Why is medical use of marijuana a controversy?

Answer 1

I wrote a paper for college on this subject, and three of my sources were personal interviews with actual doctors. While I won't mention their names, below are their quotes:

"I don't think you'll find any honest doctors out there who will claim that they've been hindered in the treatment of their patients because they can't give somebody some reefer."

"There are much more appropriate drugs available to doctors who treat the symptoms of the conditions that marijuana advocates use for their protests."

"The bottom line is: there is no adequate justification for marijuana in medicine." As you can see, all three doctors were in agreement, and to my knowledge, not one of them knew the other two. It is my personal oppinion that the health hazards associated with smoking pot outweigh any health benefit that it may have. Answer If I had been your teacher, I would have flunked you for not doing the research. In the first place, you have to ask why we have the marijuana laws in the first place. Marijuana was originally outlawed for two major reasons. The first was because "All Mexicans are crazy and marijuana is what makes them crazy." It was racial prejudice against Mexican immigrants and other minorities. When Congress voted on it, they didn't even realize that this was the same drug found in about 250 common medicines at the time, with a long history of safe medical use. The representative of the American Medical Association testified before Congress that there was no evidence that marijuana was a dangerous drug and, therefore, no reason to make it illegal. See: Short History of the Marijuana Laws at http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/History/whiteb1.htm The Consumers Union Report on Licit and Illicit Drugs at http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/library/studies/cu/cumenu.htm Complete transcripts of the hearings for the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 - http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/taxact/taxact.htm When and why was marijuana outlawed? - http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/library/mj_outlawed.htm

The question of medical marijuana use has been studied in depth. The US Federal courts have ruled on the subject and found that 1) marijuana is a medicine and 2) it is the only medicine suitable for some people. That is why the US Federal Government sends a big tin can full of 300 US Government joints to a number of patients each month. The Chief Administrative Law Judge for the US Drug Enforcement Agency studied the issue of medical marijuana for two years, heard arguments from both sides, and accumulated fifteen volumes of research. He concluded that marijuana meets the legal standards of a medicine and that there are some patients for whom it is the only suitable medicine. He further stated that "marijuana, in its natural form is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man."

DEA Ruling on Medical Marijuana - http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/studies/YOUNG/index.html In 1999, the US Drug Czar commissioned on a report on medical marijuana from the US Institute of Medicine. They concluded that marijuana is a medicine,and there are currently some patients for whom there is no good alternative medicine to marijuana. They recommended that patients should be allowed to use it. See:

Marijuana as Medicine, Assessing the Science Base, US Institute of Medicine, 1999 - http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/studies/iom/IOMReport.htm Every major government commission report on marijuana from around the world over the last 100 years has concluded that marijuana prohibition was based on racism, ignorance, and nonsense. They all said the marijuana laws should have been repealed long ago because they do more harm than good.

Major Studies of Drugs and Drug Policy - http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/studies/studies.htm

Answer 2

Marijuana should be legalized because we need to keep people out of prison, and stop treating casual marijuana users like criminals. Many people in our government have jobs that are dependent on the war on cannabis. If marijuana were legalized, these people would not be out of jobs. The only option now is to keep perpetuating the lie.

Note: There is no lie. Marijuana should not be illegal.

The hypocrisy of the policy compared to alcohol or tobacco is ridiculous. It doesn't matter to lawmakers that it is about as safe and addictive as caffeine. It doesn't matter that every objective study of it ever has shown it to be essentially completely harmless, if not good for you. (it has preventative and even curative effects on many cancers, and can protect brain cells from alzheimers according to another study)

Caffeine and Tobacco has more annual deaths than marijuana, and yes smoking any dried plant substance isn't good for you. So why keep on promoting the more addictive and deadly drugs and not just decriminalize marijuana there is no violence and no danger unless your from the 1930 when they thought it was a drug that caused you to become violent, which is in fact the exact opposite.

Note: There are objective studies that equally indicate addictive qualities equal to cocaine or heroine. The real difference is that the effects of this drug are much more psychoactive and less physical which makes the addiction very different and perhaps easier to overcome than those substances that create a physical need.

The main reason that people say it should be illegal nowadays is because it is a "gateway drug", since it doesn't have any health consequences (except minor lung irritation, and if it were legal and cheaper more people would eat or vaporize it). However, the gateway drug theory is complete BS.

Note: The gateway theory is not BS if you consider that there are many gates. I think we can all say with confidence that most coffee drinkers don't smoke tobacco. I think we can also say with great confidence that most alcohol drinkers don't smoke tobacco. We can also say with great confidence that most of those people who use any or all of these substances do NOT use marijuana. However, I can say with great confidence, that everyone I know that has tried marijuana has also tried harder drugs. Some of those people did graduate to regular use of those harder drugs. I know of one in particular who feared he would become a crack cocaine addict only a couple years after becoming a regular marijuana smoker. Anyone who says this theory is BS obviously doesn't know many marijuana smokers; or at least doesn't know them as well as they think.

