The legalization of marijuana for medical purposes - Essay Example

? Legalization of Marijuana for Medical Purposes The debates surrounding the use of marijuana for medical purposes and itsconsequential legalization have been enormous and much heated. The advocates of the legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes assert that its legalization will be a boost for the medical care system. They point to various medicinal uses of marijuana and deem that prohibiting its use would rob the medical system of a very significant remedy for various ailments. Although it is evident that marijuana might have some medicinal properties, there are numerous controversies surrounding its use for medical purposes. Several studies have revealed that persistent intake of marijuana accelerates the occurrence of the diseases that the proponents of its legalization assert that it cures. Another controversy entails the method of treatment used with marijuana. Smoking is not a very good method for taking medication since it accelerates and causes other conditions. This paper will analyze and discuss in detail the reasons why legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes should not occur. The paper will provide the premise that states should not legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes. It will first provide a history of the legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes as well as the nature of the debate surrounding this issue. Introduction There has been a vigorous debate about legalization of marijuana for the last 40 years. Some of the policies supporters argue that marijuana is a safe drug hence individuals should possess small quantities. They also assert that criminal sanctions against personal use and ownership characterize at worst extremely harsh and unnecessary penalties. On the other hand, the opposers of the policies claim that alleviating of present laws contradict that marijuana is not a benevolent drug, particularly according to new psychopharmacologic information shows that marijuana shares many characteristics with other illegal drugs (Joffe & Yancy, 2004). Although researchers acknowledge the medicinal value of marijuana since time in memorial, there are other traditional drugs that cure the same conditions that marijuana can treat since monitoring the dose of marijuana is hard (Koger, 2006). There is unreliable evidence that marijuana may be useful in treating a number of medical conditions hence a vital force behind efforts to change the legal position of marijuana (Joffe & Yancy, 2004). However, doctors have used the plant for arthritic pain, treatment of pus-forming infections and fever (Koger, 2006). In addition, marijuana may have benefits on these conditions: wasting related to AIDS, nausea after chemotherapy, spastic disorders, and relief of interocular pressure related with glaucoma. However, despite the benefits the dose of marijuana used could risk a patient a prison sentence (Conboy, 2000). The debate on legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes remains very controversial. While the health professionals are ethically required to offer the best possible treatment, they also have to follow the state and federal laws. Consequently, there has been extensive research to establish the mechanisms, potential uses, side effects, and alternative delivery methods of the contents of this drug (Yambura, 2008). Political buzzwords such as “War on Drugs” have delayed the legalization of marijuana in the U.S. In addition, the role of states’ rights complicates the matter further since it is not directly involved in the ethics of the policy as much as the country’s federalist structure (Rabbani, n.d). History of the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes In the modern world, marijuana is one of the most well known and diversified of plants. It was native to central Asia but only recognized for its medicinal purposes five years ago during the reign of the Chinese Emperor Chen Nung. However, marijuana’s medicinal properties were evident much later in the West. In the United States, marijuana was widely used for medicinal reasons by physicians by the mid-nineteenth century with over one-hundred journal articles on the medical use of marijuana being published between 1840 and 1900 (LeVay, 2000). For centuries, cannabis sativa occurs to many people as a hemp plant for its healing properties. In fact, marijuana remains one of the oldest plants known and used for its medicinal properties for thousand years. Linnaeus in 1753 classified Cannabis as having only one species. As a result, he wrote about the most well known species that is Cannabis sativa. In addition, some cultures are likely to grow the hemp plant for food (Koger, 2006). According to doctors in the twentieth century, marijuana is an effective treatment for a range of ailments including glaucoma, weight loss related with AIDS and nausea and vomiting because of chemotherapy (LeVay, 2000). On the other hand, the medicinal purposes of marijuana in the United States date back in the nineteenth century. Among its early uses are muscle spasms, relief from pain, uterine hemorrhage, asthma, convulsions, migraines, depression, dysmenorrhea, gonorrhea, bronchitis, and even as an appetite stimulant. However, the early marijuana-laced medicines became less common with the better research techniques and symptom-specific medications in the medical community (Yambura, 2008). Reasons for opposing legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes In addition to its medicinal properties, marijuana has harmful effects on the body bringing about harsh arguments against its medicinal use. Among its effects are likely addiction and its mind-altering properties. In addition, it is hard to determine the dose of the drug received when one smokes marijuana. On