Believe it or not, marijuana has been a part of human society for longer than history has been recorded by man. Dating as far back as the 6th millennium B.C., far before the Sumerians began recording history around 3500 B.C., marijuana had made it’s first appearance into society as a source of food (“History of Marijuana”).
By 1500 B.C., however, it was already being used for medical purposes, as we recorded Chinese Pharmacopeia that year (“Historical Timeline”).
From this time up until 1937, when the Marijuana Tax Act officially made marijuana illegal to possess in the United States, people had been allowed to freely and openly use marijuana for both recreational and medical purposes (Prater).
The reasons for the initial criminalization of marijuana in the United States have been a topic of dispute for nearly one hundred years, and, in more recent times, many people have begun to support the legalization of marijuana for medical and even recreational purposes, and right rightfully so. Marijuana, unlike the legal drugs tobacco and alcohol, can be used for both recreational and medicinal purposes and its side effects can be easily compared to those of legal drugs.
In addition, if marijuana were legalized, taxed, and regulated through a system like the one currently utilized by many states in the distribution of legal medical marijuana, it would only bring benefit to our country. The tax money generated, which could amount to multiple billions of dollars each year, could be put toward securing our nation from foreign threats and developing new alternative sources of energy that will inevitably be needed in the years to come.
The Term Paper on Should marijuana be a medical option?
This debate has been going on for over 4743 years. The first dated use of marijuana was in 2737 BC when the emperor of China, Shen-Nung, prescribes cannabis for beri-beri, constipation, ‘female weakness,’ gout, malaria, rheumatism and absentmindedness. One of the most interesting factors in this pro and con debate is that until the late 1800’s not many people were against the use ...
Marijuana, commonly referred to as “pot”, “weed”, ”ganja”, or “Mary Jane” on the streets, is a psychoactive drug (one that effects the mind) derived from the plant Cannabis Sativa (“Facts about”).
For centuries, it has been used by humans for medicinal, and, beginning in sightly more recent times, recreational purposes(“Historical Timeline”).
In its most common form, marijuana is composed of dried and shredded portions of the cannabis plat that can appear in colors ranging from green to brown or gray. In total, it contains around 400 chemical compounds, but the most important of these is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the chemical that is primarily responsible for producing the mind altering effects, or “high”, experienced by marijuana users (“Facts about”).
As THS plays a major role in determining the psychological effects of the drug, its concentration is measured to determine the potency of a particular strain of marijuana. According to an article on the website for the National Institute on Drug Abuse, “The THC content of marijuana has been increasing since the 1970s” and “For the year 2007, estimates from confiscated marijuana indicated that it contains almost 10 percent THC, on average” (“Facts about”).
This is up from just around 1.5% THC in the ate 1970s (“Is Marijuana Significantly”).
Marijuana is an extremely popular recreational drug in the U.S., up in the ranks with alcohol and tobacco, and, as a result, it is very likely that the average U.S. Citizen has seen a person using marijuana at some point in their life (“About Marijuana”).
For those who haven;t seen a person in the act, however, the methods for the use of the drug must be understood before the issue of legalization can be rightfully considered. Unlike some drugs, including alcohol, marijuana can be used in a multitude of ways. The first and most common way that marijuana is used is trough the inhalation of the vapors produced by its burning, or smoking.
The Essay on Marijuana Drug
Marijuana use and the ability to freely choose whether or not it should be legal or illegal is fierce debate today. Whether or not State or Federal government should regulate this is the “hot topic” that is being debate even as we speak. There are two sides to every story and of course my opinion as well. The side that opposes the legalization of marijuana stands tall with the National Institute ...
Marijuana can be smoked wrapped in a cigarette paper as a joint, in a hollowed out cigar as a blunt, or out of a pipe or water pipe known as a bong (“InfoFacts: Marijuana”).
For users that prefer not to smoke the drug, however, there are alternative methods of marijuana use.
According to a page on the ProCon.org Medical Marijuana site, alternatives to smoking marijuana include converting it into a butter or oil and ingesting it in food products like brownies and cakes, drinking it in a tonic form, or inhaling vaporized marijuana, which contains significantly less chemical compounds then marijuana in its normally smoked form (“Non-smoked Uses”).
These methods, particularly the ones that involve ingesting the drug through eating or drinking, have the potential to greatly reduce the harmful effects that marijuana can have on the passageways of the lungs by eliminating the need to inhale the heated gases and particulates like tar, a substance generated by the burning of plant matter, that are usually contained in marijuana smoke.
