMahon, a patient in the Compassionate IND
program for medical marijuana, wrote the following in
his 2004 book Prescription Pot (NJ: New Horizons
Press, co-author Christopher Largen):
"I was up to seventeen different pills, three times a day
and I was pretty incapacitated because of the side
effects when my application [to the Compassionate
IND program for medical marijuana] was finally
approved and my doctor received my first shipment of
medical marijuana from the federal government....
I
feel lucky to be a legal patient. I don't feel guilty about
my status, but I can't take for granted what so many
other patients need and lack. Nevertheless, my health
depends on a steady supply of medicine....
People
who have never struggled with a life threatening or
disabling illness often do not comprehend how
debilitating the resulting depression can be. Long days
spent struggling with sickness can wear patients down,
suppress their appetites and slowly destroy their wills
to live. This psychological damage can result in
physiological effects that may be the difference between
living and dying.... The elevated mood associated
with cannabis definitely affected my health in a positive
manner. I was more engaged with life. I took walks
and rode my bike, things I never considered doing
before in my depressed state, even if I had been
physically capable. I ate regular meals and I slept
better at night. All of these individual factos
contributed to a better overall sense of wellbeing.
If you feel better, you are better... I accepted
the fact that I might not ever be cured of my condition,
but at least I had found a way to feel less physical and
emotional pain in the meantime."
(10/29/02) George
McMahon
Answers to “Legalizing marijuana is the stepping-stone to allowing other
drugs to be legalized”
-Unlike the legal substances, nicotine and alcohol, marijuana is not a gateway drug.
-Using marijuana will not lead to the usage of harder drugs.
Claim
Alcohol and nicotine products which are both
legal, are the real gateway drugs.
Support
The 1999 U.S. government-sponsored IOM
Report observed on Page 99:
"In fact, most drug users do not begin their drug
use with marijuana--they begin with alcohol and
nicotine, usually when they are too young to do
so legally...
There is no evidence that
marijuana serves as a stepping stone on the basis
of its particular physiological effect."
(March
1999) IOM
The use of marijuana will not lead to harder
drugs.
According to the National Academy of Sciences’
Institute of Medicine’s 1999 report, Marijuana
and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base:
"There is no conclusive evidence that the drug
effects of marijuana are causally linked to the
subsequent abuse of other illicit drugs … There
is no evidence that marijuana serves as a
stepping stone on the basis of its particular
physiological effect … Instead, the legal status
of marijuana makes it a gateway drug."
The World Health Organization noted that any
gateway effect associated with marijuana use
may actually be due to marijuana prohibition
because "exposure to other drugs when
purchasing cannabis on the black-market,
increases the opportunity to use other illicit
drugs."
Answers to “Why take Marijuana when there are prescription drugs
available”
-Prescription drugs can kill.
-Over the counter drugs can kill.
Claim
Support
Prescription drugs kill approximately 15,000
people each year in the United States and Europe.
A range of commonly prescribed drugs including
antibiotics may be responsible for around 15,000
sudden deaths each year in Europe and the United
States. The drugs interfere with electrical activity
controlling heartbeat.
Health News- May 11th, 2005
Over the counter pain killers can also kill.
Aspirin is the cause of 2,000 deaths each year in
America.
-Why Marijuana Should Be Legalized
Answers to “Marijuana should not be legal because it is hazardous to one’s
health”
-Unlike marijuana, alcohol is not beneficial for any medical uses.
-Alcohol is a deadly drug, which kills thousands each year.
Claim
Support
Alcohol is deadly; marijuana is not.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control, approximately 20,000 Americans die
annually as the direct result of alcohol
consumption. The comparable number for
marijuana is zero.
Alcohol is a hazard to the human body and causes
many diseases. Unlike marijuana, alcohol is in no
way beneficial.
Alcohol is the world's most widely abused drug.
Society and beverage manufacturers promote
drinking as a harmless social activity, but the
reality is dramatically different. Even in
moderate amounts, alcohol seriously impacts
virtually every system of the body. The
correlation between risky behavioral choices and
physical well-being is strengthened, as the link is
revealed between alcohol consumption and such
ailments as alcoholic pancreatitis, cirrhosis of the
liver, fetal alcohol syndrome, and several
common cancers.
Dr. Ernest P. Noble, genetic researcher at the
University of California, Los Angeles.
(Medical information has been authenticated by
top health care providers and researchers.)
