
Marijuana was brought into the United States in the early 1900's when many Mexican's were fleeing their country after the Mexican Revolution.  With them they brought their own culture, customs, and ways of life.  One of which being marijuana -- used for medicine and a relaxant.  In 1973, the U.S. government passed the Marijuana Tax Act making all use and sales illegal.  In 2016, more people than ever are looking objectively at marijuana as it is a common topic of discussion in the upcoming presidential election.  Should it be legalized for recreational use, making all sales and acts legal? Should it be decriminalized, allowing no sales but also no penalties while possessing it?  Or should it be legal for medical purposes only?  I believe that legalization for medical purposes is the choice that America should make.  A lot of progress for the legalization of marijuana has already happened-- currently there are 23 states that have legalized marijuana for medical use for treatment of cancer, AIDs, epilepsy, glaucoma, pain, and more. Before people can vote on the legal standings of marijuana it is important to know where they stand and also possible outcomes of how it will affect all Americans.  Looking at any piece of this country's history one will realize that we are a country that functions by process.  We take big movements and laws being passed step by step (women's rights and civil rights movement for example.)  I think that before we go ahead and just legalize marijuana for recreational use, it is important we start smaller by legalizing for medical use to see where that leads us as a country.  While I did consider legalization for recreational use and decriminalization, after my research I stand firm in my belief that marijuana should be legalized for medical purposes only. 

I would like to begin this argument by first stating I am not totally against decriminalization or recreational use, I just firmly believe it will not lead this country in a positive direction right now.  So why should marijuana not be legal for recreational use? Let's look at Amsterdam for example.  They are the first country in the world that has legalized all sales and usage of pot.  This is literally what they are known for, Amsterdam is a huge tourist destination for users.  Amsterdam's citizens are alarmed at how often their children of all ages are exposed to marijuana. America already has a rather high percentage of youth that is exposed to marijuana, if it became legal for recreational purposes and was sold in stores on the streets, this exposure to the youth would only increase.  Reason number two I do not think that legalization for recreational use is recreational use of marijuana really does decimate many lives.  Yes, there are many successful daily pot smokers, but there are far more unsuccessful pot smoking drop outs, people losing jobs, and even love lives failing.  Research shows that long term users experience many life altering side effects such as reduced ability to learn and retain information, lack of motivation, personality and mood changes, and even suppression of the immune system.  Legalization of recreational use of marijuana will only lead to more of these negative statistics.  

What are the cons of legalizing marijuana for medicine?  Well, people may think there are cons, but these can easily be proved wrong or irrelevant.  One of the most common concerns people have with medical marijuana is addictive nature that may come along with it.  The rise of one's THC (tetrahydrocannabinol, the chemical in marijuana that causes psychological effects) tolerance is unpredictable.  The amount of THC ingested in the body system may increase over time in order to reach desired effects.  Also one may have a greater use of cannabis than originally intended.  This can effect medical users because it is unpredictable how their desires may grow, and what may happen when they want it but are no longer prescribed it by a physician?  As this is a very important issue, it is also important to realize that there are many legal prescription drugs that have strong addictive natures that can lead people to withdrawal when no longer prescribed it.  Items you could go into a gas station and buy like caffeine and nicotine have an extremely high addiction risk.   Addictiveness is not a strong enough argument to be made against why medical marijuana should not be legal. In the court case called United States vs. Oakland Cannabis buyers in January of 2001, a representative from Drug Watch International was quoted saying, "There is a strong governmental interest in prohibiting the distribution of crude marijuana as medicine.  The federal government strives to protect our citizens from unsafe, ineffective substances sold as 'medicines' and from drug abuse, drug addiction, and the abusive and criminal behaviors that marijuana often generates."  This quote is so ironic to me.  I just don't see how he can ignore all of the health benefits of using marijuana as medicine and shut it down so quickly because of abuse, addiction, and criminal behaviors.  If used with precaution, abuse, addiction, and criminal behaviors will not even be a concern.   Also many people seem to be against the idea of literally smoking marijuana.  Some people hate smoke and think it is bad for your lungs.  There is an unbelievable amount of ways to benefit from marijuana without having to actually smoke marijuana.  There is liquid marijuana that you can drop into water and just drink.  There is a capsule form that you could take like you would any other pill.  The options even go as far as ice cream and chap stick one can put on a receive all benefits.  I think another issue some people have with getting prescribed marijuana by a physician is that people who want to smoke pot are able to walk into a doctor's office and act as if they have some sort of pain or disorder in order to get prescribed marijuana.  It is important to realize there is simply no stopping some human actions.  People already do this with many legal drugs, Adderall and college students for example.  Adderall is commonly known as a "study drug" and it is not uncommon for students with busy schedules to go to a psychiatrist and say they have a hard time focusing in order to get the prescription.  