Even alternative methods that still involve inhalation of the drug, such as the use of vaporizers to convert marijuana into a purified vapor, have much reduced health consequences. Particularly, these methods can minimize or even entirely eliminate the cancer-causing compounds that are usually inhaled with the drug.
As described by Robert Melamede, a professor of biology at the University of Colorado: It should be noted that with the development of vaporizers, that use the respiratory route or the delivery of carcinogen-free cannabis vapors, the carcinogenic potential of smoked cannabis has been largely eliminated.
Thus, the side effects of marijuana usage can be altered by changing the method by which it is used. This property of marijuana is not unique to it, as tobacco can be purified before inhalation through the use of vaporizer as well. Still, one thing that is unique to marijuana is its medical value.
Marijuana, in a sense, is the most flexible of all drugs. Rather than only having recreational value, as tobacco and alcohol do, marijuana has been shown to have a significant value in the treatment of some medical conditions, including chronic pain, HIV, cancer, Tourette’s Syndrome, and others.
The Term Paper on United States Marijuana Cannabis Medical
Mary Jane "Legalization of Marijuana" For many years now there has been a constant argument over whether or not the medicinal uses of marijuana are enough to overlook the side effects of the drug and make it legal for medical use in the United States. To many people, when they think of the plant marijuana, technically known as Cannabis Sativa, or hear the phrase "legalization of marijuana", they ...
It has proven to be particularly useful in the treatment of neuropathic pain, a type of pain associated with diseases that include diabetes, cancer, multiplie sclerosis (MS), and HIV (“Chronic Pain”).
In fact, at the conclusion of a series of clinical trials on the use of smoked marijuana for medical purposes, investigators at the University of California Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research concluded that “marijuana ought to be a “first line treatment” for patients with neuropathy and other serious illnesses” (Armentano).
In addition, research regarding the use of marijuana for the treatment of nervous disorders such as Tourette’s Syndrome has revealed similar success. Tourette’s Syndrome is a neurological disease distinguished by uncontrollable vocal outburts, called tics (“Tourette’s Syndrome”).
Numerous studies have shown that marijuana, with its active ingredient THC, can be extremely effective in reducing the severity and frequency of these tics. In a trial that involved administering of doses of THC to 24 patients with Tourette’s Syndrome, researchers came to the conclusion that “subjects experienced a significant reduction in tics following long-term cannabinoid treatment, and suffered no detrimental effects in learning, recall or verbal memory” (“Tourette’s Syndrome”).
Knowing this information certainly leaves us to the question, why exactly does marijuana maintain its status as an illegal drug while tobacco and alcohol, which have no medical benefits whatsoever, are entirely legal? This is a question yet to be answered, and still the medical benefits of marijuana are not fully known.
Due to classification of the drug by the DEA as a Schedule-I substance, or one that has no currently accepted medical benefits, and many other factors, much potential research regarding the use of marijuana for medical purposes gas simply never been performed. Thus, restrictions on marijuana and its research have prevented investigators from discovering other potential uses and side effects of marijuana, and biased sources of funding for this research have made it difficult for scientists to decipher whether or not marijuana is truly a dangerous substance (“Disjointed”).
Drug Research Paper Methaqualone User Include
Alana Holly Health 12234 Period 2 Drug Research Paper Methaqualone, is also referred to as Disco Biscuits, Down And Dirties, Jekyll-and-Hyde, Joe Fridays, Lemmon 714, Lemons, Lennon's, Lovers, Lures, Mandies, Mandrake, Q, Qua, Quack, Quad, Quaalude's, So aper, Supper, Vitamin Q, The Love Drug, Wall bangers, Whore Pills, and Sopor. This list of street names for the drug goes on and on. ...
Regardless, current research has shown that marijuana can have significant medical benefits, and, in fact, 16 states (17 if you include Washington D.C.) in the U.S have allowed for the legal use of the drug for medical purposes (“16 Legal Medical”).
Still, marijuana is depicted as a drug that can have extreme adverse effects on one’s life and health, with some people, including Connecticut state senator Toni Boucher, going as far as to say that “drug users, including marijuana users, may commit murder, or child or spouse or elder abuse, or rape, or property damage, assault and other violent crimes under the influence of drugs” (Strauss).
Clearly, this is an area which many people are not properly educated in regards to marijuana.
