Should Marijuana Be Legalized - 1356 Words

To Some people, it’s a relaxing herb, something to temporarily pull the mind from reality. The aroma is unmistakable, the potency various, and there are roughly sixty five million people smoking it. I’m talking about Cannabis Sativa, the illegal strain of hemp known as marijuana. This plant provides many medical benefits that far outweigh the side effects. It has yet to be proven to be addictive or deadly. Marijuana as it stands right now is an illegal narcotic, but I think the drug, with it’s physical, psychological, spiritual, but most importantly, medical benefits, should be legalized. Marijuana is one of the oldest cultivated plants. (Nahas,1986) The first people to introduce the potential healing properties of marijuana were the†¦show more content†¦Since then, marijuana has undergone many tests and thorough analysis for its use as a medical value. The NIH (National Institute of Health) is one of the many advocates for medicinal marijuana. They clai m that marijuana may be helpful in the alleviation of chemotherapy, to reduce nausea and enable the patients to eat. The drug also helps in the stimulation of appetite and reduction of the loss of lean muscle mass in AIDS patients. These AIDS victims also find that the drug also helps with the â€Å"wasting syndrome† that often characterizes the terminal illness. It has also been proven it can prevent epileptic seizures.(Potter, 1998) In addition, marijuana aids in the reduction of interlobular fluid pressure in the eyes caused by glaucoma, which can causes serious damage to vision, and in some cases can lead to blindness. Migraine sufferers have found relief form their headaches, and victims of spinal injuries and multiple sclerosis reported that marijuana controlled their spasms.(Randall, 1998) Pro marijuana legalization groups such as the Physicians Association for AIDS Care and the National Lymphoma Foundation argue that marijuana should only be used to treat terminally i ll patients. (Mack, 2001) Among those patients are the AIDS victims who find that marijuana stimulates their appetites so they can fight off dangerous emaciation, and cancer patients for whom the drug alleviates