The strongest and the most publicly accepted form of marijuana smoking is for medical reasons. Marijuana has the power to improve appetites in chemotherapy patients and AIDS patients and may reduce muscle spasms associated with epilepsy and multiple sclerosis, and alleviate eye pressure in glaucoma patients. Marijuana is more effective than Marinol, an FDA-approved drug which contains THC, which in its natural form is the active ingredient in marijuana.
Marinol is better controlling their dosage when they smoke it. Marijuana is less toxic than many if not most prescription drugs. Finally marijuana has been used as а cheap and reliable therapeutic agent for centuries. Marijuana is no different than smoking cigarettes or drinking а beer. If their is any difference it’s that marijuana is а better choice, а healthier or choice. Marijuana relieves stress. It’s а non-addictive substance.
It would save а lot of space and time in our judicial system if it was just legalized. The government could make large amounts of money by taxation on it. The medical help it provides is grounds enough to legalizing it. Tetrahydrocannabinol, marijuana’s main psychoactive ingredient, has been sold in а synthetic version as the FDA licensed prescription drug called Marinol for more than 20 years. However Marinol, as compared to natural marijuana, has some serious shortcomings.
А report made in 1999 by the Institute of Medicine states “It is well recognized that Marinol’s oral route of administration hampers effectiveness because of slow absorption and patients’ desire for more control over dosing” (Gil 39-46) The Lancet Neurology, а monthly medical journal, came to the same conclusion in May 2003, stating, “Oral administration is probably the least satisfactory route for cannabis.
” (Belle-Isle & Hathaway 5000-506) Conclusion The best example of how successful а decriminalisation or legalization policy towards marijuana can be, is the modern day home of cannabis culture; Amsterdam. Coffee shops were created in 1980 and as а result, Holland now has the lowest rate of cannabis use in Europe and the lowest rate of drug related deaths per million per population.
(O’Fallon & Dearry 155-59) Decriminalization also increases the expansion of the economy of Cannabis; decriminalisation saw the shift from nearly 80% imported marijuana to over 80% home produced marijuana in Holland, enabling the government to suitably tax and regulate the marijuana sold. Prohibition simply forces the economy associated with the cannabis trade in to the hands of criminals and gangsters whose sole motivation is money and not the health of the smokers. (Williams 117-28)
Works Cited
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