For thousands of years, the drug marijuana has been used to treat a wide variety of physical and mental disorders. Between the years of 1840 and 1900, European and American medical journalists have published over 100 papers on the use of Marijuana as a therapeutic drug. It was suggested from such this research that it seemed to be an appetite stimulant to a muscle relaxant. Marijuana is one of the most discussed and controversial topics in the U.S today. Many say it has medicinal benefits and should be made legal. While an opponent for medical marijuana argues, it has a high potential for abuse and the smoke from marijuana contains known carcinogens and produces addiction in users, and should remain illegal. Neither the FDA nor The National Academy of Science was able to produce after many years of studying, the fact that medical marijuana was actually addicting. No evidence has shown that patients who use marijuana become addicted. In many studies by National Academy of Science, has shown it does have some harm. These harms would be like the ones that are associated with smoking. Though marijuana has been proven to be more harmful to the lungs than tobacco; with many more studies it has shown that, “marijuana’s short term medical benefits outweigh any smoking-related harm for some patients”. A study in 2006, “found no evidence that marijuana smokers had higher rates of lung cancer”. HIV is one of the leading causes of deaths, primarily in African Americans. Many of these patients have complained that pharmaceutical drugs that physicians will provide them with are not effective enough to get them through this disease. Throughout years studies have shown that medical marijuana has proven for some patients to have better results than prescription drugs. With this statement being true, some ill patients need medical marijuana, like mal-nourished plants need water to survive. The FDA was interested in this idea; the FDA ended up testing this evidence and found out that it’s extremely helpful in “treating pain associated with chemotherapy, postoperative recovery, and spinal cord injury, as well as neuropathic pain, which is often experienced by patients with metastatic cancer, multiple sclerosis, and diabetes”. Many illnesses considered that medical marijuana is very necessity. Marijuana is one of the safest therapeutic substances known today, according to a National Academy of Sciences. This can be shown by a report released in 1999 stating, "Marijuana's active components are potentially effective in treating pain, nausea, the anorexia of AIDS wasting, and other symptoms." Researchers have also discovered evidence that THC, which is the active ingredient in marijuana have a direct effect on pain signals in the central nervous system. This is a biochemical pathway where the pain signals follow from the site of an injury, through the spinal cord, to the brain. It has been proven that the DEA is taking rights away from the ill as these people continue to live a horrible and painful life. The