Peyton Benich

Criminal Justice

Mr. Terpstra

October 28, 2018

The Benefits of Legalizing Medical Marijuana

I’ll be explaining my choice through the story of ten-year-old Zaki Jackson, whom

suffers a rare form of epilepsy that has caused him to have thousands of seizures a day,

ever since he was just a few months old. These seizures left him unable to move, talk or

sometimes even breathe. His family tried every drug and medication they could, with little

results. These prescriptions caused insomnia, weight gain, pain, and incoherence. But they

didn’t do the one thing the Jackson family wanted more than anything- stop Zaki’s seizures.

Finally, about three years ago, Zaki’s doctor prescribed medical marijuana and he hasn’t

had a seizure since. For the first time in his life he was able to interact with other children,

and develop as a normal kid. Zaki isn’t the only person whose life has been changed by

medical marijuana; he’s one of 180+ children in Colorado alone, according to Dr. Margaret

Gedde, a specialist in alternative medicine who moved to Colorado to focus on marijuana

specifically. Not only children use medical marijuana however, according to Ginny Graves a

journalist who uses medical marijuana herself, there are about 1.25 million legal medical

marijuana patients in the United States alone (Graves). Just as there are over a million

people using medical marijuana, there are thousands of reasons why. Medically prescribed

cannabis makes people able to function in society and enjoy their lives in a way they

otherwise couldn’t, and without it they would be suffering the side effects and

ineffectiveness of traditional medicine. Medical marijuana (a specific type of cannabis that

has a higher amount of the compound CBD and minimal amounts of THC) has life-

enhancing, as well as lifesaving benefits, and is more effective and less toxic than other

drugs.

Cannabis has been used for over 10,000 years as a botanical medicine throughout

the world. Patrick Sath of Time Magazine writes that, “As early as 2737 B.C., the mystical

Emperor Shen Neng of China was prescribing marijuana tea for the treatment of gout,

rheumatism, malaria and, oddly enough, poor memory...Ancient physicians prescribed

marijuana for everything from pain relief to earache to childbirth” (Sath). He goes on to

explain that the uses for this practical plant just kept coming, and people across the world

were using it as medicine, ointment, stress relief, and many other purposes. In modern

times, the difference between weed and medical marijuana comes from the chemical

makeup of the specific plant. Within cannabis there are two main compounds,

tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). The THC within the plant is a

psychoactive, which is responsible for giving the ‘high’ that most recreational marijuana

users desire. CBD is a therapeutic with a very wide range of medical benefits, it interacts

with cannabinoid receptors throughout your body: in your lungs, liver, kidneys, brain, and

your immune system. According to Dr. Mercola, a specialist in medical marijuana,

“Cannabinoid receptors play an important role in many body processes, including

metabolic regulation, cravings, pain, anxiety, bone growth, and immune function”

(Mercola). By breeding plants farmers have been able to create a type of marijuana which

is has a high concentration of CBD with low doses of THC. This is medical marijuana.

Medical marijuana can treat and cure a vast amount of diseases and ailments. Some

of the diseases most commonly treated with medical marijuana are: cancer, HIV, dementia,
diabetes, epilepsy, mood disorders, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s, and PTSD. There are

hundreds of other mental and physical disorders that are being treated with medical

marijuana, and a for a lot of people cannabis has been the only thing that works. Medical

marijuana doesn’t have to be taken by smoking, there are many various ways of using this

drug. Vaporization (like a vape pen) is a common way for patients to inhale the drug, as

well as smoking. There are also oils or sprays that go right under the tongue and absorbed

directly into the bloodstream called sublingual delivery. Patients can take medical

marijuana through pills, candies, tea, or brownies. There are also lotions and ointments so

the drug can be applied topically. Because of all the various methods of using this drug, it

can be taken by people who are opposed to smoking. However, despite the incredible

benefits and qualities of medical marijuana, it remains classified as a Schedule 1 controlled

substance. This means that it is in the highest category of drugs, designated for the most

dangerous drugs like heroin, ecstasy and LSD. Dr. Mercola states that “Based on the 1970

Controlled Substance Act, drugs from this group: Have a high potential for abuse, have no

accepted medical use in the US, and have a lack of accepted safety under medical

supervision” (Mercola). The classification doesn’t make sense considering that over a

million people are benefiting medically from the use of marijuana. Because medical

marijuana is a Schedule 1 drug, it also means that there is no federal funding for case

studies and trials to discover the full extent that medical marijuana can benefit people.

An unexpected side effect of medical marijuana is that it has decreased prescription

pain medicine related deaths by 25% where marijuana is legal (10 Medical). According to

Dr. Eric P. Barton, who is a headache specialist and neurologist, “One of the most

documented uses of medicinal marijuana is in the treatment of pain.” Since 1999

prescriptions for opioid painkillers have almost quadrupled, and according to the Centers

for Disease Control and Prevention 46 people die every day from overdosing (Graves).

Marijuana is a better alternative for many synthetic “traditional” drugs that people

commonly use. Treatments like chemotherapy destroy the patient's body from the inside

out, and miraculously a doctor in California who has treated his patients with medical

marijuana for a little under a year “has personally seen tumors virtually disappear in some

patients using no other therapy except taking 40 to 60 milligrams of cannabinoids a day”

(Mercola). Marijuana has also been proven to be effective at relieving and reducing

neuropathic pain (pain from damaged nerves), which is something that prescription

painkillers cannot do (Zimmermann). In fact, 83% of patients who use medical marijuana

have been provided relief from chronic pain (Graves). A cancer survivor with extreme

radiation burns uses a small amount of medical marijuana daily to relieve the pain and

suffering he lives with. He states, “The effects were almost immediate, it dulled the pain and

numbed it off… Don’t be held up by the stigma of it. I would definitely tell them to try it for

any kind of chronic pain. I’m using it because it works. It saved me” (Yu). Medicinal

marijuana is the only known anti-nausea medicine that also increases appetite, which

deems the drug extremely efficient when it comes to treating cancer and HIV patients who

don’t typically have a desire to eat, whether it’s from treatment or the condition itself.

Marijuana has no known lethal dose, which means that it’s basically impossible to overdose

on the drug, contrary to its unstable counterpart-prescription opioids. It also has very

minimal drug interactions, which means that other prescriptions aren’t going to change the

effects of medicinal marijuana or prevent a patient from taking it.

 Many people may argue that the drug is addictive, or that it has negative side effects.

However, there is scant evidence of addiction from medicinal strains of medicinal

marijuana, and the possibility of addiction is present for most medicines, especially

painkillers. Dr. Gedde states that the only side effect medical marijuana has is the ability it

has to make a patient feel high. This can be eliminated though, by using a type of marijuana

with low doses of THC. In some cases, THC can be beneficial, and a small ‘high’ would be

valuable for people who suffer through excruciating pain. “But aside from that, cannabis is

generally safe to use. You can also avoid this side effect by specifically looking for high CBD

and low THC marijuana formulations” (Mercola). Avoiding synthetic versions of marijuana

is key to eliminating any risks of negative side effects. If the marijuana you have is

medicinal, and you know where it came from, then you are safe.

All in all, medicinal marijuana is an extremely effective drug for a variety of

maladies, and is growing rapidly in popularity. In a study of over 1500 american doctors

67% stated that they supported medical marijuana as a medical option nationwide. This

number is likely to grow as more information about this controversial drug becomes

available. Medical marijuana is currently available in 25 states with a doctor's

approvement and a medical marijuana ID card.