The legalization of marijuana has been a huge debate for decades and although currently illegal in many states, the use of medicinal marijuana has a multitude of health benefit. Any drug lacking regulation leads to greater drug abuse and can be detrimental to one’s health.
Marijuana has been used for centuries because of the many healing properties. Medical marijuana should most definitely be used to treat children with life-threatening diseases like cancer because the medical benefits far outweigh the risks as it is low probability to cause addiction, it is naturally potent yet easy to digest and has several methods of administration as possibly by any other pain medication on the market.
First and foremost, millions of children are suffering from agonizing pain and life-threatening diseases like cancer. Research has shown that the medical benefits of cannabis far outweigh the risks as it is well known to treat many ailments affiliated with pain, inflammation, and nausea.
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Cannabis should definitely be the medication of choice used to treat children because, when taken responsibly, it effectively treats pain by numbing pain receptors without distorting the mental state. It is also delicate on the stomach lining which allows it to be used more often without causing damage to other organs. Marijuana has also been proved to reduce severe nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy significantly.
Kathy Koch candidly reports that The Institute of Medicine conducted independent research on the safety and benefits of medicinal marijuana and the study found that medicinal cannabis eased the pain, nausea, and vomiting for some patients (708).
It is primarily favored by many cancer patients because the healing properties successfully treat the painful side effects of chemotherapy and radiation. Chemotherapy and radiation are widely used treatments to fight cancer, but the dangerous poisons attack both healthy and cancerous cells.
Although these treatments do kill or reduce cancer cells, they cause severe organ damage and often, excruciating pain. Medicinal cannabis has also demonstrated increased appetites in patients with other diseases like HIV, multiple sclerosis and attention deficit disorders by 30%. Studies also show it controls 75% of nausea or vomiting caused by cancer treatments while showing little side effects like sleepiness or glassy eyes.
William Wanlund describes how studies from American Cancer Society found one-third of HIV and cancer patients had improved appetites and mild pain while four out of five showed less nausea as some of the benefits of medical marijuana (871). Marijuana is able to relax the nerves which reduce pain, increase appetite, suppress nausea and vomiting while growing appetite for children with life-threatening diseases.
Another reason medical cannabis should strongly be considered to treat pain affiliated with illnesses is that it is a natural plant and doesn’t alter an individual’s personality as opposed to narcotic drugs. Marijuana is a natural drug that has been used for thousands of year by many different cultures.
Kathy Koch states that marijuana has been used for medical purposes for thousands of years and physicians 100 years ago knew more about the benefits than modern day doctors (713). Over the last century, it has been used without regulation or concern.
Until the early 1970s, shortly after the war veterans returned home, they used it to find relief from their physical and emotional battle scars. Marijuana is derived from the natural plant named cannabis and not as dangerous as a chemically engineered drug created by pharmaceutical companies which look to increase their profits.
Due to the natural chemical composition, medicinal cannabis herb is proven to block pain and can pass through the body easier because it contains fewer toxins as compared to prescription painkillers made of synthetic chemicals. The article Legalizing Marijuana states, “Marijuana binds to the body’s cannabinoid receptors and mimics the effects of the body’s naturally occurring cannabinoids. Marijuana’s two main cannabinoids are delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, which makes people high, and CBD, cannabidiol, which doesn’t”.
Prescription painkillers are highly addictive due to their synthetic nature while the natural herb of cannabis is less potent and less addictive. Prescription opioids are ten times more addictive than tobacco and alcohol and twenty times more addictive than marijuana. The article “Medical Marijuana” describes that the IOM report found marijuana safety does not preclude medical uses, benefits outweigh the side effects and dependence is subtle compared to other drugs and alcohol in the random study of over one thousand patients within twenty years (710). People do not become addicts or alcoholics through marijuana.
Additionally, marijuana has never been linked with causing any diseases or organ failure as tobacco, alcohol and prescription drugs do. Many individuals are desperately searching for ways to obtain medicinal marijuana while others are finding ways to produce its other forms. A licensed cannabis grower in California is pioneering the way in teaching students how to cultivate cannabis and create marijuana products for medical use while teaching them business and legal aspects of the cannabis industry.
William Wanlund reveals the first trade school focused on teaching about growing cannabis and extracting the properties to create medicinal products such as oils and lotions (876). Learning the composition and chemical reactions will pave the way for more breakthroughs.
Ultimately, marijuana should be considered the first choice of therapy and treatment for cancer because it can be administered through several different methods however the current federal laws make it extremely difficult. Children battling life-threatening diseases can inhale the medicine through a nebulizer or asthma inhaler.
The United States government currently has marijuana categorized as highly addictive drug with no medical benefit however many studies show it does provide relief of pain and nausea. Patrick Marshall reported “Neither the AMA nor the Institute of Medicine recommended that marijuana be legalized or rescheduled. However, says McQuie of Americans for Safe Access, “The fact that the IOM stated that marijuana had medical value should take it out of Schedule 1 in and of itself” (133).
Regulation reads that in order to be classified as Schedule 1, a drug must have no medicinal value, be highly addictive and dangerous. Critics speculate that pharmaceutical companies are investing billions of dollars with lobbyists to prevent marijuana from being administered to patients requiring pain medication. In “Marijuana Laws” Patrick Marshall reports:
The real problem with allowing patients to use cannabis as a medication is economics,” Claudia Jensen, a California physician who supports the use of marijuana to treat attention deficit disorder (ADD), told a congressional hearing last April. “If cannabis were approved for use in just the [ADD] market alone, it could significantly impact the $1 billion a year sales for traditional [attention deficit disorder] pharmaceuticals…
Multiply those numbers by the tens of medical diagnoses that are effectively treated by cannabis — for example, chronic pain, which is a much bigger business than the treatment of ADD; or glaucoma, or multiple sclerosis — and it is easy to see the pharmaceutical industry would suffer beyond calculation. (132) Marijuana can be administered orally, intravenously, as an ointment or the most common recreational a form of administrating, inhaling.
Cancer patients with nausea or sores in the esophagus may consider inhaling through a respiratory mask while other patients can quickly benefit from an injection straight to the bloodstream. Scientists have created ointments and creams to apply directly to the skin to penetrate through to the muscle, ligaments or nerves. Still another option can be a patch that slowly and continuously releases the medicine which is also absorbed through the pores of the skin.
Kelly Koch strongly opposes the misclassification of marijuana under s a Schedule 1 which is a category fit for drugs which are deemed highly addictive and unsafe even under medical supervision, which is not valid with marijuana. If marijuana is under the strict government schedule, it can be available to more patients for medical use as narcotic drugs like cocaine and morphine, and opium-derived painkillers are (710). This medicine can be taken in unlimited giving the patient many options to fit their needs. Marijuana is a low-cost drug and legalization of medical use will create more competition, in turn, drive down the price. Medical marijuana must be considered a first option to treat children with life-threatening diseases like cancer.
The medical benefits of cannabis clearly outweigh the risks because the side effects usually don’t include suicidal thoughts or damage to other organs as most narcotic drugs warn. The natural derivatives from marijuana pass through the body more quickly than chemically engineered drugs that can alter more personality traits. All medicine, herbal and synthetic, should be administered under the supervision of a physician and prescribed as to the individual needs of each patient.
The most significant benefit of this natural drug is that it can be administered in any way that both the patient and doctor prefer. No other painkiller can provide the same revolutionary benefits without the concern of addiction. Marijuana’s many uses, minimal side effects, and variety of ways to administer proves to be some of the most convincing reasons this natural plant must be widely considered the choice treatment for children with life-threatening diseases like cancer.
