Marijuana

Miguel Rodriguez Mrs. Stillman Senior English 4 March 2010 Legal Marijuana The purpose of this paper is to explain the legal uses of marijuana, for example how marijuana can help people with serious diseases, the reasons legalization of it would be beneficial to society, and the safety of medically regulated use of marijuana. Marijuana comes from the Indian hemp plant and was given its botanical name, Cannabis sativa, by Linnaeus in 1753. The term cannabis is derived from cannabinoids, a class of chemical compounds unique to this plant which produce its unusual effects. (Marijuana, Its Effects on Mind & Body, p. 27) Marijuana was first described in print in a Chinese book of medicine. The ancient Persians, Greeks, Romans, East Indians, and Assyrians, also used the drug. They used it to control muscle spasms, to reduce pain, and to treat indigestion. In Asia and Africa, people use it as an herbal preparation in folk medicine. Western practioners also used marijuana in medical practices. In 19th century in America, it was used by the medical profession for treating ailments such as spastic conditions, headaches, labor pains, insomnia, and menstrual cramps. (Marijuana, Its effects on mind & Body, p. 37, 38) Marijuana was introduced to Western medicine by the British doctor; W.B. O’Shaughnessy, who learned about it while he was stationed in India. Marijuana is a preparation from the Cannabis plant that is smoked. It consists of the dried, ground-up flowers that highly variable plant. The main ingredient in Cannabis is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol also called (THC) and it is the specific cannabinoid which is psychoactive—meaning that it alters mood, perception, thought processes, and consciousness. (Journal of Alcohol & Drug Education p. 1) It is made up of at least 400 compounds, including more than 60 that are unique to cannabis, known as cannabinoids, several of which are believed to have therapeutic effects. These chemicals activate receptor molecules in the human body, particularly the cannabinoid receptors on the surfaces of some nerve cells in the brain, and stimulate changes in biochemical activity. The proportions of these compounds vary greatly from plant to plant. A plant may attract harmful molds. Then lighting a march the mix introduces a whole new set of variables. Everyone smokes differently, so one never knows how much of which compounds the patient is reeiving. These factors all make marijuana hard for researchers to test meaningfully and hard for doctors to prescribe confidently. Some forms in which Cannabis is used are hashish, charas, ganja, sinsemilla, bhang, and hash oil (Journal of Alcohol & Drug Education, p. 1). The government’s position has become progressively more embattled over the years. Today thirteen states now have laws that let residents use marijuana medicinally. Another fifteen states are weighing legislation or ballot initiatives that could turn them into medical marijuana states too. Marijuana dispensaries sell marijuana and its concentrated resin forms, hashish and kif, and sometimes alongside a range of enticing, non-inhaled alternatives, including marijuana-imbued brownies, cookies, gelati, honeys, butters, cooking oils, bottled cold drinks, capsules, lozenges, spray-under-the-tongue tinctures, and even topically applied salves. Also most dispensaries sell potted plants and seeds for patients who are either thrifty or entrepreneurial. Since we are now mired in the worst economic environment since the Great Depression, which makes the prospect of collecting taxes on marijuana sales as alluring to contemporary politicians as beer, wine, and liquor taxes looked to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his party when they took office in 1933, the year Prohibition was repealed. Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron has estimated that legalization could be expected to bring state and federal governments about $7 billion annually in additional tax revenue, while saving them $13.5 billion in prohibition-related law enforcement costs. Legalization of marijuana would even reduce national health-care costs, by easing demand for costly pharmaceuticals. A doctor reported that his cannabis patients had either stopped or cut back their use of analgesics of all kinds including Tylenol, aspirin, and opioids, also psychotherapeutic agents including anti-anxiety medications, anti-depressants, anti-panic, obsessive-compulsive, anti-psychotic, and bipolar agents; gastrointestiminal agents including anti-spasmodics and anti-inflammatory medications; migraine preparations; anticonvulsants; appetite stimulants; immuno-modulators and immunosuppressives; muscle relaxants; multiple sclerosis management medication; ophthalmic preparations; sedative and hypnotic agents; and Tourette’ syndrome agents. In 1988 the administrative law Judge Francis Young said: “Marijuana, n its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man.” He was referring to the fact that it is almost impossible to overdose fatally on marijuana, and that is something that distinguishes it from virtually any other drug. Young concluded by saying: “By any measure of rational analysis marijuana can be safely used within a supervised routine of medical care.”