Nicknames for marijuana include “pot,””Maryjane,” “smoke,” “weed” and “Dope.”
Regardless of what it is called, the issue over legalization of marijuana comes up quite often. Medical marijuana legalization offers relief from various ailments and illnesses. General legalization would allow the use of marijuana for recreational purposes. Since these issues are distinctively separate issues, let’s look at them individually.
Medical Marijuana
Medical marijuana can be used for the treatment of symptoms for various illnesses and ailments. One of the most popular uses for medical marijuana is for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy treatments. The use of marijuana relieves the side effects of chemotherapy which include nausea, vomiting, pain, lack of appetite and anxiety. The alternative is a variety of prescription medications that carry their own lists of side effects. Medical marijuana can also be used to treat illnesses that leave patients in chronic pain, glaucoma, PMS, insomnia and various other illnesses. Diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s, Lou Gehrig’s disease and even brain cancer have shown significant response if using medical marijuana in treating the disease.
Those against legalization say that marijuana dependency is a likely result of regular marijuana use, but those who are for it claim that its benefits far outweigh the disadvantages that people say marijuana brings.
Marijuana is not addicting, but it has also been shown to be effective in treating addictions to other medications. The lack of side effects of patients being treated caused by medical marijuana make its’ use very appealing to both doctors and patients. There are a wide variety of edible forms of medical marijuana, which allows patients to ingest the drug rather than smoking it for relief. The availability of baked goods, suckers and other forms of medical marijuana has helped its’ use win support that were previously not “on board.”
Recreational Use of Marijuana
Opponents of legalizing medical marijuana say that recreational users will abuse the ability to gain access to a drug that is not medically necessary. This opinion is also used by politicians when they are attempting to gain support to block legalization. So is recreational use of marijuana a bad thing? Toss aside the fact that it is illegal and take a closer look.
Marijuana has a relaxing effect on the user. Unlike alcohol, which is legal, marijuana does not stimulate aggression in users. Someone once said, “You will see a fist fight at almost every alcohol party, but you never see one at a pot party.” This statement appears to be fairly accurate, since aggression is not a side effect of marijuana use.
The War on Drugs has put millions of offenders for distribution, possession and use of marijuana. All of these offenders lead to a very high cost to taxpayers to house them during their incarceration. With the current status of overcrowding in prisons, one way to reduce the crowding issue would be to legalize marijuana.
Conclusion
Use of marijuana, whether for medicinal or recreational purposes, has supporters and opponents. After analyzing the overall reasoning for legalization leads many people to concluding it is time to legalize the use of marijuana.
