Medical Marijuana: Let's talk about it

The topic Medical marijuana raises a lot of debates and arguments. Many experts believe that cannabis is a safe alternative to pharmaceuticals for relieving symptoms related to many illnesses and there are scientific studies and reports to support their claim.

On the other hand, one can argue that medical cannabis is too dangerous, that it could lead to addiction or abuse of harder drugs. Marijuana is still illegal in many parts of the world today and has been associated or linked to a lot of violent crimes in the society.

My opinion is that marijuana has medicinal properties that greatly relieves the pain and suffering of patients with chronic or terminal illnesses such as AIDS, cancer, glaucoma, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injuries and many other serious, debilitating, or terminal conditions. The properties in marijuana can greatly relieve chronic pain associated with these illnesses and reduce symptoms like low apetite, nausea, dysthymia, among others. There are countless testimonials of individuals who use cannabis while in remission or on their kids with rare diseases to control pain.

For some, medical cannabis is the only drug that works. It's safe, natural, and doesn't create dependence or nasty side effects. Pharmaceuticals can be severely addictive and seriously reduce patients' quality of life by causing gastrointestinal issues, allergic reactions, blindness, internal bleeding, organ failure, and even death from complications or overdose. It is no wonder that we are seeing a growing increase in opiod dependency in recent years; these powerful opiods only lead to more addiction and abuse.

From a governmental standpoint, legalization would create strict control over the sale, tax, and doses of medical marijuana, which benefits the society. They could properly control doses, track its use on a large scale, and place taxes on its sale in order to increase government profits and improve the quality of research data about cannabis.

I believe that the choice of using or prescribing medical cannabis should rest with the medical community and its patients, not the governments. If the licensed medical practitioners deem it medically necessary to prescribe cannabis to alleviate patients' quality of life, then they should be able to make that decision.

Image source:
https://go.tiffinohio.net/2017/11/ohio-gets-300-applications-medical-marijuana-licenses/

References:
https://www.royalqueenseeds.com/blog-10-reasons-why-marijuana-should-be-legalized-worldwide--n50
https://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=001325
http://www.medicinalmarijuanaassociation.com/medical-marijuana-blog/3-reasons-why-medical-cannabis-should-be-legalized