Dyamond Garner
English 112
4/7/19
Medical Marijuana has been seen to be a positive and effective substance to help with
multiple issues that people have struggled with finding solutions to. It is only legalized in a few
number of states and it should be able to be legalized in all states to be able to be prescribed to
Medical Marijuana has been proven to help treat many different medical issues. One of
the medical issues it helps with AIDS/HIV. There was a study done by scientist on HIV positive
marijuana smokers that showed that the marijuana helped the people sleep better, have a better
appetite and a positive change in their moods (Christensen). Also, it showed to help people have
less neuropathic pain. Another issue it helps with is cancer, animal studies have shown that
marijuana extracts may help with killing certain cancer cells. In another study, THC the main
ingredient in Marijuana helps improve the impact of radiation on cancer cells (Christensen).
Also, marijuana has been shown to help with the nausea and vomiting that comes from
chemotherapy (American Cancer Society). Epilepsy is another issue that marijuana has been
shown to help with, there were trials done at the NYU Langone Medical Center that showed a
50% reduction in the frequency in seizures in children and adults (Christensen). Another thing
that medical marijuana can help with is weight loss. Weight loss is a big issue for several people
and sometimes working out and eating healthy doesn’t always work. Sometimes people go to
other measures like weight loss surgery which is always not 100% effective to work and it is also
very expensive. Marijuana helps with weight loss by regulating insulin production and managing
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caloric intake (Whitley). Each of the issues discussed are very important and a lot of people
Even though Medical Marijuana doesn’t completely cure some of the issues that have
been talked about it does help out a great amount with the treatment. People have to deal with
taking harsh medications and treatments to deal with their issues and sometimes their bodies will
decide that they can't handle it anymore so it will become useless. For instance, a man suffering
from AIDs who had to take 30 pills a day to treat his condition but was unable to keep the pills
down to due to his body being so weak (Gray). He was given 3 months to live since his body
would not be able to take the harsh medications much longer. The man started to illegally do
marijuana due to the fact that he could not legally do it because that involved taking it in the pill
form and his body was not able to handle it. Once the man started to use the marijuana, he could
finally digest his medications, his immune system became stronger, with being only being 80lbs
he gained weight and he also was able to learn to walk again from being bed ridden for so long.
Not only did the marijuana help him be able get better and help his body take on his medications
better, it also helped him be able to be a part of his family the way he wanted too.
Medical marijuana is a more safe and easier and alternative to choose when picking
between it and prescription drugs. Some of the reasons are, it replaces harmful opioids, which are
harmful drugs that have the same effects as morphine (Wellness Solutions). Opioids have the
potential to damage a person's organs over time and they also can cause them to become addicted
to them after taking them for a long period because the body becomes tolerant to them.
Marijuana works as a safer option because it basically takes the place of the opioids. Also, it's
highly unlikely for one to be able to overdose on marijuana because they would have to consume
about 1,500 pounds in 15 minutes (Wellness Solutions). Another reason it is a better option is
because it's easier to adjust to rather than the prescription pills. Most people have to depend on
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their insurance to pay for their prescriptions because of the insane prices. So that means that they
can only get prescribed drugs that their insurance will pay for and the drug has to be able to
tolerable for a person due to the side effects which all drugs contain. Sometimes the drugs a
person takes will stop be effective because their body will become immune to it. When this
happens, they will have to switch to a different drug with a better effectiveness and when coming
off medications their body will most likely go in withdrawal because they are so used to taking it
and it will be hard a transfer over to the new drug (Wellness Solutions). Marijuana would be a
better option because it comes in many different varieties of dosages and forms so a person can
try them out and chose which one works best for them without having to worry about the
withdrawals and such. One last reason that marijuana is the better option is because prescriptions
drug come only in an few ways to be able to be consumed, where marijuana has many different
forms some of them being capsules, oils, edibles and many others (Wellness Solutions). These
comparisons show that marijuana is a much greater option to choose when a person's needs to
In conclusion medical marijuana should be able to be legalized in all states not just some.
It has the proof of being able to help numerous medical issues that people are struggling to deal
with. Many people have done test to show that the proof is accurate and that it really does work,
so it isn't just some false advertisement. It also is shown to be the better alternative for treatments
rather than choosing harsh medications that can cause more damage to a person's body. To
approve the wellbeing of people with serious medical issues medical marijuana should be
legalized everywhere.
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Works Cited
Christensen, Jen. “10 Ways Medical Marijuana Can Be Used to Treat Disease.” CNN,
Cable News Network, 16 Apr. 2015,
www.cnn.com/2015/04/15/health/marijuana-medical-advances/index.html.
Gray, C. (1998). Legalize use of marijuana for medical purposes, MDs and patients
plead. Canadian Medical Association.Journal, 158(3), 373-5. Retrieved from
https://login.proxy039.nclive.org/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/doc
view/204969525?accountid=10163
Whitley, Chip. “50 Unexpected Benefits of Cannabis (You Might Not Know).”
GreenFlower Media, 2018, www.green-flower.com/articles/66/50-life-enhancing-
benefits-of-cannabis.