Answers to “Marijuana weakens the immune system, therefore being more
harmful to AIDS/HIV patients then beneficial.”
-Marijuana has been proven a safe choice for AIDS and HIV patients.
- Smoking Marijuana is an effective way to alleviate pain and other symptoms of AIDS and
HIV.
Claim
Support
There is much evidence citing that marijuana does not impair
the immune system and is therefore a safe medicine for AIDS
and HIV patients.
*A placebo-controlled clinical trial designed to determine "the
short-term effects of smoked marijuana on the viral load of
HIV-infected patients" concluded the following, as reported in
the Annals of Internal Medicine, 8/19/03, Vol. 139, Issue 4, pp.
258-266 (
"Conclusions: Smoked and oral cannabinoids [marijuana] did
not seem to be unsafe in people with HIV infection with
respect to HIV RNA levels, CD4 and CD8 cell counts, or
protease inhibitor levels over a 21-day treatment."
The accompanying "Summaries For Patients" provided by the
journal (click here to read summary in pdf format) stated:
"Patients receiving cannabinoids [smoked marijuana and
marijuana pills] had improved immune function compared with
those receiving placebo. They also gained about 4 pounds
more on average than those patients receiving placebo."
*In his book Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts, author Lynn
Zimmer, Ph.D. wrote:
1. "There is no evidence that marijuana users are more
susceptible to infections than non-users.
Early studies that showed decreased immune function in cells
taken from marijuana users have since been disproven.
Indeed, not a single case of marijuana-induced immune
impairment has ever been observed in humans."(August
1997)
Not only has marijuana been proven safe, but it is also
effective in AIDS and HIV patients.
A 2/12/04 article by Reuters, "Marijuana Eases HIV-Related Nerve
Pain," stated:
1. "For people with nerve damage that can result from HIV infection,
smoking marijuana seems to relieve the pain they experience,
according to the results of a small pilot study.
...In a trial, 16 HIV-infected subjects with neuropathy were given
three marijuana cigarettes each day for seven days...Twelve of the
16 participants reached the [optimal] 30 percent goal in reduction of
pain...”
Answers to “Marijuana has no medical value.”
-Many physicians do believe that marijuana has great medical values.
-Although marijuana is not the sole cure for a specific disease or illness, its use
benefits a vast array of patients.
Many physicians feel that marijuana is helpful in lessening the symptoms of
patients, especially those suferrings with AIDS and cancer.
*Kate Scannell, M.D., wrote in an article published in the
2.
San Francisco Chronicle on Feb. 16, 2003:
"From working with AIDS and cancer patients, I repeatedly saw how
marijuana could ameliorate a patient's debilitating fatigue, restore
appetite, diminish pain, remedy nausea, cure vomiting and curtail
down-to-the-bone weight loss."
Dr. Scannell concluded by noting:
"...almost every sick and dying patient I've ever known who's tried
medical marijuana experienced a kinder death."(2/16/03) Kate
Scannell, M.D.
*The Green Party of Aotearoa conducted a medical marijuana survey
of physicians in New Zealand. The survey (published in October
2003) reported that out of the 225 responses they received (margin
of error +/- 6.5%):
Research has proven that although marijuana might not be the cure to a
certain disease or illness, it is extremely beneficial in many cases.
32% of doctors indicated they would consider prescribing medicinal
cannabis products if it were legal to do so.
The U.K.'s Medicinal Cannabis Research Foundation published on
their website in November, 2001:
3. "Research to date suggests that research into the medicinal uses
of cannabis and cannabinoids has the potential to make exciting
breakthroughs in the management of severe symptoms such as pain,
spasm, bladder dysfunction and nausea and could therefore bring a
dramatic improvement in quality of life for people with:
AIDS wasting syndroms
Alzheimer's disease
Arthritis
Asthma
Glaucoma
Hypertension
Multiple sclerosis
Nail Patella Syndrome
Brain injury/stroke
Nausea w/chemotherapy
Crohn's/colitis
Pain
Depress./mental ill.
Eating disorders
Epilepsy
Fibromyalgia
Phantom limb pain
Migraine
Spinal cord injury
Tourette's syndrome
Answers to, “Marijuana is not a medical solution to nausea or appetite
stimulation.”
- Marijuana has been proven effective in both categories.
Support
Claim
It has been established for a long time that marijuana is
effective at reducing nausea.
