Hai Nguyen
Ms.Cerneka
Period 3

Medical Marijuana
Since marijuana was discovered, it was smoked to get high and to cope with suffering medical conditions. Scientists are now realizing that marijuana could help in some medical cases. It should be available as a controlled substance. It has been proven by many doctors and health institution that marijuana can be used as a medicine to treat pain and other medical cases. Marijuana has its pros and cons, and to determine whether it should be legal or not, one has to outweigh the other. The reason that patients and doctors want medical marijuana to be legal is that it is wrong to deny patients relief from the pain of an unbearable disease. A study by the Institute of Medicine stated in March of 1999 that marijuana does in fact help (What did the 1999 Institute of Medicine Report say Pro or
Con in Medical Marijuana)
. The study found that marijuana does four main things. It holds particular promise for helping with nausea and vomiting in people undergoing chemotherapy. It shows potential for improving severe weight loss caused by AIDS. It holds usefulness for chronic pain that does not respond to traditional opioids.
(Roth)

Gabriela Reyes, 23, credits the cannabis oil with saving Lucas, her 7­month­old son. Lucas spent the first months of his life in a hospital, suffering up to 300 epileptic seizures a day, she said. When he no longer responded to anticonvulsant medication, doctors told her his condition was terminal. Reyes learned about cannabis oil as an option and began adding a couple of drops to Lucas' baby bottle. Since then, she said, the seizures have dropped to about a dozen a day and the infant now is able to eat normally and recently tasted his first mashed potatoes.
(
Bobadilla) Jeanette Bokland was diagnosed with breast cancer in November 2013. She been through many epic battle involving a double mastectomy, radiation therapy, breast reconstruction, and chemotherapy which had endless needles pumping foreign liquids into her body leaving her weak and nauseous and horribly depressed for days afterward. “There are no words to adequately describe the discomfort and despair I was feeling,” said Bokland. This was when one of her friend offered to get her some medical marijuana from Colorado. Instead of smoking it, Bokland’s friend provided her with marijuana edibles. It took away her nausea, restlessness, anxiety, and It allowed her to eat, sleep and be up and active when she was awake ­­ all of which are critical to recovery.
(Bokland)

Medical marijuana is currently legal in 24 states, and recreational use are currently legal in Colorado, California, Alaska, Oregon, and Washington
(Cannabis in

Hai Nguyen
Ms.Cerneka
Period 3

US)
. Legalizing marijuana can greatly decreases crime rates and It can also helps with our economy. “Medical use of marijuana should give them comfort and not the threat of arrest or jail.” said Diane Bynum, spokeswoman for the Michigan Coalition for
Compassionate Care. Advocate says Colorado received 60 million in taxes and fees from marijuana in 2014. In the first six months since Colorado legalized marijuana, homicides in Denver fell by more than 60 percent, according to government data, and property crime also