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Paulina Romero
Writing 39C
February 5, 2014
Medical Marijuana
“Marijuana is a green, brown, or gray mix of dried, crumbled leaves from the
marijuana plant. Some states have approved medical marijuana to ease symptoms of
various health problems,” as stated by Nlm.nih.gov. According to Procon.org, the US
Census Bureau estimated 2,421,069 people as medical marijuana users (“How Many
People in the United States Use Medical Marijuana?”). Marijuana is not an FDAapproved medication, but Tetrahydrocannabinol, the active ingredient in marijuana, is
approved to relieve nausea for cancer patients and to stimulate appetite in patients with
AIDS. Marijuana, a natural plant, helps some people make it through the day, and it is
only legal in 20 US states and the District of Columbia. In order to alleviate the pain level
of patients, medical marijuana needs to be legalized in all 50 US state because it has
showed significant help when used as a pain reliever and has shown improvement in the
quality of life.
History of Marijuana Leading Up To Present Day
Marijuana has been used for medical purposes for centuries, it is not any type of
new man made drug. Medical marijuana dates all the way back to 2900 BC when the
Chinese emperor Fu His made reference to Ma, the Chinese word for marijuana, which
was a popular medicine for having possessed both yin and yang (“History of Marijuana
as Medicine”). The Chinese believe yin and yang to bring good health when evenly
balanced. In 1 AD, the Chinese used marijuana in more than 100 ailments. Jamestown
settlers brought marijuana to the Americas in 1611 and used it to treat depression. Queen
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Victoria of the UK reportedly used marijuana for menstrual cramps. The 1700s was a
popular time for growing marijuana; it was considered normal. Marijuana then became a
mainstream medicine by the 19th century in the West since Jacques-Joseph Moreau, a
French psychiatrist, figured out that marijuana helped with headaches, helped people
sleep, and increased appetite. On November 1, 1968 Wootton Report found marijuana to
be less dangerous that alcohol and other drugs. Then in 1970 marijuana became a
controlled substance due to the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act
of 1970. In 1980, Marinol, a synthetic version of Tetrahydrocannabinol, was tested on
cancer patients that did not respond well to antivomiting medication, and it was found
that Marinol worked. Then a new study took place where patients found marijuana to be
safer and more effective than synthetic Tetrahydrocannabinol. California became the first
state to legalize medical marijuana on November 5, 1996. On November 3, 1998, Alaska,
Oregon, and Washington followed in California’s footsteps by legalizing medical
marijuana (“History of Marijuana as Medicine”). In present time, marijuana is only legal
in 21 out of 50 US states and 9 states are pending legislation to legalize medical
marijuana.
What Marijuana Has Done for the People: Case Studies
One case study showed how smoking marijuana helped cancer patients relieve
pain, as opposed to taking cannabinoid drugs. In 1999, the Institute of Medicine
recognized that cancer patients should be allowed to smoke marijuana if the approved
Tetrahydrocannabinol drugs failed to relieve pain. For this study 748 patients smoked
marijuana prior to and/or after cancer chemotherapy and 345 patients used the oral
Tetrahydrocannabinol capsule. The result was that the patients who smoked the
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marijuana experienced 70%-100% relief from nausea and vomiting. The patients who
took the Tetrahydrocannabinol capsule experienced 76%-88% relief. It appears that
smoking marijuana is a more successful treatment for a cancer patient with nausea and
vomiting after chemotherapy (“Clinical Studies and Case Reports”).
Figure 1 shows an elderly man that is
in the final stage of cancer, literally just
waiting for the end. This man appears to be
confined to his bed, which looks almost like a
hospital bed. “The marijuana is by all means
the only good thing that has come along to
help me out,” says Chalmers. Marijuana is a
Figure 1
drug that helps people, cheers them up, and gives them an appetite, just like it did with
Roger Chalmers from Montana. (“Cancer patient’s message: Medical marijuana really
does help”)
Another case study done where marijuana helped is with HIV infected individuals
that have neuropathic pain, which reduced their quality of life and interfered with their
daily functioning. “Treatments were placebo and active cannabis ranging in potency
between 1 and 8% Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, four times daily for 5 consecutive days
during each of 2 treatment weeks, separated by a 2-week washout. The proportions of
subjects achieving at least 30% pain relief with cannabis versus placebo were 0.46 and
0.18. Mood and daily functioning improved to a similar extent during both treatment
periods. Smoked cannabis was generally well tolerated and effective when added to
concomitant analgesic therapy in patients with medically refractory pain due to HIV
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DSPN,” states the case study done by the Department of Neurosciences at University of
California, San Diego.
