In recent years, the debate over the legalization of marijuana in the United States has become quite popular. The prohibition of marijuana began at the start of the 20th century; immigration from Mexico was on the rise following the Mexican revolution, and with them came their culture, in particular, the recreational use of marijuana, which was already in many medicines of the day (Burnett & Reiman n.p.). The media sought to cast a negative view on the immigrants, so they demonized the Mexican immigrants' use of marijuana (Burnett & Reiman n.p.). The Marijuana Tax Act passed in 1937, which essentially made the sale and use of marijuana illegal, and then in 1970, the Controlled Substances Act was passed (Burnett & Reiman n.p.). The Controlled Substances Act created the schedule ranking system for narcotics, and marijuana was labeled as a Schedule 1 substance, meaning that it was a dangerous substance with no medical applications whatsoever (Burnett & Reiman n.p.). Across the country, marijuana is being decriminalized, legalized medically, or fully legalized; support for the legalization of cannabis is growing nationwide. The first state to legalize medical marijuana was California in 1996. Now, 23 states have laws allowing the use of medical marijuana, and recreational use has been legalized in Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, and Washington D.C. 

Even though there is growing acceptance for marijuana in the United States, there are many who still wholeheartedly do not like the idea of ending its prohibition. Unfortunately, many of these people base their beliefs in misconceptions and false information that have been spread about marijuana for decades. I have seen first-hand the benefits of medical marijuana. About a year and a half ago, my aunt was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, and she originally did not want to receive chemo since it would cause her a lot of discomfort. Through the use of medical marijuana, she has been able to go through chemo and alleviate much of the pain and discomfort caused by the radiation. With this paper, I hope to dispel many of the myths surrounding marijuana, as well as provide evidence that shows why cannabis should be considered as an effective medicine. Medical marijuana should be legalized in the United States because research has shown it to be an effective means of treating certain ailments, and many of the reasons behind its illegalization are based in false information. 

One of the first important bits of knowledge to understand about this debate is the difference between medical marijuana and recreational marijuana, because, while they are similar, they are not necessarily the same. In the chemical composition of cannabis, there are two chemicals that are the most prevalent: delta-9-tetrahydrocannbinol, or THC, and Cannabidiol, known as CBD (Leaf Science n.p.). When people smoke marijuana recreationally, it is the THC that causes them to feel high (Leaf Science n.p.). CBD is the chemical that has the most medical value, as it has anti-inflammatory properties. Over the last few decades, marijuana growers have learned how the growth of the plant can affect the chemical composition of the plant, producing different strains, or genetic variations, of cannabis (Jacoby n.p.). These strains can provide different effects for the users, and each person will experience them a little differently. Medical growers have created plants that have very miniscule amounts of THC in them, while boosting the amounts of CBD (Jacoby n.p.). Patients can administer the medicine through smoke inhalation just like with recreational use, but researchers have created a CBD extract that patients can also use (Jacoby n.p.). There are many documented cases of people using this oil, which is administered orally, and it is the method that is used by parents when they use medical marijuana to treat their children, most commonly for conditions like epilepsy (Jacoby n.p.). In his TEDx Talk at the University of Nevada, Hugh Hempel told the story of his eleven year old twin daughters who were suffering from childhood Alzheimer's, which caused them to suffer from multiple seizures daily. He and his wife got them a prescription for CBD oil and they began administering the oil to their children, which reduced the number of seizures they suffered from, after suffering from them daily, if not multiple times a day (Hempel n.p.). CBD has been found to be an effective way to treat inflammation and neuropathic pain, as well as provide a boost to your immune system. Even strains of marijuana with high THC content can have medical benefits, as they can be used to treat conditions like anorexia by causing the user to feel hunger, or by alleviating the suffering of those with chronic pain.  

