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.
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