A third case study shown to help people, is those diagnosed with Posttraumatic
stress disorder which affects many people, especially many of our soldiers that return
home from wars. The case study done by MaReNa Diagnostic and Consulting Center
states, “The group consisted of patients with "pure" PTSD (18 patients), PTSD patients
with clinical depression (27 patients) and patients suffering from PTSD/chronic pain
comorbidity (34 patients). Majority of PTSD patients used also the conventional
medications (such as antidepressants and sedatives, pain killers etc), prescribed them by
their treating physicians. Medical Cannabis (as sativa and/or indica species) was provided
by several companies. The Cannabis daily dosage was in range 2-3 gr/day (containing
about 20% of cannabioids active compounds THC/CBD). In most cases a significant
improvement in Quality of Life and pain scores, with some positive changes in CAPS
scores was observed. Under this combine (Cannabis + conventional medications)
treatment, the patients reported a discontinuation or lowering the dosage of pain killers
and sedative pharmacological agents. The results show good tolerability and other
benefits (especially in the quality of life & on CGI-I) of such flexible combine approach,
particularly, in the patients with either pain and/or depression comorbidity.”
Other Side of the Debate
Marijuana, just like any other drug can have its side effects, which can be anxiety
attacks and psychotic reactions. Then again there are drugs that are even worse in our
hospitals such morphine and codeine, which are man made addictive drugs. If addictive
drugs such as morphine, which can cause slow or even stop your breathing, are in
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hospitals, then marijuana should be legalized in every state. According to Cdc.gov,
“During 1999--2006, the number of poisoning deaths in the United States nearly doubled,
from approximately 20,000 to 37,000, largely because of overdose deaths involving
prescription opioid painkillers.” As far as deaths due to marijuana, “Not a single person
has ever died from a weed overdose,” states Huffingtonpost.com. Smoking marijuana
will have it side effects such as lung cancer because smoking anything will do no good to
your lungs. There are many other options besides smoking such as edibles, which can
range from popcorn, brownies, chocolate, and other sweets.
There is also the fear of parents, that if marijuana becomes legal in all states, it
might appeal even more to their children and they might want to try it.
Teens.drugabuse.gov states, “In 2012, 6.5% of 12th graders reported using marijuana
daily, compared to 5.1% in 2007. In 2012, current use of smokeless tobacco was reported
by 2.8% of 8th graders, 6.4% of 10th graders, and 7.9% of 12th graders. Other ways of
smoking tobacco remain at high levels, including smoking tobacco using a hookah and
smoking small cigars, which is done by 18.3% and 9.9% of 12th graders, respectively.
Alcohol contributes to the three leading causes of death among 12 to 20-year-olds
(unintentional injury, murder and suicide).” The reality of teens in today’s society is that
there is a bit of a higher chance that they try tobacco, which is legal and leads to lung
cancer, rather than marijuana. Alcohol, which is legal in all 50 US states, contributes to
the three biggest causes of death in teens, while marijuana hasn’t gotten anyone killed.
Drugs that are legal such as tobacco and alcohol are the ones that do cause deaths, so
parents should worry more about their children smoking tobacco and drinking alcohol
than worry about their child smoking marijuana. Marijuana needs to be legal for medical
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purposes only, but then again cigarettes are illegal for anyone under 18 and alcohol is
illegal for anyone under 21, but either way teens manage to get a hold of these drugs.
One study shows that the states
with legalized medical marijuana, between
the years of 1990 and 2007, had a
decrease in suicides as opposed to the
controlled states, which seem to have a bit
of an increase in suicides. The decrease of
suicides in men aged 20 through 39, as
shown in figure 2, decreased by 9.4%.
Estimates for females were less precise
but a small decrease is seen below in
figure 3. The solid line with the white
Figure 2
diamonds represents the states that legalized medical marijuana, and the dashed line with
the dark squares represent the state that have not legalized medical marijuana; this applies
to both graphs (“Medical Marijuana
Laws and Suicides by Gender and
Age”). Parents can clearly see that the
states with legalized marijuana have a
decrease in suicides, so there is not
much to fear.
Legalize Medical Marijuana: It
Can Still Be Controlled
Figure 3
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Marijuana has contributed to many causes such as helping with nausea and
vomiting, appetite loss, spasticity, different types of pain, and even helping with diseases.