Over the past few decades, scientists have begun to study how effective cannabis actually is as a medicine.  With each new study, more evidence is being brought forward showing the efficacy of marijuana-based treatments. One study by Koppel et al. found used cannabis to treat a few different neurologic conditions, including multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, cervical dystonia, Tourette syndrome, and Huntington's disease (1). While Koppel et al's analysis could not find results for the effectiveness of cannabis treatments on Huntington's disease, Tourette's, cervical dystonia, and epilepsy, it was found to be effective in treating the symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis, from painful spasms, and urinary dysfunction (1559-1560). In a report written by Bill McCarberg, he discusses a cannabis-based oral spray called Sativex which has been developed in Canada, and has been shown to be effective at reducing pain in patients without providing psychoactive effects (n.p.). Studies performed here in the United States have found Sativex to be effective in relieving chronic pain caused by multiple sclerosis, arthritis, and cancer (n.p.). He also states that "cannabinoids help lessen pain and affect a wide range of symptoms and bodily functions," (McCarberg n.p.). Cannabinoids are all of the chemicals found in marijuana, and McCarberg discusses how research has found that cannabinoid receptors can be found all over the body; CB1 receptors are found in the nervous system while CB2 receptors are found in immune tissues (McCarberg n.p.). Three types of cannabinoids have been identified: those produced by the body (endocannabinoids), produced by marijuana plant (phytocannabinoids), and synthetic cannabinoids (McCarberg n.p.). Since there are so many receptors in the body, cannabinoids are metabolized quickly throughout the body (McCarberg n.p.). Metts et al. analyzed multiple studies that had already been performed to create a document educating doctors on what they should or should not prescribe medical marijuana for. The article says that cannabis can be used to treat pain, insomnia, and Tourette's, as well as "facilitate weight gain in cancer patients," (Metts et al. 182). Negative side effects were found, however, and the authors reported that some patients suffered from dizziness, hallucinations, paranoia, dysphoria, and depression; they also found that cannabis was of little help in treating neurological disorders other than multiple sclerosis (Metts et al. 181). While there were negative side effects found, one must not forget that all medications have some sort of side effects, and that they do not affect everyone every time they use the medication. 

A final benefit that has been found for medical marijuana is its usefulness in treating cancer. Not only can it ease the pain and nausea caused by chemo, but it has also been found to be an effective way of preventing cancer growth. Pierre Desprez, who has been studying the effects of cannabis on cancer for over a decade, wrote an article discussing the effects of medical weed on breast cancer; he and his team found that using CBD can slow down or even stop the proliferation of cancer cells as well as the metastasis of cancer to other parts of the body (McAllister 1). Desprez recently told reporters in 2012, a year after the publication of this paper, that CBD can "work with many kinds of aggressive cancers-brain, prostate," (Wilkey n.p.). More and more research is being done on this subject and the other effects of medical marijuana, but not enough have been performed. 

While these studies have been successful in proving marijuana's usefulness in treatment, there is still not enough hard evidence. Since marijuana is still outlawed by the federal government, it cannot be regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, and therefore, research is very difficult to perform. During his TEDx talk, Hempel stated that many institutions will not accept private grants to fund cannabis research for fear of losing federal funding (n.p). This makes research very difficult, as funding cannot be given by the government, and is rarely accepted from private donors. The gap in knowledge created by this inability to perform harms marijuana's chances of being used as a medicine, so before any serious and large-scale studies can be performed, the federal government must legalize marijuana across the nation. 

Many people would love to see marijuana remain outlawed in the United States, even as a medicine, for many reasons. Some of these reasons are a bit outlandish, and based purely in misconceptions which were birthed by decades of anti-marijuana propaganda that used lies to influence the public's opinion. One such myth was recently debunked by D.A.R.E., or Drug Abuse Resistance Education, when they declared that marijuana is not, in fact, a gateway drug, as so many people had claimed for decades. A few other of these common misconceptions have been debunked in recent years, finally shedding some light on the truth of the subject. Another very common myth that many people believe about smoking pot is that it is worse for you than cigarettes, because pot smokers inhale longer, deeper, and because marijuana supposedly has more carcinogens than tobacco. Well a recent study found that marijuana does not in fact seem to have any negative effects on the lungs. "With up to 7 joiny-years of exposure (eg. 1 joint/d for 7 years or 1 joint/wk for 49 years), we found no evidence that increasing exposure to marijuana adversely effects pulmonary function," claim Pletcher et al.(177). 

