Essay on Medical Marijuana

These controversies have led to the serious health concern questions such as can marijuana consumption help AIDS, glaucoma, cancer, multiple sclerosis, or any other purported disorder? What are the effects of marijuana on the human body? Is there a possibility medicinal benefits of legalization of marijuana outweighing its risk of encouraging its abuse? Both the proponents and opponents of the medical use of marijuana claim to have scientific support for their arguments. Medical marijuana and diseases Marijuana and neurological disorders. Individuals with Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy, and movement disorders derive some relief from the use of marijuana (Saper, 2014, p. Some clinical trials have explored the impact of cannabinoids on the symptoms of neurological disorders and despite the fact that the studies are relatively small-scaled, the abundance of cannabinoid receptors in the brain particularly those associated with Parkinson's and Huntington's have provided a list of the possible role of Marijuana in the treatment of neurological disorders.

Because the conventional treatment for these neurological infections which give a room for other research, the use of marijuana finds a place in the treatment of these diseases (Lud Cadet, Bolla, & Herning, 2016, p. Marijuana and pain. According to Furnish and Wallace (2016), marijuana has pain-relieving properties. It is thus applied for the treatment of various painful conditions ranging from childbirth pain to headaches (Furnish & Wallace, 2016, p. The IOM team also determined that marijuana is a promising source of the desired analgesic medication. This is explained by the fact that the nerve signals in the human brain interpret as the pain originates from the receptor-bearing cells which are activated by the environmental chemical changes, touch, temperature or movement. AIDS wasting syndrome can also be minimized by the use of marijuana.

According to Cabral (2012), THC encompasses the only cannabinoid, which is clinically evaluated for its ability to stimulate appetite and therefore counteract the AIDS wasting syndrome. The study also shows that the patient who uses cannabinoid tends to have increased appetite and therefore experienced relatively lesser weight loss. Marijuana and muscle spasticity According Majority of the muscle spasticity patients informed the IOM team that there was severe relief from smoking marijuana (Cabral, 2012, p. This suggests that marijuana is responsible for calming muscle spasticity. The use of marijuana has also shown an instance of exacerbation of asthma, induced panic attacks on individuals who did not have any anxiety in the past and may yield overreaction. Prenatal marijuana is linked to fetal growth reduction, adverse effect of the school achievements and becomes teratogenic on human brain development.

Its use by expectant women since it puts a life of their infants in danger. The safety marijuana smokers are also linked to contaminants, which include Escherichia coli, residual solvents, and pesticides. Marijuana users have impaired judgments and psychomotor skills. Ironically, the effectivity of legality of medical Marijuana is only visible among the middle class to upper-class Americans in the US. The immigrants, the marginalized, and the poor are still criminalized for the possession of marijuana despite the above-raised health concerns. The zoning laws, which tend to locate marijuana dispensaries in the deprived and underprivileged non-white areas, thus constitute a reinforcement to the discriminating nature of the medical marijuana services. References Cabral, G. Marijuana and cannabinoid effects on immunity and AIDS.