Running head: LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA USE

Legalization of Marijuana Use

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LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA USE

Legalization of Marijuana Use

While the question on the legalization of marijuana for personal purposes has continued
for several decades, the debate of medicinal marijuana continues to be among the most keenly
discussed policy concerns of the twenty first century in the U.S, as well as in other parts of the
globe. The debate has been driven, in part, by the reality that several states in the U.S have
decriminalized medical marijuana although federal law proscribes such utilization of the
marijuana. According to studies conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & the
Press (2010) in the U.S, it is evident that public opinion polls have time and again established
that approximately sixty to eighty five percent of the adult population supports the therapeutic
use of marijuana following a physicians recommendation. Even while a majority of the adult
population favoring therapeutic marijuana legislation, the issue concerning its decriminalization
continues to present policy problems as policy makers endeavor to implement therapeutic
marijuana legislation, or develop legal issues to address definitions and regulations. According to
MacCoun, Pacula, Reuter, Chriqui and Harris (2009), it is imperative to mention that marijuana
history is anchored in a multitude of societies, that include Middle Eastern, Chinese, African,
Indian, as well as European, and extends over several millenniums. This paper posits to advocate
that marijuana or cannabis should be legalized for appropriate medical use.
Brief Overview of the Use of Marijuana for Therapeutic Reasons
The utilization of marijuana for therapeutic reasons in Europe is illustrated through
textual facts. According to Mechoulam (2000), the ancient Romans and Greeks, are found to
have used marijuana for therapeutic purposes such as in childbirth pain relief, treatment of
asthma, migraines, as well as insomnia. However, according to the United Nations Office on
Drugs and Crime [UNODC] (2009), marijuana experienced a decline in therapeutic usage in the

LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA USE

U.S until 1937 when it was finally proscribed. This moratorium can be attributed to an increased
demand for effective drugs through the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act, and the 1938 Federal
Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, while other studies link this moratorium to the development of the
hypodermic needle by Alexander Wood.
According to studies conducted by Wagner, Becker, Gouzoulis, and Daumann (2010),
therapeutic utilization of marijuana is also evident in Africa, as well as the Middle East as found
in archeological remnants. Information discovered in Egyptian papyri demonstrates that
marijuana was used for therapeutic purposes by mothers, which leads scholars to consider that it
was utilized to relieve pain during childbirth. The Chinese have also been found to have utilized
marijuana for therapeutic purposes in a protracted, as well as varied tradition. Tanasescu and
Constantinescu (2010) assert that, the Chinese utilized marijuana in the treatment of malaria,
rheumatism, gout, constipation, as well as pain related with menstrual cycles. Additional
therapeutic uses of marijuana in the Chinese tradition included its use as an anesthetic, antibiotic,
as well as anticoagulant.
According to Bostwick (2012), at the start of the nineteenth century, contemporary
medicine started to investigate marijuana by means of increasingly empirical, as well as
scientific standards. This depicts a significant shift from traditional medicine towards western or
contemporary medicine. MacCoun (2011) asserts that, in 1999 the Institute of Medicine executed
broad scientific studies on therapeutic marijuana with the intention of assessing the prospective
benefits and harms. According to its report, marijuana holds therapeutic potential in pain
management, psychological deficits, as well as in gastrointestinal issues. The report also shed
light on limited negative effects, and recommended further studies in order to establish the extent
of those effects.

LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA USE

The Utilization of Marijuana/Cannabis for Medical Purposes

The psychoactive or psychotropic effects of cannabis informed the addition of cannabis
in the inventory of controlled drugs in the 1961 United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic
Drugs. Cannabis entails in excess of four hundred chemical substances, where above sixty of
these chemical substances are cannabinoids. When the human body ingests cannabinoids, they
trigger the cannabinoid receptors found in the human body, and generate a multiplicity of effects
on emotion, appetite, memory, movement, as well as cognitive functions. Cannabidiol (CBD)
and Delta-9- Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) are the most universally recognized cannabinoids,
where THC is attributed for the production of the cannabis psychoactive effects. THC can as
well be utilized in generating therapeutic effects that assist in reducing pain, nausea as well as
vomiting, in addition to stimulating appetite (Roser, Vollenweider and Kawohl, 2010). On the
other hand, CBD is considered to be non-psychoactive and might lessen the excessive THC
psychoactive effects. It is imperative to mention that the human body also produces cannabinoids
naturally which are referred to as endocannabinoids. Pharmaceutical laboratories also produce
cannabinoids in the form of pharmaceutical drugs. These pharmaceutical drugs include
Dronabinol which is a synthetic variety of THC, and licensed for the treatment of weight loss
associated with AIDS, and also the treatment of vomiting and nausea that may be induced by
chemotherapy. This pharmaceutical drug is marketed under the trademark Marinol. Nabilone is
another synthetic variety of THC, which is an approved medication utilized in the treatment of
chemotherapy associated vomiting and nausea. A pharmaceutical drug such as Nabiximol that is
marketed under the trademark Sativex, contains both CBD and THC in a ratio of 1:1, has been
licensed for the treatment of multiple sclerosis associated spasticity (Tanasescu and
Constantinescu, 2010).

LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA USE

The Efficacy of Marijuana/Cannabis in the Treatment of Significant Medical States

Clinical trials and studies in recent times have explored the efficacy of pharmaceutical
and crude cannabis in the treatment of diverse medical conditions. In regard to vomiting and
nausea induced by chemotherapy, studies demonstrate that cannabinoids generate anti-emetic
results that decrease vomiting and nausea that may be encountered by cancer patients
undertaking chemotherapy. On the other hand, studies also recommend that cannabinoids may
not be necessary as the first line remedy for these conditions, since anti-emetic drugs
increasingly potent in comparison to cannabinoids, are readily available (MacCoun, 2011). It is
essential to mention that cannabinoids produces anti-emetic results through mechanisms
dissimilar from other drugs. In this context, cannabinoids may be potentially useful for patients
whose medical states either do not respond to, or fail to endure the side effects of ordinary
treatments. According to studies by Cheng and Lo (2011), in regard to acting as a stimulant for
appetite in AIDS as well as cancer patients, cannabinoids may be utilized to treat AIDS or cancer
associated weight loss and emaciation. At present, AIDS associated emaciation can be averted
through the use of antiretroviral drugs (ARVs), although cannabinoid drugs are recommended for
AIDS patients whose medical state fails to respond to the ARVs. In regard to the treatment of
pain and neurological disorders, several studies and clinical trials demonstrate that cannabinoids
hold diverse beneficial effects in lessening pain, mainly neuropathic pain. In pain and spasticity
in multiple sclerosis, several clinical trials have demonstrated that cannabinoids hold modest
effect in dealing with pain and spasticity encountered by patients diagnosed with multiple
sclerosis. According to studies conducted by Podda and Constantinescu (2012), it is evident that
the cannabinoid Sativex lessened the severity of indicators of spasticity in patients diagnosed
with multiple sclerosis. The studies also demonstrated that the adverse effects for instance

LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA USE

headache, diarrhoea, nausea, dizziness, fatigue, as well as somnolence in patients who used
Sativex ranged between mild and moderate. On the other hand, Sativex is utilized as an
adjunctive treatment in increasing the efficacy of ordinary anti-spasticity drugs.
Adverse Side Effects of Long-Term Use of Medical Marijuana/Cannabis
It is imperative that this paper also takes into consideration the safety of marijuana for
therapeutic reasons in light of the side effects, effects of continuing use, as well as toxicity.
According to studies conducted by Cerda, Wall, Keyes, Galea, and Hasin (2012), patients who
obtained cannabinoids in medical trials reported a diversity of side effects that ranged from
dizziness, paranoia, hallucinations, dysphoria, depression, as well as impairment in psychomotor
functions. In an analysis of the side effects of therapeutic cannabis it was observed that cannabis,
as well as cannabinoid stimulated side effects were insignificant and that cannabinoid treatments
did not produce a significant risk of severely adverse effects in comparison to placebo. The
adverse side effects produced by the utilization of medicinal cannabis complied with the
tolerated risk levels of many drugs and patients could possibly develop tolerance to a majority of
these effects through long-term use. In synopsis, evidence depicts that, in the interim, it is
adequately safe to utilize cannabis in controlling vomiting and nausea in cancer management, to
arouse appetite, as well as to alleviate post-surgery severe pain. It is also evident that probable
long term negative effects of therapeutic cannabis use comprise developing respiratory or
cardiovascular ailments or cancers, addiction and impetuous psychotic disorders. Consequently,
it is essential to note that these long term effects may not cause apprehension in patients with
terminal medical conditions or a short life expectancy. Another likely long term negative effect
of utilizing medicinal cannabis is dependence. On the other hand, studies suggest that cannabis

LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA USE

associated dependence should not be considered as a physiological dependence, on the contrary,

it should be considered to be a psychological dependence.
Conclusion
This paper recommends that the provision for the lawful utilization of marijuana for
therapeutic reasons within the background of a current therapeutic liaison with a professional
medical practitioner would ensure that eligibility for medical marijuana is well safeguarded, and
that the correct level of clinical supervision is provided to this use. It is necessary that authorized
medical practitioners would present ongoing bio-psychosocial evaluation of a patient in this form
of treatment. In this perspective, medical marijuana products would be of adequate efficacy, as
well as safety as to offer respite to patients who encounter excruciating pain, as well as difficult
symptoms that fail to respond to conventional medications, most importantly persons in the
closing stages of terminal medical conditions. Persons with terminal medical conditions who
endeavor to alleviate their severe excruciating pain ought not to be criminalized. Consequently, it
is essential to safeguard this small and increasingly vulnerable populace from any criminal
justice penalties for their ending stages in health condition. These persons must not be subjected
to the disgrace and stress by the criminal justice system, but require being able to rest in the
awareness that they are keenly safeguarded from such consequences.

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8
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