However, there are valid arguments among marijuana's detractors. Wall et al. wrote an article titled "Adolescent marijuana use from 2002 to 2008: High in states with medical marijuana laws, cause still unclear," in which they discuss how, as the title says, there were higher rates of teenage marijuana use in the states that had laws allowing the sale of medical marijuana (3). The states with medical marijuana laws had a teenage usage rate of about 8.68% while the states without such laws had a teenage usage rate of about 6.94% (Wall et al. 2). While the researchers could not identify a specific cause for the higher percentages, but theorized that it may be caused by a lower perceived risk of marijuana that can form in states where medical use is legal (Wall et al. 1). Introduction of marijuana to younger age people is a problem, because, even though it is not as harmful as people have been led to believe, cannabis can still have a negative effect on the mental development of adolescents. A 2008 study on medical cannabinoids found that out of 321 previous studies, "4779 adverse events were reported among participants," (Wang et al. 1669). Most of the events were not serious, only about 3.4% were (Wang et al. 1669). Among the reported harmful events were respiratory, gastrointestinal, and nervous system problems, relapse of multiple sclerosis, urinary tract infections, and vomiting (Wang et al. 1672). Wang et al. did report, however, that the studies they analyzed did not provide enough sound evidence and that further research would be required (1669). McCarberg even brings up a point against his own argument: the lack of regulation by the Food and Drug Administration can  have some negative consequences; since the plant is not regulated, dispensaries could sell buds that have pesticides or mold in them, and dosing is very difficult to control, since the chemical levels in the plants are not always the same (McCarberg n.p.)

There is a weaker side to the argument against medical cannabis. This side, instead of using scientific evidence to show why medical marijuana is a poor choice for medicine, uses the negative aspects of recreational use to justify their argument. A good example of this argument is an article written by Noel Merino, an author who has written a book about marijuana and its effects, so, while she is educated, she does not use relevant information to argue her point. Her article "Marijuana's dangers make it a poor candidate for medicine," outlines her argument piece by piece. Her first point is a list of the effects of the high created by THC, which, as I have stated, is usually not found in medical strains. The effects are impaired short-term memory, impaired reaction time and motor skills, altered judgment and decision making, increased heart rate, "altered mood  --  euphoria, calmness, and in high doses anxiety, paranoia," (Merino n.p.). Next, long term marijuana abuse can create higher risk of addiction, poor performance in school and work, problems with the respiratory system, lower happiness with one's own life, increased risk of psychosis in certain people, and impairment in cognitive functioning after the high has subsided (Merino n.p.). A connection has been shown between marijuana use and increased instances of depression and anxiety, as well as increased chances of schizophrenia in those who are already prone to developing the disorder (Merino n.p.). Merino's next point is that users can develop an addiction to marijuana after prolonged use (n.p.); however, research has shown that marijuana is not an inherently addictive substance, but users can develop a habit or dependency, just like they could with food, video games, or any other thing. Merino concludes her article by saying that marijuana as a plant should not be used as medicine since the chemicals in the plant are difficult to control, and the health effects are unknown (n.p.) If there are chemicals in marijuana with unknown effects, the way to discover what they do would be to research them, which will most likely not occur while marijuana is illegal. She does state, however, that she does think that creating "purified or synthetic derivatives of marijuana's active components to design more tailored medications," is a good idea (n.p.). Merino's article shows how flimsy a detractor's argument can be, using refuted information, or unrelated information (such as using the effects of a THC high) to argue their point. 

So what does this all mean? Marijuana is not the miracle drug that many claim it to be; just like with all medications, there are possible negative side-effects, and it is not effective in treating every single health issue, but it has been shown to be a worthwhile option for people suffering from certain conditions. To discover future applications, more studies need to be conducted, which is difficult due to the federal government's prohibition. There is still a lack of solid knowledge on medical cannabis, and that is not helped at all by the general lack of knowledge and misinformation in the public. Private funding for research is possible, but could result in legal trouble for the donor or researchers. Spreading awareness is key; making sure that people understand the truth about marijuana is the quickest way to get it legalized. Acceptance for marijuana is growing across the country, and the effects are showing, as more and more states legalize medical and recreational cannabis, and this trend will continue the more people who know the truth. 