Francis L. Young, DEA Administrative Law Judge, made the
following statement in his 1988 ruling:
4. "The overwhelming preponderance of the evidence in this
record establishes that marijuana has a currently accepted medical
use in treatment in the United States for nausea and vomiting
resulting from chemotherapy treatments in some cancer patients.
To conclude otherwise, on this record, would be unreasonable,
arbitrary and capricious."(9/6/88) Francis L. Young
*Should Marinol, rather than marijuana, should be used to treat
nausea?
No, according to Bill Zimmerman, Ph.D., who
wrote in his 1998 book Is Marijuana The Right Medicine For
You? :
5.
"Patients experiencing extreme nausea find it difficult to
swallow any medication in pill form. Some patients vomit when
trying to swallow the capsule and are unable to use it. When
Marinol does work, many patients claim it takes over an hour
re relieve their symptoms. This probably results from the fact
that the THC passes through the liver before reaching the
receptors in the brain... Because Marinol takes so long to
reduce nausea, some patients have complained that they are
at risk of overdosing when they are driven to get quick relief
from their violent symptoms."
Marijuana is effective in stimulating appetite.
**The journal Nature published a study ("Physiology: A
Hunger for Cannabinoids" Vol. 410, No. 6830, p.763,
4/12/01) where researchers Raphael Mechoulam et al found:
6. "[M]olecules found naturally in the body, as well as in
cannabis -- stimulate appetite."4/12/01 Nature
Answers to “Marijuana can cause depression and other psychological
disorders.”
-Just like any other medicine, marijuana must be used properly to ensure the best results.
-Not only does medicinal marijuana usage not cause depression, it may actually alleviate it.
-Bipolar patients find marijuana more helpful than traditional medicines.
Claim
In order to get the best treatment, you must make sure you
administer the marijuana correctly. When treating mood disorders,
you must thoroughly discuss the treatment with your doctors.
Support
Bill Zimmerman, Ph.D., wrote in his 1998 book Is Marijuana
The Right Medicine For You? A Factual Guide to Medical Uses
of Marijuana on page 139:
7. "Using marijuana to treat mood disorders can be very
tricky.
Since
active
mood
disorders
often
warp
one's
observational skills, reports by patients about marijuana lifting
them out of depression are inherently unreliable.
If you intend to use marijuana for this purpose, it is very
important that you thoroughly discuss it with your doctor.
Patients who respond well report that marijuana not only
diminishes their undesirable moods, it also motivates them to
There has been much evidence proving marijuana can alleviate
depression and relieve bipolar patients.
productivity.
For
some
of thesePh.D.,
patients,
depression
was a press
by-product
of :a
Mitch
Earleywine,
noted
in an 11/17/05
release
debilitating disease or illness for which marijuana provided a
8.
"Not only
doesFor
marijuana
depression,
it looks
welcome
remedy.
others, not
the cause
marijuana
seems to
have
like it may actually alleviate it...
acted directly on the depression."(1998) Bill Zimmerman
Those who use marijuana to battle the symptoms of illness
may be depressed because of their illness, not because of
marijuana. Studies that do not identify medical use might
falsely implicate marijuana, rather than sickness, as the cause
of depressed feelings...
Thirty percent to 40% of patients with bipolar disorder are not
consistently helped by or cannot tolerate standard
medications. In the course of the authors' studies of the
medical uses of cannabis (Grinspoon & Bakalar 1997), a
number of sufferers were discovered who believed marihuana
to be more effective than conventional anti-manic drugs, or
who used it to relieve the side effects of lithium."(11/17/05)
Mitch Earleywine
Answers to “Medical marijuana should not be an option for the
terminally ill.”
-Marijuana can provide a way for the terminally ill to end their lives with dignity.
Claim
Prescribing marijuana to the terminally ill is
somewhat a question of ethics. If marijuana
provides a way for patients to carry on their
daily activities without being debilitated by
pain or constantly in a drug induced sleep,
then why not give it to them.
Support
9.
The 1999 U.S. government 10. IOM
Report stated on Page 159:
"Terminal cancer patients pose different
issues. For those patients the medical
harm associated with smoking is of little
consequence.
For
terminal
patients
suffering debilitating pain or nausea and
for whom all indicated medications have
failed to provide relief, the medical benefits
of smoked marijuana might outweigh the
harm."(March, 1999) IOM