Long before marijuana was discovered as a recreational drug, it was being used as medicine. Even though marijuana is in its infancy stage of medicine, it has been proven that there are certain medical conditions that have been greatly improved by the use of marijuana. As a result of this discovery, state legislators and the courts are still debating on how or if marijuana should be legalized.
Long before the public debate of marijuana’s use for medical purposes, as a matter of fact, thousands of years ago marijuana was being used for medicine. Marijuana has several medicinal properties. Ana Wade Matthews (2010) says that “marijuana can benefit patients in the areas of managing neuropathic pain, which is caused by certain types of nerve injury, and in bolstering appetite and treating nausea, for instance in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.” Rheumatoid arthritis and migraine head-aches are also some of the medical value of marijuana. Judging by the type of illnesses for which marijuana is used it is safe to say that marijuana is the panacea for pain.
In 1980’s there was corruption in the U.S.A., the crime level saturated causing unrest in the public, so the people started using marijuana as medicine to get out of depression.
Purchasing medicine over the counter has made it easy for people to obtain marijuana whenever they wish to have it. This drug is also used to combat psychological disorders. Depression is a mental condition where a person is agitated and tries to overcome it by taking marijuana and becoming relaxed.
People who are emotionally hurt, for example: in the case of divorce or trying to fit in their community socially mostly in colleges or universities, feel very lonely and impatient. They go out to hunt for relaxation and end up taking marijuana to overcome their emotions. These are some of the reasons which make a person addicted to marijuana, and for treatment purposes it is very necessary to know under what circumstances the patient has fallen into it so that it becomes easy to cure the patient.
People are basically selfish, and many of us will capitalize on the use of marijuana for medicine. Places where the medicine is sold the staff is unaware of what really works, nor do they know what should be used for which illness, special parts of the plant is sold for different illnesses. Also the medicine like most medicine has side-effects; such as hallucination and dizziness.
Short term effects are a subjective change in perception and mood and there could also be neurological effects like increased heart rate, low blood pressure, low memory response, and less concentration. Most physical effects result in reddening of the eyes with extremely dry mouth, sensation of hot and cold on the skin and muscle relaxation.
Long term effects due to the inhaling of marijuana, through smoking, result in lung cancer, head or neck cancer too. However, at times it helps in treating cancer as well especially after chemotherapy.
Long term use marijuana develops anxiety psychosis and depression. The central nervous system is affected and plugs in receptors. This later on repairs the mind for stronger drugs. After prolong use of marijuana weight loss is also possible. This could be when there is a dislike to appetite.
The basic symptoms of the side effects of the use of marijuana are hunger, drowsiness, headache, depression, craving for the drug, irritation, anger, and restlessness. At times it could also be a cause of death.
The discovery of marijuana as a medicinal plant can no more be denied; however, there are people who only see it an illegal drug. This has caused much controversy, and state legislators, though they have witnessed or have seen proof of its medicinal claim, they are still indecisive. They are not so much concerned with the cause why marijuana needs to be legalized; rather they have apprehensions if they unleash such a drug, what will happen to their state.
Works Cited
Wikipedia contributors. "Effects of cannabis." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 17 Apr. 2012. Web. 19 Apr. 2012.
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/cam/cannabis/patient/Page2#Section_15
http://www.marijuanadrugtreatment.com/treatment-for-underlying-causes-of-marijuana-addiction
