Sunday, November 24, 2013

Dominique Melillo
Prof. Nyland
ENG 151-OM2
11/6/13

The Benefits of Medicinal Cannabis
            The situation of medicinal cannabis, that’s been used as herbal remedies for centuries, is difficult and changing rapidly.  Cannabis, commonly known as marijuana, is derived from a plant that produces a resin that could be psychoactive.  In the United States, marijuana is illegal and is a substance classified under the Schedule I act.  Substances placed under this schedule currently have no accepted medical use in the United States, lack of safety for use under medical supervision, and have a high potential for abuse.  Even though the sale, use, and possession of marijuana are illegal by federal law, some states have ruled to make medical marijuana legal in their state.  “Though considered a Schedule I drug, the reality of the medical marijuana situation is that the drug has been tested and that marijuana can be used positively in medical use and even 20 out of the 50 states in the United States have made it legally statewide.” (Medcial Marijuana).  The benefits of medical marijuana are the safe and effective treatment for chemotherapy symptoms of cancer, severe and chronic pain, and depression.
            Majority of cancer patients undergo chemotherapy when there are diagnosed with cancer and it has been tested that medical marijuana is an efficient way to help elevate the symptoms from chemotherapy.  While taking chemotherapy, most patients become so nauseous that they cannot eat and usually vomit when they try to eat.  It has been tested that taking the two cannabinoid drugs, dronabinol and nabilone, help suppress the feelings of nausea and even stop the vomiting.  The two drugs have been approved by the FDA and with clinical trials; the drugs have shown that they both work as well or even better than the weaker FDA-approved drugs.  Though these drugs have not helped cancer patients with weight loss and increased appetite, they have helped HIV and AIDS patients.  The two drugs have been clinically tested that they have helped the HIV and AIDS patients gain more weight and have increased their appetite compared to the patients who took the placebo. 

            Along with the chemotherapy symptoms comes severe and chronic pain in cancer patients and can as well be relieved with the use of medical marijuana.  In an article about medical marijuana, it mentions a study done in 2000 that says, “70-80 % of patients experienced pain relief when using medical marijuana” (Marijuana Used as Medicine to Trear Certain Illnesses).  For chronic pain patients, to relieve the pain they usually have to take the use of opioids.  Opioids have many side effects when taking the drug in short and long term and are also hard to obtain in the quantity needed for the treatment.  The side effects of taking opioids are more dangerous than of taking medical marijuana.  While taking opioids, you can experience the side effects of hallucination, seizures, difficulty urinating, and a rapid or irregular heartbeat.  Normally patients using medical marijuana take the right amount of the dosage to where they don’t experience side effects. 

            Depression is just as serious as any other mental illness.  When you are clinically depressed you experience long-term effects of sadness, low self-esteem, sometimes even suicide.  Medical cannabis has been used for centuries for the treatment of depression.  Now to treat depression, you are given an antidepressant which only is prescribed to patients with severe depression.  Patients with mild or moderate depression are not given any antidepressant to help with their depression.  Also, the antidepressant can cause you to have bad withdrawals from the drug.  With medical marijuana, both severe and moderate patients with depression can receive the drug for treatment.  The patients also will not have any bad withdrawals from the drug if they decide to not take the drug anymore.  Some patients who have severe diseases like cancer, have reported to have depression because of the disease, so taking medical cannabis can help relieve the symptoms from cancer and depression.  Researchers have discovered that the use of medical marijuana increases the levels of serotonin in the brain which causes your mood to improve.  Only low doses of medical marijuana help with the symptoms of depression, so depending on the person is the amount of the medicine they receive.

            Medical cannabis has been used as herbal remedies for centuries so why is it not accepted as a medical use today?  There are more positive effects to using marijuana medically than there are negative effects.  Medical marijuana can help with the treatment and symptoms of the safe and effective treatment for chemotherapy symptoms of cancer, severe and chronic pain, and depression.  Taking the step into the direction of medical marijuana is a serious debate and should be highly considered of ruling in its favor. 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited


Marijuana Used as Medicine to Trear Certain Illnesses. 26 Nov 2011. 5 Nov 2013.
Medcial Marijuana. 15 Oct 2013. 5 Nov 2013.

