Medical marijuana has been an extremely touchy subject in society and in the government for the past few years. Many arguments about legalizing medical marijuana have come upon society and the government ever since studies, testimonies, and experiences have shown the beneficial qualities of using medicinal marijuana. For instance, Johanns Gammel, a physical therapist assistant, who had an astonishing experience after prescribing the drug to one of his patients. Gammel, at the time, was caring for a patient with multiple sclerosis.
The patient’s legs would spasm and twitch making it impossible for Gammel to follow the PT’s plan of care (Loria, 2018). After prescribing the therapeutic drug, Gammel stated, “Sometimes the spasms, twitches, and pain subsided within 1 minute” (Loria, 2018). The reduced spasms and twitches helped Gammel give his patient the proper manual therapy in order to improve the patient’s mobility (Loria, 2018). Now, medical marijuana is being used to help treat arthritis, tendinitis, disc herniation and general back pain because of the relaxing outcome marijuana has on the nervous system (Loria, 2018). As more studies are being conducted, more benefits of medical marijuana for other diseases are being found.
From being incorporated into the United States Pharmacopeia in 1850 to, eventually, being removed in 1942, marijuana has been in and out of medical practices (Loria, 2018). During 1936, cannabis was being used very frequently for medication. Six years later, the government made it completely impossible for medical specialist to prescribe medical marijuana (Loria, 2018). The federal government believed marijuana did not have any medical benefits or use in the healthcare field (Loria, 2018). In 1970, medical marijuana was classified as a Schedule 1 substance, which made the process of legalizing the drug even harder. Once a synthetic form of THC, called Marinol, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration, there was a breakthrough in legalizing medical marijuana in 1996 (Loria, 2018). 1996 was the year California became the first state to legalize medical marijuana in the United States (Loria, 2018). As of now, thirty states in the U.S. have legalized medical marijuana. Nine of those states have legalized recreational marijuana as well as medical marijuana (Kinnucan, 2018). As for the other twenty states, medical and recreational marijuana still remains illegal.
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In this controversial topic, I most definitely agree with legalizing medical marijuana throughout the United States. Medical marijuana, without a doubt, should be legal for medical purposes. Patients diagnosed with cancer, post-traumatic stress disorder, inflammatory bowel disease, chronic urologic pain etc. have had multiple benefits while using medical marijuana.
Cannabis has been known to reduce symptoms of cancer patients, such as pain, vomiting, and nausea. Medical marijuana has also been known to improve their poor, disrupted sleep, low state of mind, and loss of appetite (Braun, Meyer, Gagne, Nabati, Yuppa, Carmona, Burstein, Suzuki, Nayak, & Martins, 2017). In an interview study conducted in 1988, experts believed that medical marijuana was more beneficial to prescribe to their cancer patients, who are going through their last stages of life, rather than prescribing narcotics and benzodiazepine (Braun et al., 2017). Mostly because medical marijuana was, and still is, less likely to cause an overdose on medication compared to narcotics and benzodiazepine (Braun et al., 2017).
A few studies have determined that medical marijuana manages post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms through the endocannabinoid system (Zaki, Blake, Wolt, Chan, Zhang, Wan, & O’Hearn, 2017). The symptoms, of patients diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, consist of re-experiencing, avoiding, and negative mood, cognitions, and arousal. Studies, of PTSD patients, have observed improvements in their symptoms and quality of life while using medical marijuana (zaki et al., 2017).
Cannabinoids interactions with the endocannabinoid system help the gastrointestinal tract, which is beneficial for patients diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease. Symptoms of patients with inflammatory bowel disease, such as poor appetite, nausea, abdominal pain, and diarrhea, have been determined to improve by the medicinal qualities of marijuana based on a survey study in the United States. Many more studies in the United States are being conducted in search of additional improvements for IBD patients using medical marijuana (Kinnucan, 2018).
Medical marijuana is believed to be the highest ranked medication for patients diagnosed with urologic chronic pain (Nickel, 2018). Cannabis is beneficial for these patients because it allows them to cope with their pain. Being able to cope with their pain, improves their mental and physical activity as well as their quality of life (Nickel, 2018).
Not only has medical marijuana improved and benefited multiple diseases in the medical field, but it has also improved the economy. Over the years, revenue has increased tremendously due to the taxing of the legalization of medical marijuana. From 2013 to 2014 medical and recreational marijuana rapidly increased the market by $1.5 billion to $2.7 billion in sales (Loria, 2018). In 2016, the sales increased to $6.7 billion for legal marijuana. The sales for legal and illegal marijuana, in the same year, was determined to be $53.3 billion (Loria, 2018).
In 1988, experts took a semi structured interview study about the role of medical marijuana in oncology. Fifteen participants were asked to be apart of the interview study. The fifteen participants consisted of women, oncologist, physicians, pharmacist, psychologist, surgeons, and radiation oncologist. They were asked mulitple questions about the relations between medical marijuana and oncology. The first question in the study was asked to determine their thoughts about the medical value of marijuana. Seven out of fifteen believed marijuana was extremely useful for medical reasons (Braun et al., 2017). In another question, they were asked about the comparison of marijuana and conventional treatments. Most of the experts believed marijuana was an add-on to convential treatments for a greater outcome (Braun et al., 2017). In a question about what symptoms were appropriate for medical marijuana, all participants agreed nausea was a suitable symptom for cannabis (Braun et al., 2017). Nausea is the main symptom of cancer patients, especially cancer patients going through chemotherapy. ? ask jones? Chris wilson, a Physical therapist for cancer patients with chronic diseases, states, “A lot of my patients say it helps them… alleviates their cancer-related pain” (Loria, 2018).
Between the years of 2015 and 2016, a baseline and follow up survey was conducted for patients diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. The survey was called the Chi-sqaured test, some called it the Fisher exact test. It was used to look for improvements of symptoms and quality of life based on a four to ten month follow up of using medical marijuana (Zaki et al., 2017). At the four month follow up, 64-79% of the patients experienced significant improvements in their symptoms. The percentage increased to 73-83% at the ten month follow up (Zaki et al., 2017). The quality of life improved significantly throughout the ten months of using medical marijuan as well. Most of the patients were having difficulties with performing daily activities at the baseline of the survey.
After using medical marijuana for four to ten months, some of them experienced less difficulties executing those activities, such as bowel activity, sexual function, and appetite (Zaki et al., 2017). ? ask Jones? Johanns Gammel was informed, by the experience of his own patients, that medical marijuana was helpful for those going through depression and anxiety. Gammel followed that statement by stating, “I have noticed that… MMJ… put them in… a better mood… over their conditon” (Loria, 2018).
A study constructed for paitents with colitis, in 2009, revealed that when using cannabis the CB1 and CB2 receptors activate causing inflammation to decrease (Kinnucan, 2018). A decrease in inflammation is extremely beneficial for IBD patients. The prospective pilot survey, done in the United States, discovered patients diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease have significant improvements in their health, pain, functioning and symptoms when using medical marijuana (Kinnucan, 2018). Most studies over IBD patients and medical marijuana have been conducted in other countries due to the federal status of cannabis in the United States (Kinnucan,2018).
The relation between chronic urologic pain and medical marijuana have not been through sufficient surveys and studies like the other three. The only major result found in a study for chronic urologic pain is that medical marijuana reduces the pain 37% based off a one to ten pain scale (Nickel, 2018). Although there has been very few studies, the experiences of those who have used medical marijuana for chronic pain have been successful (Nickel, 2018).
