The Legalizing Of Marijuana

The Legalizing of Marijuana


     Recently, both California and Arizona took the long needed initiative

and approved the use of marijuana for medical purposes.  The California bill

says that patients may use marijuana with a doctor's recommendation.  It does

not, however, allow doctors to prescribe the drug.  Arizona voters passed a bill

that swings out even further to the left than California's.  Voters in Arizona

think that people should be able to use any illicit drug for bona fide medical

purposes.  A recommendation by two doctors is enough to warrant a prescription.

Unfortunately, the bills passed in both states are terribly vague and are

destined to be abused.

     Legalization of marijuana for medical purposes is a step in the right

direction, but California and Arizona are going about it the wrong way.  The

chemical in marijuana that has medicinal benifits is delta-9-

tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).  Studies have shown that marijuana can ease pain,

relieve nausea, and generally relax a person.  Marijuana is cheap and easy to

produce, so if legalized, it would be plentiful and probably widely used.  The

problem is that there are as many harmful effects from smoking marijuana as

there are benefits.  It slows reflexes, dulls the brain, and sometimes causes

hallucinations and/or cancer.  There's no mystery about why it is illegal in

most parts of the world… including the U.S.

     There is a simple solution that is not being discussed by the hard-

headed bureaucracy.  THC is easily removed from the plant and could be

administered as medicine in pill form.  What a novel idea!  No… actually it

isn't novel at all.  Many other forms of illegal drugs are dispensed as medicine

is this manner.  Steroids (Cortizone, Prednizone and others) and opiates, namely

codeine and morphine, are prescribed regularly to patients for pain relief.  Of

course the doctors don't dispense poppy seeds or cocaine, the drug comes in a

pill.  The amount of the drug is carefully regulated to prevent most side

effects but to still have the medicinal qualities.  THC wo
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