Medical marijuana is currently considered a Schedule I drug through the Controlled Substances Act, enacted by President Richard Nixon in October of 1970.  This act defines Schedule I drugs as a substance that has no acceptable use for medicinal purposes and comes alongside a high potential for substance abuse. There are ways to get a drug either removed or added to a schedule by petition to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency(DEA) or at the request of other U.S. organizations such as the Food and Drug Administration(FDA) and the Department of Health and Human Services(HHS). There is currently one lone federal supplier of marijuana for research purposes located at the University of Mississippi that cannot supply enough marijuana for the growing amount of medical marijuana research projects nationwide. There are also hefty amounts of paperwork put into place by the DEA that often prolongs the approval period and thus delays the research process.

 Due to this strain on the availability of THC for research, benefits and risks that may aid in determining the medicinal use of marijuana cannot become concrete enough to be approved nationwide as a source of treatment. Studies have shown marijuana aiding in the spasticity that accompanies Multiple Sclerosis and the neuropathic pain that accompanies many diseases. It has also been tested for a form of pain relief for cancer patients going through chemotherapy.  There are risks that come with marijuana, such as side effects that are common with all medications. THC also does not work for everyone like many other common medications that already have FDA approval and are sold at pharmacies nationwide. Marijuana should not be used like many other prescription medications in people with heart disease, women who are pregnant, and those with a history of psychosis (Martin).  Research on the topic needs to be furthered before a concrete verdict on the medical purposes can be made. Medical marijuana’s classification as dictated by the DEA should be rescheduled to aid in easier access to THC for medical research purposes, so its medical benefits and risks may be fully evaluated. 

For many researchers, their studies are on time specific constraints that often become impossible and consequently often cannot be completed due to the restrictions on marijuana in the United States. A neuroscientist named Chuanhai Cao at the University of South Florida’s Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute was planning on doing research using transgenic mice to study how marijuana could help Alzheimer’s patients. There is a protein called amyloid beta that is found in the plaque that builds up the brains of Alzheimer’s patients, which Cao was going to study and see how THC affects the protein. The project was designed for mice that are very difficult to breed and of a certain age as their bodies would react similarly to humans. The project ended up being delayed by over three months due to the heavy strain of paperwork through the DEA, therefore the project was ruined (Noonan). There are many other researchers that have also been pushed into the same tight corner as Cao.  Many researchers nationwide have ideas for ways marijuana can be used to help patients, but their ideas often cannot come to life due to these constraints. Many of these researchers want marijuana removed from its Schedule I place where it is listed beside drugs like heroin and cocaine, but instead be placed under the Schedule III category where it would be considered closer to Tylenol and Codeine. Others, such as Sachin Patel, a professor of psychiatry at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, prefer to see marijuana as Schedule II where the change would be much more modest and the drug would be considered to still have a high substance of abuse, but the research would still be able to be completed on a list with drugs including oxycodone and Percocet (Noonan). 

Doctors nationwide also wish to see THC rescheduled. More than fifty doctors have formed an organization entitled “Doctors for Cannabis Regulation” which supports the use of marijuana for medical purposes and wants to see it become available for them to prescribe to their patients. The organization compares the status of marijuana as illegal to the Alcohol Prohibition in the 1920s and into the 1930s. The doctors argue that the drug will medically benefit thousands of patients and that it is causing more arrests and long term effects on society than the legalization of medical marijuana would (Ingraham). Those against medical marijuana often argue that the legalization of medical marijuana will ruin the youth of America and cause there to be more issues with marijuana being present on the streets. 23 of the 50 states and the District of Columbia as well as many other developed countries globally have legalized marijuana for medicinal use and these adverse effects have yet to be observed (Carroll).  Studies have been completed studying the correlation of the legality of marijuana and the youth in those areas. One study in particular funded by the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse and Columbia University used 24 years’ worth of U.S. data to look at the relationship between the legalization of medical marijuana and the use of marijuana recreationally by adolescents. The researchers also considered the risks that came alongside the recreational use by adolescents. The study found that there is little to no evidence that the legalization increases the recreational use rate of adolescents (Hasin).  This study negates the idea that marijuana legalization will wreak havoc on society and ruin the youth of America. Marijuana would not be distributed as a free for all, but instead as a medication with a prescription from a medical professional filled in a pharmacy. 