If medical marijuana was to be legal, how would a proper dosage be determined?  How could patients control their dose?  Donald Abrams MD, professor of clinical medicine at university of California says:  " ... Each puff delivers a discrete dose of cannabinoids to the body. Puff and inhalation volume changes with phase of smoking, tending to be highest at the beginning and lowest at the end of smoking a cigarette... Thus, a patient-determined, self-titrated dosing model is recommended. This self-titration model is acceptable given the heretofore-discussed variables as well as the low toxicity of cannabis. This construct is not unique to cannabis. Many other drugs have relatively low toxicity and high dosing ceilings and are titrated to effect."  The major claim of this article is to prove that there is a way to prescribe different strains of marijuana that can have less or more effect to the patient.  He matches the strength of cannabis (by percentage of THC it contains) with a specific amount (in grams) that should be consumed by the patient each day.  

So now that we know dependency is not a problem and there are alternate ways to benefit rather than smoking and there is also a proficient way for it to be prescribed, let me talk about the benefits now.  Can you imagine a world with less pain and suffering for the terminally ill? A world where men and women who have served for our country can have a medicine that helps put their minds to ease?  A world with less deaths due to cancer?  This world you are imagining is a world that can be possible ...  with the legalization of medical marijuana.  So what all can marijuana actually help to for humans when it comes to disease and disorders? Professionals in the medical field say it can help to treat Chron's disease, epilepsy, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorders, and many more.  The most notable treatment is for cancer.  THC is a great pain treatment for patients undergoing chemotherapy and is also proven to slow down the splitting of cancerous cells.  If doctors feel that it will help a patient, then it should be their right to be able to prescribe it.  Here is the thoughts of medical marijuana from a physicians standpoint where a doctor is saying how it is literally unethical for a doctor to not prescribe something they know will help a patient.  

"Physicians have the medical responsibility to provide adequate relief from both pain and suffering in order to give their patients an acceptable quality of life. Failure to offer an available therapy that has proven to be effective would violate the basic ethical principle of no maleficence which prohibits infliction of harm, injury, or death ... which is widely used to describe the duties of physicians ... . patients, and in the case of a minor, parents and/or surrogates, have the right to request medical marijuana under certain circumstances and physicians have the duty to disclose medical marijuana as an option and prescribe it when appropriate. Scientific data has shown that the benefits of medical marijuana far outweigh the burdens."  --  Doctor Peter A. Clark

One extremely interesting conclusion I came to while researching the pros and cons of marijuana usage is that when referring to mental and physical health effects, all negative aspects are developed for long term use and heavy smokers.  Medical marijuana is not designed for long term and heavy use.  Common notions of what happens to the bodies of people that use marijuana are that their brain cells are killed causing a horrible memory and worsened concentration.  This is actually interesting that so many people think this because it has never proven to be true.  In fact, scientist Xia Zhang who studies cannabinoids and the brain does many experiments to gain knowledge on the subject.  As for many other experiments, he tests on animals.  "1 month after high-potency cannabinoid treatment, rats display increased newborn neurons (brain cell growth) in the hippocampal dentate gyrus (a portion of the brain) and significantly reduced measures of anxiety and depression like behavior."  This states that short term use for up to a month actually helps brain neuron production and is proved to reduce anxiety and depression.  

In the United States, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington all have legalized marijuana for medical purposes.  That is an entire twenty-three states.  That is almost half of the states in our country.  If almost half of the states in our country have legalized such a controversial thing, then I believe that the government should look at that as evidence that maybe this is what the majority of the country wants.  One of the reasons Obama legalized same-sex marriage nationwide is because if it is legal in a few of the states, then our nation should be united and it should be legal everywhere.  

Why would legal marijuana help anyone?  Well, I think this goes without explanation.  It can save lives.  Even if you personally are against the idea of medical marijuana, I think it is important to realize that just because you are against something, doesn't mean you should stop that from saving people's lives.  Everyone is obviously entitled to their own opinion on the subject, but I do believe that if one does enough research looking into it, they will agree with me that medical marijuana should be legalized in all 50 states of America.  