Marijuana is not as dangerous as other man made drugs because it is not as addictive and
not possible to overdose. Nature, the international weekly journal of science states, “Chu
Chen and his colleagues at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New
Orleans treated mice with THC, marijuana's main active ingredient. They found that THC
impaired the animals' memory and the efficiency of their neuronal signalling, probably by
stimulating the enzyme COX-2. The authors reversed these negative effects — and were
able to maintain marijuana's benefits, such as reducing neurodegeneration — when they
also treated the mice with a drug, similar to ibuprofen, that inhibits COX-2. The authors
suggest that the benefits of medical marijuana could be enhanced with the use of such
inhibitors. When mixed with ibuprofen, its not a bad combination (case study).” This
comes to show how to drugs, that are not at high risk for addiction can be used together
to make something stronger, although it has only been tested on mice, science is getting
somewhere with the positive use of marijuana. It is a study that has yet to be tested on
actual humans, but drugs such as morphine and codeine definitely need to be replaced by
marijuana in the hospitals.
In 19 states, excluding Washington and Colorado, marijuana can only be
purchased with a medical card given by a doctor. Each state has its own fee for medical
use and their own possession limit of useable and grown marijuana. California, for
example, has a $66 fee and a possession limit of 8 oz of usable marijuana, and 6 mature
or 12 immature plants. On the other hand, New Mexico has a $0 fee and a possession
limit of 6 oz usable marijuana, and 16 plants, 4 mature an12 immature. The fee and
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possession limit is completely up to each state to decide (“20 Legal Medical Marijuana
States and DC”).
Colorado, which legalized marijuana for both medical use and recreational use,
has a good plan, which should be followed by the rest of the country. “Retail weed will
have a 25% state tax -- plus the usual state sales tax of 2.9% -- making recreational pot
one of the most heavily taxed consumer products in Colorado. Some communities are
adding even more taxes to the product. The additional revenue will initially amount to
$67 million a year, with $27.5 million of it designated to build schools, state tax officials
say,” as stated by Cnn.com. If the rest of the country followed in Colorado’s plan, we
would have a lot of extra money that could be put towards better a better education.
Legalizing marijuana affects the whole nation as to what is morally correct, medically
correct, and economically correct. Medical marijuana relieves the pain of those suffering,
and with the taxes helps better our economy, which is why medical marijuana needs to be
legalized in all 50 US states.
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Works Cited
"20 Legal Medical Marijuana States and DC - Medical Marijuana
ProCon.org."ProConorg Headlines. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2014.
<http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000881>.
Anderson, D. Mark, Daniel I. Rees, and Joseph J. Sabia. "Medical Marijuana Laws and
Suicides by Gender and Age." American Journal of Public Health (2014): E1-E8.
Web. 5 Feb. 2014.
<http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/pdf/10.2105/AJPH.2013.301612>.
Department of Neurosciences, University of California, San Diego. "Clinical Studies and
Case Reports." Clinical Studies and Case Reports. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2014.
<http://www.cannabis-med.org/studies/ww_en_db_study_show.php?s_id=277>.
Department of Psychology, University of Vermont. "Clinical Studies and Case
Reports."Clinical Studies and Case Reports. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Feb. 2014.
<http://www.cannabis-med.org/studies/ww_en_db_study_show.php?s_id=256>.
MaReNa Diagnostic and Consulting Center. "Clinical Studies and Case Reports."Clinical
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<http://www.cannabis-med.org/studies/ww_en_db_study_show.php?s_id=481>.
"Marijuana: MedlinePlus." U.S National Library of Medicine. U.S. National Library of
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<http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/marijuana.html>.
Martinez, Michael, Miguel Marquez, Ana Cabrera, and Sara Weisfeldt. "10 Things to
Know about Nation's First Recreational Marijuana Shops in Colorado." CNN.
Cable News Network, 01 Jan. 2014. Web. 05 Feb. 2014.
<http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/28/us/10-things-colorado-recreationalmarijuana/>.
Nickel, Joe. "Cancer Patient's Message: Medical Marijuana Really Does
Help."Missoulian.com. N.p., 09 Apr. 2011. Web. 05 Feb. 2014.
<http://missoulian.com/news/local/cancer-patient-s-message-medical-marijuanareally-does-help/article_a59794f6-6329-11e0-b9ca-001cc4c03286.html>.
"Overdose Deaths Involving Prescription Opioids Among Medicaid Enrollees
Washington, 2004--2007." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers
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<http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5842a1.htm>.
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ProCon.org. "Historical Timeline" ProCon.org. 13 Aug. 2013. Web. 5 Feb. 2014.
<http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/view.timeline.php?timelineID=000026>.
ProCon.org. "How Many People in the United States Use Medical Marijuana?"
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<http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=001199>.
Wing, Nick. "Here's An Updated Tally Of All The People Who Have Ever Died From A
Marijuana Overdose." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 03 Jan.
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