Benefits Of Legalizing Medical Marijuana

Medical Marijuana is legal in 23 states and Washington D.C. It is still considered in the United States federal offense to grow, sell, or even purchase marijuana. It has been around the world for many years to treat a wide variety of ailments spiritual and recreational purposes. Marijuana is known as Cannabis sativa. It is used in many ways and estimated that marijuana contains 460 active chemicals. This means the concentration of different ingredients varies from plant to plant, and will also differ depending on where the plants were grown. This herbal plant should be legalized in the United States because it will save taxpayers money, reduce drug related crimes, and relieve suffering of many terminally ill people. The legalization of marijuana has been debated within the American Society and Government. Decriminalizing marijuana would financially and medically improve America’s 75-year prohibition that’s restricted recreational use and has cost the government billions of dollars. Marijuana use has been seen since the beginning of human history but not until 1937 did government prohibit the distribution and use of the drug with the Marijuana Tax Act. The use of marijuana seized slightly up until the 1960’s when the hippie movement made the drug more popular and supporters of legalization began to speak out. Since then there has been a substantial increase in the support for marijuana legalization in the United States. There have been solutions offered to help better monitor illegal drug use but the only real solution is to legalize marijuana and allow the government to regulate it. The FDA has approved two oral forms of synthetic THC dronibal (Marinol) and nabilone (Cesamet). Patients report that these agents are slow acting and less effective than inhaled forms of marijuana The Controlled Substance Act placed marijuana into a Schedule I status. This would mean marijuana could have a high potential for abuse, no accepted medical use for treatment, and lack of safety use for medical supervision. The government created the Compassionate Access Program that enabled some patients to receive marijuana from the government. A petition was passed by the Drug Enforcement Administration that made marijuana available by prescription. The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy introduced policies making marijuana use acceptable and proposed that states could decriminalize marijuana solely for medical purposes ("Marijuana Legalization Timeline"). The federal government has literally paid the price for probation in their effort to stop overall use of the cannabis plant. The United States “War on Drugs” has cost billions of dollars annually yet America’s drug problem has not gotten better. America’s drug budget has not fixed any problems and in result there has been an increase in drug related issues. As well these drugs are more available at lower prices and higher levels of potency than they have ever been. In 1972 the DEA received $65 million from the government to address its drug issues. In 2005, thirty years later the yearly funding was up to $2.1 billion. The budgets of other federal drug control agencies and programs rises the yearly amount to $20 billion, but coupled with state and local budgets the government is now spending close to $44 billion a year solely on drug related issues. Without a doubt America has addressed its drug problem but has not been effective. $44 billion a year is large amount of money but has not prevented …show more content…
It has beneficial effects to patients suffering from terminal ailments. The medical value of marijuana has proven to be very effective and a better treatment than most other medicines yet America still sees no reason to legalize a drug that has improved the health of its citizens. Marijuana is proven to be one of the safest known therapeutically active substances and there have been no cases in which someone has died from an overdose of marijuana.
The ingredients in cannabis relieve nausea, appetite loss, muscle spasms, relief from chronic pain and several other symptoms that are associated with everyday health problems and life debilitating illnesses. Marijuana has been able to alleviate chronic pain caused by myriad disorders and injuries. Studies show that patients using marijuana were better able to complete their medical routines leading to drastic improvements in treatment