Medical Marijuana

Figure 1: Medical Marijuana

                  Marijuana and Medical

                           Marijuana

             Weed, herb, pot, bud, Mary Jane are just a few names for what's actually known as marijuana. Marijuana is the dried up leaves off the Cannabis Sativa, or often known as the hemp plant (2). From the dried up leaves, there is chemical known as THC, or actual name Tetrahydrocannabinol (2). THC is the component of marijuana that gives the user the effect of it. Medical Marijuana, as seen in Figure 1, is recommended by a doctor in the treatment for a medical condition. Marijuana is the most commonly used drug across the United States (2). Other then people using it for medical reasons, the other side is people using it for their own desires.

Medical Conditions

              There's few people that don't know someone with a severe medical condition; whether its friends, family members, or relatives. It is said that 90% of people know someone that has or had cancer. Imagine how many people know someone with any other disease or other medical condition. That's a lot of people! If medical marijuana was legalized and used across all states, a lot of people would be benefited from this treatment. The medical marijuana would relieve the pain the patient is having when they use it. The medical marijuana can be used by eating it in a certain way, being smoked, or vaporized. It doesn't only effect and benefit the patients, but everyone else around them in society because less people are sick or feel a lot of pain.

Figure 2: Health Benefits

      Why Medical Marijuana is                        Helpful

       Medical Marijuana has been beneficial to people for hundreds of years and will continue. Thousands of people have used medical marijuana for a variety of reasons. Medical marijuana was scientifically proven to help patients with nausea, cancer, glaucoma, anxiety, seizures, cases of headaches, and more (3). Shown in Figure 2, there's been over 300 situations medical marijuana has helped someone with a headache. Everyone gets headaches here and there, some more then others, but everyone could be helped if medical marijuana was legal and accessible to them.

Figure 3: Doctors Approval

                            Doctors Approve

            Medical Marijuana is legal in just under half the states across the America. A majority of doctors, across the US, say medical marijuana should be legalized nationally (1). The percentages that agreed and disagreed with medical marijuana are shown in Figure 3. Health professionals had doctors surveyed on their thoughts about medical marijuana (1). In that survey alone, it resulted in doctors agreeing that patients should be open to medical marijuana has an option (1). Allowing people to have that option, could possibly reduce the amount of pill addictions people get from them. It all goes back to the possibility of having a family member or friend benefited from using medical marijuana.

References

(1)   Rappold, Scott R. (2014). WebMD. Legalize Medical Marijuana, Doctors Say in Survey. Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/news/20140225/webmd-marijuana-survey-web#1

(2)   Volkow, Nora D. (2017, March). National Institute on Drug Abuse. Marijuana as Medicine. Retrieved from https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/marijuana-medicine

(3)   Zimmerman, Kim. (2015, January). Life Science. Medical Marijuana: Benefits, Risks, and State Laws. Retrieved from http://www.livescience.com/24554-medical-marijuana.html