the other hand, with continued use of marijuana one develops tolerance that requires larger doses to get the effects. Besides, it is difficult for the physician to monitor pain relief in the light of euphoria experienced by the smoker after using the drug. Consequently, there is uncertainty from scientists on using marijuana as a pain reliever since there are other established medications to treat pain (Koger, 2006). The drug legalization community is misinformed that marijuana can treat diseases or symptoms, which are a result of marijuana use. In addition, marijuana has negative social effects including traffic accidents, risky sexual behavior in youth, increased violence, poor grades and drug abuse. On the other hand, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) the outstanding chemical in marijuana causes obstruction of the flow of chemical neurotransmitters, which are associated with both feelings of pleasure and addiction (Farrell, 2009). In addition, there is an increased risk of death in people with heart disease who use cannabis. Cannabis advances schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders and aggravates their course in susceptible persons. In addition, it is worth noting that 15% of schizophrenic patients commit suicide. On the other hand, cannabis is bad for the mental health of many susceptible individuals because of its psychoactive ingredients, which is up to 60. Marijuana also causes reduced academic achievement, increased promiscuity and sexually transmitted diseases in regular users, and impaired cognitive function (Wodak et al, 2002). Moreover, there has been a reported subtle cognitive deficit with long-term use of marijuana. According to studies using animals, there was changed structure and function of the hippocampus with chronic exposure to marijuana in ways resembling the effects of the aging process. However, acute exposure to marijuana causes deficits in short-term memory (Hubbard, 1999). According to a recent survey, there was a decrement in mental test performance for people who smoked four or more joints per week and continuous smoking for over a decade worsened the performance. In addition, the survey reported that long-term users were impaired 70% of the time on a decision making test compared to 8% for nonusers and 55% for short term users. Moreover, it is evident that cognitive dysfunction may continue because of acute effects of marijuana even after its use has stopped (Cohen, 2009). There are also renowned consequences of acute and long-term marijuana use including neuropharmacologic, cognitive, behavioral, and somatic. They comprise of the following, negative effects on short- term memory, attention span, concentration, problem solving, and motivation, which impede with learning. In addition, there are harmful effects on reaction time, judgment, coordination, and tracking ability, which considerably play a role to involuntary injuries and deaths among adolescents (Joffe & Yancy, 2004). Smoking marijuana also may cause underlying mental disorders like schizophrenia and bipolar psychosis (Yambura, 2008). Consequently, if there is legalization of the drug it could increase its availability hence increased effects on the adolescents using it. For instance, the adolescents given marijuana are 7 times more likely to use it compared to those not offered. Likewise, it is approximately 2.5 times for those who claim it is easy to use to use it compared to those who consider it is hard to get (Joffe & Yancy, 2004). According to statistics, between 1994 and 1995, there was a doubling of marijuana use among twelve to seventeen year-old with 55% of the adolescents aged between fifteen and seventeen years old seek marijuana treatment in rehabilitation centers. Moreover, the modern children are accepting more about drug use and are less fearful of its effects hence they are increasingly using marijuana and other drugs of abuse. In this context, some people argue that allowing marijuana medicinal use conveys a powerful, but erroneous message to children that marijuana use is beneficial (Conboy, 2000). A survey published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, showed that of 300 sets of twins who used marijuana, they were five times more likely to use other hallucinogens and four times more likely to continue to use crack cocaine or cocaine. In addition, the rate of dependence was three times higher in adolescents compared to dependence in adults (Farrell, 2009). On the other hand, there is a theory claiming that marijuana could prompt a biochemical craving for other psychoactive substances. There is a proposal that the permissive atmosphere linked with its use is a likely explanation of why marijuana users heighten their use to other drugs. Moreover, another possible explanation why marijuana is the gateway to other drugs is the chances of one’s colleagues also using marijuana are high (Cohen, 2009). According to The American Psychiatric Association, marijuana is addictive. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders declares that marijuana meets criteria required for substance dependence. The criteria incorporates using a drug even in the presence of adverse effects, giving up social, occupational, or recreational activities because of substance abuse, and withdrawal symptoms. In 2002, more than 60 percent of Americans who were dependent on illicit drugs had marijuana as the substance of choice (Farrell, 2009). On the other hand, the biggest obstacle of wider acceptance of the medical marijuana is the fact that it is normally smoked. Consequently, the opposers of medical marijuana claims that smoking is a poor way to take a drug, that inhaling smoke is an unusual drug delivery system, although many endorsed other inhalants already in the market (Eddy, 2010). In addition, smoking delivers toxic and likely carcinogenic substances directly to the lungs, irrespective of what the substance smoked. Particularly, there is evidence that plant products found in nature are likely to change in instability, potency variance, contaminants, and consistency (Yambura, 2008). Moreover, some researchers have confirmed that there is a link between smoking of marijuana and lung cancer. In addition, there is no difference between the marijuana and tobacco smoke hence giving similar effects with tobacco smoking. Moreover, the carcinogenic components found in tobacco smoke also occur in marijuana smoke. On the other hand, there are reports that chronic marijuana smoking that is at least four days a week for six to eight weeks cause mild airway obstruction, which may not be easily reversible with abstinence (Cohen, 2009). Marijuana causes adverse effects to patients with hypertension, cerebra-vascular disease coronary artery disease and the older patients. Marijuana for example, changes blood pressure, augments cardiac output by as much as 30 percent and can raise heart rate that is a dose-dependent tachycardia (Hubbard, 1999). In addition, smoking marijuana could lower exercise time until start of angina pain, raises myocardial oxygen demand in angina patients, and reduces myocardial oxygen delivery (Yambura, 2008). Conversely, the possible association with signs of serious psychiatric illness is possibly the greater concern than the effects of marijuana on cognition. There is strong scientific evidence showing the strong relationship between some forms of psychiatric irregularities and the recreational use of marijuana. However, the puzzling factor is that preexisting psychiatric illness could play a major part in the development of mental illness in people using marijuana (Cohen, 2009). Among the mental health, complications first experienced after using marijuana include distorted perception, cognitive impairment, memory loss, difficulty learning, anxiety, panic attacks, hallucinations, depression, social withdrawal, paranoia, and trouble with thinking and problem solving. A person could experience these symptoms for as long as six weeks after the last use of the drug. Paradoxically, marijuana advocates use the panic attacks as one of the conditions for experimentally treating with the drug (Farrell, 2009). It is common to overlook the risk of infection despite being a serious adverse effect of marijuana. For example, a person can experience impaired pulmonary defenses against infection because of chronic use of marijuana. In addition, there are high chances of marijuana contaminated with microorganisms for example Salmonella and Aspergillums, and even fecal matter. This risk of infection is especially of particular interest in patients who have acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (Hubbard, 1999). Moreover, the extended use might cause clinically major impairments of immune system mechanisms including macrophages and T-cells, patients with already weakened immune systems may be susceptible to an increased rate of pulmonary infections for example pneumonia, which is often serious in AIDS patients (Yambura, 2008). Additionally, the respiratory problems experienced in marijuana are similar to those of tobacco with the outward signs of more serious internal problems including wheezing, coughing, chest colds and bronchitis. In addition, the breathing became difficult due to obstructed airways, impaired function of smaller air passages, and lung inflammation. However, the pre-cancerous abnormalities and reduction in the defensive mechanisms of the lungs is of great concern. There is an increased risk of lung infections because of deteriorating lung function and the lungs’ abilities to protect against harmful substances or microorganisms (Farrell, 2009). Moreover, the combustion byproducts have adverse effects including decreased body’s ability to fight fungi, a bacteria, and tumor cells and damaging the cells in bronchial passages (Yambura, 2008). The medical marijuana opponent’s claims that legalizing the drug could make the work of police officers more difficult. The three ways that undermine the law enforcement include by causing state and local law enforcement priorities to diverge from federal priorities, by complicating the job of law enforcement by forcing officers to distinguish medical users from recreational users, and by diverting medical marijuana into the recreational drug market (Eddy, 2010). There is a noteworthy decrement in driving ability since use of recreational marijuana damages mental ability. According to a recent survey in France about fatal automobile accidents, 8.8% of drivers found at fault, had taken marijuana compared with only 2.8% of those involved fatal accidents but deemed to be without fault (Cohen, 2009). Moreover, in minimal terms, marijuana impairs judgment and slows reaction time. For instance, a driver under the influence of marijuana inflicts a direct cost on society by jeopardizing the lives of his travelers and others on the street (Rabbani, n.d). Although it is hard to determine the adverse effects of cannabis in vehicle accidents because of other factors like alcohol intoxication a study of fatal road accidents in UK, found no alcohol in the 80% of the bodies found to be positive for cannabis at necropsy. Consequently, the conclusion was that the separate effects of alcohol and cannabis on driving performance and psychomotor impairment are almost similar. In addition, it is hard for police to detect cannabis correctly because of the absence of a roadside test equivalent to the breathalyzer for alcohol (Wodak et al, 2002). The adolescents who use marijuana lead lifestyles that are more reckless. About three times of smokers of the drug consider committing suicide. Indeed, even moderate doses of marijuana alter perception, impair motor skills, and slow