Marijuana affects the brain the way many other prescription drugs do. It often does work faster than other drugs in the inhaled form as it does not have to be digested by the body. Our bodies process marijuana and “the effects of marijuana are produced by a cannabinoid receptor system in your body consisting of at least two types of CB1 and CB2 (Martin). CB1 receptors are found in the brain while CB2 receptors are found in the immune system as peripheral receptors.  Marijuana or cannabis works as neurotransmitters do in the body in that they bind to the receptors that tell the brain that pain is being experienced and block the message from getting through. The body already has chemicals that behave the way that THC does in the body, but sometimes THC can help these natural chemicals work better. This helps the body cope with the pain and agony that accompany many diseases. This binding to neurotransmitters in the brain help with neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s disease (Martin). These neurodegenerative disorders are diseases that plague loved ones’ brains and cause them not to remember their families and experience excruciating pain and suffering.  Medical marijuana can be a way to help ease the pain and suffering experienced by both the patients and their families. 

Research has been completed and has found medical benefits that show a need for further research on the topic.  The presence of benefits on patients’ lives shows that there is more to be found and that the topic cannot be pushed to the side over political debate. Clinical trials have found that THC, in both the smoked and the vaporized form, have medical benefits in the treatment of neuropathic pain, implications that come alongside Multiple Sclerosis, including spasticity, Crohn’s disease, and other illnesses.  Some professionals consider marijuana to be one of the most effective and viable ways to treat these illnesses. Marijuana has historically been used as a treatment for pain for thousands of years, but has never been available in pharmacies via prescription. The common known side effect of marijuana is increased appetite often referred to as the “munchies”; this side effect often helps patients overcome their disease.  This is especially the case in the treatment of eating disorders such as anorexia. Marijuana has also been used to treat the nausea that accompanies cancer treatments such as chemotherapy. Another benefit of using marijuana as a course of treatment is that it is available in many different forms. Someone with intense nausea and vomiting often cannot take pills to help their illness as it is often regurgitated. The option of THC as an inhalant decreases the risk of the medicine not reaching the patient (Martin). Researchers in one study published in The Open Neurology Journal created an algorithm that will aid physicians in weighing the risks of cannabis use for treatment based on the patient themselves (Grant). This will help them in determining whether medical marijuana would be a suitable treatment option for the patient or whether the risks outweigh the benefits. 

There have been many cases of success in using marijuana as treatment in clinical testing and in states where medical marijuana is already available for prescription. A man named Josh Stanley and his brothers developed a non-psychotropic strain of marijuana to aid in reducing seizures in pediatric epilepsy patients. This strain of marijuana did not have the effects of being “high” and only bound to the neurotransmitters necessary to stop the seizures. In a speech at TEDxBoulder, Stanley tells a story of a specific five-year-old girl named Charlotte for whom the brothers originally created the strain. When Charlotte and her family met the brothers, she was on her death bed and having close to one hundred seizures a day on a bad day. The strain helped end her struggle with seizures and she now lives a happy healthy life. The brothers according named the strain of marijuana “Charlotte’s Web” (Stanley). This is not an isolated case in which marijuana helped in finding an end to life-debilitating seizures. Stanley also had their second patient that they treated with Charlotte’s Web in the audience to help show the people that he was also living and healthy now due to his treatment with medical marijuana (Stanley). Marijuana is being used to treat patients of all age ranges and with many different illnesses. Without the use of medical marijuana, these results may not have been possible. 

