Monday, November 2, 2009

Medical Marijuana

Medical Marijuana is legal in 13
states, for patients with AIDS, Alzheimer's, Anorexic, Epilepsy, Hepatitis C,
Terminally ill patients, and patients with Turrets syndrome. Marijuana is a gateway drug, and most used
drug in the United States, with over 69 million Americans who have tried it at
least once. Seven hundred thousand users
are arrested a year for obtaining marijuana, and yet we legalize it, and open
it up to the public.


Marijuana enters the blood stream,
and starts taking over the user within a minute or two. This takeover creates a sensation of pleasure
for the user, but has many negative side effects. Marijuana affects driving skills dramatically,
gives the user issues being alert, and negatively affects our ability to
concentrate or do easy tasks.
Coordination and reaction times are slowed. These
affects can last up to 24 hours after smoking marijuana. Users of this drug undergo an immense feeling
of being tired in a matter of hours after use.
Just imagine if people are doing this every day or two and driving to
work, or to school the damage, and loss of lives possible.


Physical dependence is another
major symptom that results in many marijuana smokers of today. THC attaches to certain parts of nerve
cells, and throws off a certain number of "cellular reactions" that create the
high that people get addicted to. If
marijuana isn't that addictive, then why is it the most used drug in the U.S.?
Why do people get withdrawal symptoms when taken away from it?


Under U.S. law since 1970,
marijuana has been a Schedule I controlled substance. This means that the drug, at least in its
smoked form, has no commonly accepted medical use. When speaking about Marijuana being used for
medical purposes, the positive side effects come from the substance THC in the
marijuana, and not the hundreds of harmful chemicals that are in marijuana.


Marijuana when taken changes the
way the brain receives and processes information that is crucial for learning,
memory, and emotions. Learned behaviors are also deteriorated, if used long-term
changes in the brain are similar to those changes in users of major drugs. Marijuana smokers tend to have many of the
same problems as tobacco smokers. The
tar inhaled by marijuana smokers is 3 to 5 times greater than that of tobacco
smokers, and causes lung cancer.


While there are no documented
reports of anyone ever dying from marijuana overdoses, there are thousands
about users dying in marijuana related incidents. Marijuana affects Motor skills, learning
skills, and the user's ability to think straight or stay alert. Marijuana may have some health positives due
to the THC, but yet THC capsules themselves are illegal. If all the positive effects come from the
THC, and yet we are legalizing the worse of two cures then there must be
another reason than health benefits.
Medical marijuana is an excuse for patients to get high, and should be
illegal.
-Highlighters

4 comments:

The Capitalist said...

Following the logic of this post, then shouldn't alcohol be classified as a controlled substance? Both alter the state of the mind, except one is illegal. How can we justify the illegality of marijuana if alcohol and other mind altering substances are legal?

Anonymous said...

This is the kind of thinking we should be moving away from. It seems that all the evidence you put forth can easily be attributed to alcohol. Why don't we go ahead and make that illegal? Oh wait, we tried that. To poke other holes, most people who smoke marijuana do it in its natural form therefore it contains no tar. People have come up with this conclusion because most regular marijuana smokers also smoke cigarettes. Marijuana has actually been shown to slow down cancerous lung tumors.Now onto addictiveness. ANYTHING on this planet can be found to be addictive if someone says it is. Caffeine, alcohol, tobacco and video games have all been shown to be addictive, all with their own withdrawal symptoms. Legalizing marijuana would be just a beneficial to this country as was legalizing tobacco and alcohol, both of which have far deadlier uses. Thank you for posting this. It was quite interesting topic to talk about.

-Demetricles

Nik said...

The reason why its the most widely used drug in the United States is because it is a much safer alternative to cigarettes and alcohol which can kill you, where as marijuana cannot. Aspirin kills more people each year than Cannabis!!!Marijuana itself does create some dependence after using it for a while but it is not hard to quit. Coffee is more addictive than marijuana! Unlike with nicotine and harder drugs where the repercussions of quitting are far worse. And in no way whatsoever at all has marijuana even been directly attributed to causing any diseases at all. Studies have even shown the marijuana use could possibly increase brain cell activity rather than do any harm at all. So next time you decide to write a blog on something please do some actual research on the subject before ranting on about it. And for those who haven't yet you should definitely see a movie called The Union. It is a very well done documentary on marijuana and will probably open your eyes to the yellow journalism that our government is feeding us.

No Name said...

I wouldn't mind the fact of this argument if not for the part about being harmful and thats why we shouldn't allow it. Lets see what all do we allow thats harmful to, not only us but others: Guns, knives, smoking, drinking, cars.. living essentially. So in the whole you can't say that it's because it's bad for us in that sense. Further more, studies proved that drinking actually kills more brain cells in a single bottle then in a joint.

I can also sympathize with the point of other people but it's oging to be regulated just like drinking is.. Honestly Marijuana is just in a state of prohibition. What happened when drinking was prohibited? Drinking rates went up, violence erupted and gangs were formed. When something is being categorized and publicized as much as Mar iguana jet remains, for the most part, illegal it's actually a negative impact which just counteracts your points.
Most of this argument is from the point of a very closed minded one sided source, backed up by the last part of," Medical marijuana is an excuse for patients to get high, and should be
illegal." Correct me if I'm wrong but pleasure and happiness can boost some enzymes in your body into overdrive and help cure even terminal diseases...
In all I could care less about Medical Marijuana being legalized, it should all be legalized.