reaction time. It is also evident that the young people using marijuana are likely to have more unprotected sex with more partners and beginning at a younger age (Farrell, 2009). Moreover, the high school students who use marijuana have lower grades and are more delinquency since they regularly spend less time on homework. The college women who use marijuana, on the other hand, register considerably higher rates of smoking, sleeplessness, motor vehicle crashes, use of sex as a coping mechanism, psychiatric problems, violent dreams and use of alcohol and tranquilizers compared with the nonusers (Hubbard, 1999). Another effect of marijuana is that it robs both individual and society of the fruits of their labor since it affects the physical and mental health of users of marijuana causing a lowered school and job performance. In addition, it also affects negatively the already stretched and expensive health care system. Moreover, the opportunity costs of producing and distributing marijuana itself are high. For instance, in California, individual growers or drug cartels lease or buy houses for the articulated reason of using them to grow large amounts of marijuana, thus making the homes unlivable and almost valueless after the crop is harvested (Farrell, 2009). The most quantifiable the costs are about 40 billion dollars are spent on enforcement of drug prohibition at the federal and state levels and about 1.2 billion dollars spent on incarceration of criminals convicted of marijuana-related crimes. However, it is hard to quantify the added tax revenue and commercial profits that would accrue from the legal marijuana market. In addition, there would be extra government expenditures on regulatory agencies to ascertain adherence of marijuana products to some standards, creating a fall for these profits (Rabbani, n.d). The fact that there are various drugs in the market to treat the same symptoms treated by marijuana is another justification for keeping cannabis illegal because it makes marijuana an unnecessary addition to the medical community. In addition, the opposers of legalizing marijuana claims that it was only after lengthy research that the existing drugs became noteworthy while marijuana has only become an accepted treatment in recent times simply because of public opinion and popularity. Moreover, it is the legal medicine’s principle to not only treat symptoms, but also delay the advancement of the disease and even treat the source cause of the symptoms (Yambura, 2008). Although marijuana use has an undeniably harmful effect on one’s health, these effects also occur in the society. This means that the society incurs the burden of caring for the person consuming marijuana if he or she contacts other disorders associated with marijuana smoking. These costs occur to the society for example when the affected individual needs a new lung or even chemotherapy due to cancer. In fact, this effect might be brutal bearing in mind that a marijuana user’s substitute lung prevents another fatally ill patient from potentially extending his life (Rabbani, n.d). Despite the evidence of cannabis being undoubtedly deficient and in some cases conflicting and confounded, it is evident that legalization of cannabis would cause increased use and increased harm on the public health. Consequently, no amount of regulation of a legal market would shield the susceptible people especially the mentally ill and children. There is therefore need for improved public education on the true risks of cannabis and greater accessibility of treatment for the addicted people. Alternatively, any change in the law should focus on enforcement of law with emphasis on greater consistency throughout the country, and a review of the penalties for possession rather than any change in the statutes or any departure from international drug conventions (Wodak et al, 2002). Conclusion Although advocates of legalization of marijuana assert some medicinal properties, it is evident that there are many controversies surrounding its perceived medical properties. This is because there are still many adverse effects associated with the use of marijuana. For instance, research indicates that marijuana is a gateway for abuse of other major drugs especially among the youth and teenagers. In addition, consistent use of marijuana causes and accelerates various health problems as well as psychological impairment. These include impairment of the immune system, casing cancer, onset of mental disorders, cognitive problems and respiratory problems as well as heart diseases. In addition to health effects, intake of marijuana also causes most accidents, when drivers drive under the influence of the drug. Considerable research also indicates that legalization of marijuana would exert pressure on the economy due to escalated costs of care. Moreover, the society carries the burden in case of caring for a marijuana user. Despite these negative effects, another justification against legalization of marijuana is that there are alternative drugs for curing the diseases that marijuana could cure. In view of these effects, regulation of the drug cannot solve these problems. Therefore, the only strategy remaining to sole these problems are through prohibiting the use of marijuana and opposing its asserted legalization. Through this, the society will avoid all the named problems and effects associated with use of marijuana. References Cohen, P. J. (2009). Medical Marijuana: The Conflict between Scientific Evidence and Political Ideology. Utah Law Review, 1, 35-104. Conboy, J. R. (2000). Smoke Screen: America’s Drug Policy and Medical Marijuana. Food and Drug Law Journal, 55, 601-617. Eddy, M. (2010). Medical Marijuana: Review and Analysis of Federal and State Policies. Retrieved from Farrell, B. (2009). 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