Medical marijuana like other over the counter and prescription medications currently on the market does have side effects and does not work for all patients.  In some patients, the depressant effects of marijuana are substantial causing the use of the drug for pain management to be very limited (Campbell). Depending on the strain chosen for medical use the side effects are often different. For some patients, it may affect them to the point that they are sedated. Some strains used for concentration and for pain relief, the drug acts as a stimulant rather than a depressant in some patients. It often may impair your motor skills and ability to accomplish tasks. It is advised not the drive a car, operate heavy machinery, or perform tasks that require a great amount of concentration (Martin). That disclaimer is not one specific only to marijuana; it is present on the tail end on most commercials advertising medicines that are approved by the FDA and is approved for medicinal purposes. This warning appears on any drug that can be considered to have sedative effects including cold medicine. Cold medicine is not listed as a Schedule I substance even though it has adverse effects. Other common side effects are dizziness, short-term memory loss, and euphoria though these are not long term permanent effects. Serious side effects that may be associated with the use of medical marijuana are anxiety and psychosis (Martin).  

Those against the legalization of medical marijuana claim that marijuana is not as effective as other drugs at managing pain. The testimonials and the clinical trials show that the drug is an effective course of treatment, but there are other methods that may be better for different people. A study completed in 2001 published in the British Medical Journal compared the treatment of pain with that of codeine with that of cannabinoids. The study concluded that the cannabinoids were less effective on the patients that were studied in this trial. The study was completed using many routes of administration with both analgesic and placebo control intervention. The patients included in the trial were those with pain from cancer and cancer treatment (Campbell).  The study results do show that the use of cannabis for the use of cancer pain relief may not be the most suitable, but that does not account for the problems of spasticity and neuropathic pain that it has helped in other clinical trials.  This is also only one trial in 2001. The answer on whether or not cannabis is a suitable course of treatment for cancer patients cannot be written off as negative solely based on a study completed sixteen years ago. Others against medical marijuana argue that doctors cannot guarantee the purity and the concentration of THC in each plant that is harvested. Marijuana bought on the street illegally often has a higher risk of impurities and chemicals in comparison to that sold in dispensaries funded by the federal government. Government funded facilities would be monitored for such impurities and poisonous chemicals would not be able to be added. The amount of THC present in the plant could also be monitored and tested so that each dose would work the same as the last. These are all issues that would be included in the legislation involved in the passing of medical marijuana distribution. 

The legalization of medical marijuana as a prescription available in pharmacies for medical use will also bring money into the economy. Many people are already using marijuana purchased illegally to treat these diseases. These people often find that marijuana is the only treatment methods that helps relieve this pain. They are forced into a corner where the choice is following the law or feeling better (Martin). Bringing medical marijuana into the legal spectrum to be bought and sold will help bring the money that is currently being exchanged illegally in the streets into the American economy. This will boost the cash flow coursing through the economy which will better the economy and help people with diseases all at once. 

Medical marijuana legalization is an issue that has been pressing the nation for decades. The schedule of marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act is currently prohibiting research from occurring and hindering the process of the argument. Without removing the drug from the harsh guidelines under the Schedule I heading alongside “hard” drugs such as cocaine and heroin, the solution will never be found.  Researchers come up with new ideas all the time for ways that medical marijuana can be used to treat diseases, but these ideas cannot become a reality without proper clinical trials and studies. The regulations put into place by the DEA and the lone federal marijuana dispensary for research in Mississippi halt the progress of these clinical trials and the ideas get pushed aside. Marijuana in clinical testing thus far has been found to help with the treatment of pain that comes with neurodegenerative disorders and Crohn’s Disease. It also helps with the spasticity that comes alongside Multiple Sclerosis. It has been used to help Alzheimer’s patients and aid them in keeping some of their memories and remembering their families. The effects of increased appetite it has on the brain helps anorexia patients regain their appetite and return to a healthy weight. Medical marijuana is not a lost cause that should be forgotten due to the political uproar that surrounds the topic. Marijuana has been shown to benefit the lives of the patients, better the American economy, and not adversely affect the youth of America and society in the studies that have been conducted thus far. Marijuana should not be considered a drug with no medical use. The schedule of marijuana under the DEA should be changed to make it more easily available to researchers. This rescheduling will aid in deciding whether the benefits of medical marijuana as a course of treatment outweighs the cons once and for all. 
