Marijuana As Medicine?
Twenty years ago the thought of marijuana being used as a form of medicine would have scared and appalled people. Today, roughly two-thirds of Americans agree with the idea of marijuana being used as a therapeutic form of medicine. Marijuana has been used medically for ages. Presently it is effective in treating patients with ailments and diseases such as glaucoma, chemotherapy treatments, AIDS, and others. Despite the approval of many, it is almost impossible to receive funding and permission for proper research for medical use. This is due to conflicting government laws against the non-medical use and its supposed physical harm. Ironically though, more than 400,000 Americans die ...
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dates back to the Emperor Shen-Nung in China in the 28th century BC. He prescribed it for such things as constipation, malaria, and absentmindedness. (Medical Marijuana, www.normal.com) Marijuana was also commonly used medically in, but not restricted to ancient Egypt to treat sore eyes, ancient India as an anesthetic, and ancient Greece to treat earaches and inflammation. In the 20th century the use declined due to new and better drugs, such as aspirin. In 1937 the United States Government passed the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, which outlawed non-medical use. Since this act made medical marijuana hard to come by, it was removed from the pharmacopoeia. It was dropped down to a Schedule 1 drug, which classified it as an abusive drug with no safe medical use. It has been a fight ever since to make the drug available for medical use.
Marijuana has been commonly effective and recommended in the past as a safe and effective muscle relaxant, anti-convulsant, and analgesic. (Hall, ...
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Marijuana has helped treat the common nausea and appetite loss due to the wasting syndrome associated with the disease. Similar to the glaucoma patients, doctors are concerned about the cancerous effects and other lung irritants and funguses. Due to AIDS patients immunosuppressed system, doctors fear this would hit them much worse than the glaucoma patients. If marijuana were regulated, fungal contaminants could be eliminated. (Dickenson, 135) Never the less, AIDS patients say that out of all the treatments they have had, marijuana has been by far the most effective.
Many cancer patients have to go through chemotherapy, which includes radiation treatments to treat their disease. ...
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Marijuana As Medicine?. (2008, August 8). Retrieved November 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Marijuana-As-Medicine/87987
"Marijuana As Medicine?." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 8 Aug. 2008. Web. 23 Nov. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Marijuana-As-Medicine/87987>
"Marijuana As Medicine?." Essayworld.com. August 8, 2008. Accessed November 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Marijuana-As-Medicine/87987.
"Marijuana As Medicine?." Essayworld.com. August 8, 2008. Accessed November 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Marijuana-As-Medicine/87987.
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