A common statement that lawmakers make and other anti-marijuana activist use for the gateway theory is that you are 15 times more likely to try hard drugs like cocaine if you start smoking marijuana, which isn't an accurate statement because how they figure that number is to ask cocaine users if they started on marijuana first and then ask marijuana users if they have tried cocaine, which marijuana users answer with 83% of them answering no, but they figure the number by dividing or multiplying the two answers I'm kind of blurry on how it works, but that still leaves 83% of all marijuana users not ever touching a harder drug.

The gateway theory claims that if you ask heroin users what drug they tried first 90% will say marijuana. However if you stop ignoring legal drugs, and ask them what drug they used first, I'm guessing 97% would say they used cigarettes before marijuana. If you go back further, I'm guessing 99.99% would say they used caffiene or sugar first. We should ban caffiene, because 99.99% of heroin users started with caffiene -- see why that doesn't work.

Note: The reason these substances are legal is that in small doses, used properly, are not dramatically mind altering. Alcohol is a culinary enhancement. We can have a glass of wine with a meal and not experience any psychoactive phenomena. Caffeine is a minor stimulant that some people use to wake up when they feel drowsy. This enhances our daily productivity without altering our consciousness or impairing our ability to make rational decisions.

The gateway drug theory is a complete logical fallacy. Most of the "facts" the gov't spreads about marijuana are complete lies and propaganda. The only studies the gov't will fund are ones that have a direct, expressed purpose of finding harm associated with use, and even then most of the studies they do fund cannot even make a flimsy claim against it. They've shown in Jamaica that it is fine to smoke during pregnancy. They've shown in Britain that it is safe to drive while smoking.

Note: A British doctor will also tell a pregnant woman to have a pint of Guiness to combat iron deficiencies. I'm not defending alcohol here, but there are documented cases of people operating heavy machinery while high and causing deaths. I wouldn't want the driver of my train taking Nyquil either but the idea that it's safe to drive high is ludicrous. Someone is pushing Propaganda here and I think it's the pro-marijuana people.

It started as a racist law against Mexicans in Texas, it continued as a racist law against jazz musicians, and then it was a cultural law against hippies and the counter-culture. Today it's just a massive beauracracy trying to protect itself.

Note: There is no doubt that we have an unfortunate, racist history. However, let's look at some of the more positive basic founding principles behind the freest society in the world. First, we are a democratic republic dedicated to the protection of constitutional freedoms in our society. Second, every major policy debate on our country is centered on the debate between where our individual rights must be sacrificed for the common good. In order to have a fully successful, functioning democratic society, the citizenry must be well educated and in control of their consciousness at all times. Only then can they be trusted to be in control of themselves and make rational judgments for the common good and the protection of all of our rights rather than devoting so much time and energy to protecting one's so called "right" to get high and not be fully in control of his decision-making. It is demeaning to our society and the great social experiment in freedom that this nation was founded upon to give up our minds to a supposedly recreational substance.

Well you say that it is demeaning to smoke and that our nation was not founding upon this at all, well your quite wrong because Ben Franklin, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson all smoke marijuana and each had their own fields as well. And in 1619 it was mandatory to grow cannabis in Virginia. And marijuana has only been illegal for 1% of its history, apparently your generation has not caught up to the rest of the world. And here is a fact you should know with all the people that have been in our White House about 80% of all people who worked there have said they have tried marijuana.

Besides, do you want to be the one to have to explain that we've been locking people up for years for no reason? Or would it be easier to just maintain the status quo?

Note: The current trend in our society is to place greater legal restrictions on controlled substances. Increasing age requirements, banning smoking in public places, punishing intoxicated drivers, etc. are tightening the screws on those who are too weak to remain sober. Yes, I said "too weak" and I'm not getting into medical marijuana here as that should be a separate debate. Legalizing yet another controlled substance would be a step backwards for our society and basically giving the stamp of approval to those who would prefer to be high than motivated, active, thoughtful, engaged citizens. I certainly don't want to be the one to explain to my baby girl why the government says it's alright to be stoned out of your mind.

Saying a person is too weak to stay sober is out of line, no one wants to be addicted to a substance it has be proven to be a mental disease. If anything we need to help the people with this illness not lock them away. Do you honestly believe locking away a pothead is going benefit society in any way? Maybe if its to hard for you to tell your baby girl that its okay to get high, you should start with with telling her that government allows her to get drunk, which is equally or more damaging than crack, and meth or any other "hardcore" drug. Maybe If we stopped labeling pot as a hardcore drug in our culture it wouldn't be as appealing to our youth. I mean lets get real here weed is never going to just disappear, why not legalize it and maintain it similar to the way we maintain alcohol. I'd rather have my children getting weed from a store rather than a drug deal, should we not teach our children responsibility by puting an age limit on weed, I mean lets get the scum bag selling drugs next to the school not the kid who gets tempted in by him. Keeping weed illegal isn't benefiting us in anyway, its doing more damage to our culture if anything.