 Pros: Can help with side affects of cancer, chronic pain, glaucoma, and insomnia

Cons: Schedule I drug, not legal federally, not legal in all states 

http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NeJMp1000695
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/cam/cannabis/patient/page2
http://www.cancer.org/treatment/treatmentsandsideeffects/complementaryandalternativemedicine/herbsvitaminsandminerals/marijuana

Dear Governor O’Malley,                                      
            I am a student of Stevenson University writing on behalf of your newly support of the benefits of Medical Marijuana.  I appreciate and would like to thank you for your change of position regarding Medical Cannabis.  You have made it acceptable to be used in academic hospitals, but I think you should take it one step further and make is accessible for the community hospitals as well.  As we know the use of marijuana for medical use has been researched extensively and we both know the benefits of the drug for the patients, so why not make it acceptable for the use in community hospitals?  Taking this one step further shows you the benefits of using medical marijuana in community hospitals, what other states have done, and how the government could be making their decisions off the states.
            Using medical marijuana only in academic hospitals as opposed to the use in community hospitals doesn’t give those patients their right to use the medicine that could possibly be the answer to their prayers.  Using the drug only in academic hospitals limits the use of the drug and the willingness to move towards a program with patients.  Using marijuana medically has already been tested on thoroughly and well enough to know the benefits of the drug for certain illnesses. The drug being used in a community hospital would be just as safe as using it in the academic hospital because of all the research already done on the drug.  Using the drug only in academic hospitals doesn’t give all the cancer patients, multiple sclerosis patients, and other disease patients their right to ease the symptoms or possibly even cure the disease they have.  Only allowing the use in academic hospitals will not bring any benefits to the citizens of Maryland as well as the patients in need.  As the governor of Maryland, you’re first and most important job is to take care of the people and with this advancement you would be taking care of the ill and be a blessing to the families and friends of the patients.  You would be putting the patients out of suffering, but the step towards moving it to community hospitals needs to be done in order for that to happen.
            Other states have moved with the flow of making marijuana legal for drug use.  They see the research done and the benefits of making it medical.  The other states have not just made the drug a free for all for everybody to use, they have made it useable in certain illnesses.  They have made the drug useable in community hospitals and give the patients their right to the use of the drug.  Following in suite with the other states will bring other states to hop on the “bandwagon”.  Marijuana has been shown how safe it could be as well as the benefits so as the governor you should take in the health of your people into consideration.
            Everybody knows that the drug is still a Schedule I drug and you’re probably concerned about the scrutiny of the federal government, but maybe the government hasn’t made any moves on their decision yet because they are basing it off of the state’s actions.  Other states have made the drug legal medically and the government has showed no intent on moving in and shutting it down.  As somebody who is constantly in the eye of public it is understandable that you are worried about your reputation, but making the drug legal for medical use avoids putting the sick in jail because they are searching for the cure.  Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein, the state secretary of health and mental hygiene stated in an interview, "If it's clear it's not something that's going to bring prosecution on state employees, we can go forward” (Wheeler).  Moving forward would not only benefit you, but the people of the state.
            Moving forward and making marijuana legal for medical use is certainly the right choice.  This would give you a good reputation and taking on the role of the caregiver.  The people of your state are in need and you need to be the one to provide.  Pushing towards advancements of the drug will allow people to receive the help they need and maybe even push the federal government to change their mind.  Everybody is looking to you for help and with the advancement of making it accessible in community hospitals will show the people you care.  This is not only about you and your staff, but the sick people of the state of Maryland seeking for your guidance and help. 
Sincerely,

Dominique Melillo

Introduction

My Topic:
My topic was about medical marijuana and I chose it because it's a well debated topic today in politics. I wrote my letter to the governor of Maryland because he is already considering making it legal here. Some other issues were that just because it's legal in the states it's not legal federally. If readers are interested about the topic they could just research it online.

This is for a class project done in my English class.