Answer

Also PROHIBITION DOESN'T WORK it didn't work for alcohol and hasn't worked for marijuana, all prohibition does is promote crime and makes the drug easier to obtain. If you are religious go back to the first crime ever committed, yes Adam and Eve. As I recall God said do not eat from the apple from the tree of knowledge and all he had was to watch two people and even GOD failed at that. I kind of support the legalization of marijuana, but what really should happen is just decriminalizing it make it so that the none violent personal users are out of jail leaving space for those who need it, who actually committed crimes that need to be put in jail. When you bring up people losing jobs, no jobs will be lost just take those people who invested time in prosecuting people on marijuana charges and take their time and invest it in the help of solving other crimes. But the prohibition has to end because it has no done its purpose and never will all it does is promote things that we didn't intend to happen.

Marijuana should not be legalized because it is fun and harmless!

ANSWER

"Actually, it is not harmless. People become so addicted to it that they will steal or kill to get it. And it also messes up your body (Lungs, Liver etc.) If it were legalized, more people would die because the marijuana is destroying their bodies, little by little."

- This is not true.

The LD50 of Delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol is an estimated 15000 Pounds, smoked in the course of 15 minutes. Also, there has been NO DEATHS from cannabis use alone in over 1000 years of known use. Your lungs COULD be affected due to the burning of marijuana required to smoke it. If marijuana is vaporized instead this problem is dramatically reduced, and in some cases, eliminated. I don't see how it could affect ones liver. As far as addiction goes, Marijuana is NOT Physically addictive. If people are going to steal and kill to get it, that is based on psychologically addiction, which is something that varies with each person. You will NOT get withdrawals like you do cigarettes or heroin if you are deprived of marijuana.

ANSWER

It is very harmful to everyone, and should not be legalized. The reason why we have so many crimes involved with marijuana is because people need more. It is, in fact, addictive. Maybe not physically addictive, with withdrawals, but mentally. A person who smokes marijuana every day, and then goes a day without, will become severely depressed, because regular life becomes too dull for them. The only way they know how to live is by being high, and that's the only way they'll be happy.

It is nowhere near harmless to the people you're around, and your lungs. People say vaporize the marijuana, but not everyone knows how or wants to do that. But smoke is smoke, no matter where it comes from, and it goes through everybody's lungs and damages them the same way.

Then what would happen if it got legalized? Big companies would start selling it. And, because of the greed these people have, they'll want to sell more and more. Soon you'd find your marijuana to be laced with all kind of addicting things in them. What if you end up smoking marijuana with nicotine in it?

Answer

I'll tell you why it shouldn't be legalized: It is a drug. You people need to stop worrying about drugs. I saw a 16 year old kid in Walmart yesterday wearing a hat with the cannabis logo on it. If he was of legal age, I would've kicked that kid's butt for doing some stupid stunt like that. It is illegal because it kills brain cells, as well as causes lung cancer. I won't say that cigarettes don't, because they rank right up there. Anyways, marijuana should not be legal. It shouldn't even exist. You people think that anything that can be rolled up and smoked or injected into your body should go there. That any ingredient with the prefix "meth-" means it needs to be inside your body. You are turning your bodies into war zones, and aiding the enemy. No matter what drug you "legalize", the Federal Drug Administration will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law for using the drug. And it's not only that it's illegal. It pretty much kills you from the inside. Do you know why it's called dope? Because of an ingredient that it fills your stress-response and nervous system with: Dopamine. I once met a person who tried marijuana once, and is now in a phyciatric ward for life. She tried marijuana once and fried her brain like an egg. She doesn't even know how to talk. Her nervous system is screwed.. She is technically dead. We were put on this earth for one reason: to put a dent in it. Instead of killing yourself or ruining your life with drugs, why don't you make a change. It shouldn't even be used for medicinal purposes. Although, that is it's primary usage. You people abusing it is like abusing demarol. Would you go and inject yourself with demarol for fun and to "kick back"? Hell no you wouldn't. Because it takes too long and it doesn't have any temporary "high". If you want something to do, why not be a daredevil? Go skydiving or parachuting. You should be enough of one, since if you smoke weed, you cheat death every day. Smoking marijuana doesn't even come close to completing your life. Like an electrical circuit (electric fence). Smoking marijuana is like standing on styrofoam instead of the ground. Thus, an uncompleted circuit. Think about it. Do you want to throw your life away, just for a temporary "feel-good" sensation? I know I wouldn't.

Answer 3

There is more than one reason. First, it's because so many lies have been told about it that people think it a Garrick's drug. Second, the government doesn't want people to know its healthy because they think it will make them lose money in industries like pharmaceutical, cancer treatment, lumber, alcohol and tobacco.

Answer 4

Because many people find it to help them better with their pain or whatever they are suffering from than pills without the side effects

Answer 5

Marijuana gives you the munchies, and people with cancer or other illnesses often lose their appetite. So people will be prescribed cannabis, in order to get there appetite back.

Answer 6

yes