Federal marijuana scheduling policy and medical legalization considerations

Marijuana as a Medical Option

In my opinion, a federal rule that bars doctors from easing severely-ill patients' pain through marijuana administration/prescription is an appalling, unwise, and heavy-handed one. Federal lawmakers must revoke their ban on marijuana for clinical application, in case of acutely ailing individuals, and leave it to doctors to decide whom to administer/prescribe this drug to. The government ought to alter marijuana's current schedule 1 (potentially addictive without existing medical utility) status, to schedule 2 status (possibly addictive but having accepted clinical utility) and correspondingly regulate it (Should marijuana be a medical option?).

Medical cannabis has effectively relieved pain among a number of individuals suffering from chronic ailments. Medical science researchers have only now established the scientific effectiveness of this ancient cure. Several thousand ailing individuals have substituted non-threatening, nontoxic cannabis for disabling psychotropic drugs such as narcotics. A tremendous amount of anecdotal proof has surfaced: people with injured spines can now walk without crutches/walkers, those diagnosed with AIDS have put on weight and reduced medications, cancer patients have found relief from chemotherapy's horrible side-effect of nausea, formerly disabled individuals (disability resulting from debilitating addictions and psychological ailments) are now back in the society, and those suffering from chronic pain are functional once more (with a restoration of their consciousness from a state of narcotic lethargy, all with the aid of a miracle nontoxic healing herb (Should marijuana be a medical option?).

It is a true fact that no other known drug has action mechanisms identical to marijuana. Marinol or Dronabinol can be obtained in capsule form via a doctor's prescription. However, its marked disadvantage is that it only contains synthetic delta-9-THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) that constitutes just one medicinally valuable cannabinoid in natural cannabis. Curiously, this drug the U.S. federal authorities have allowed to be administered/ prescribed by physicians represents the most psychoactive cannabinoid. It has now been discovered that cannabinoids have neuro-modulation capacity at a number of nervous system levels, by means of receptor-based direct mechanisms, and have therapeutic properties (such as analgesia, immunomodulation, neuro-protective, anti-oxidative effects, anti-inflammatory effect, regulation of tumor growth, and glial-cell modulation), which can be applied to treat individuals suffering from neurological disorders. Furthermore, cannabinoids are found to be amazingly safe, without overdose potential (Should marijuana be a medical option?).

Marijuana's clinical benefits have been widely recognized, and no scientific study can conclude that marijuana lacks curative properties (even when smoked). Medical marijuana hasn't been opposed on scientific grounds; rather, mistaken beliefs and falsehoods lie at the core of its ban, which can be refuted through indisputable facts. Answering the argument that marijuana prescriptions have been banned as the drug is highly dangerous, there has, interestingly, been no death reported from marijuana overdose. Hence, clearly, a majority of prescription medicines can be considered much more "dangerous" compared to marijuana (Should marijuana be a medical option?).

I believe it is essentially wrong to criminalize health/life preservation. Still, the federal ban on marijuana prescription, followed by several states, is doing just that. Tremendous evidence exists in favor of marijuana as one among the safest treatment alternatives in existence, if used as per physician directions. Researchers have proved marijuana's colossal clinical benefits. Court trials wherein patients have posed evidence of marijuana consumption of medical purposes have ended in the finding that the drug is actually medically critical to their wellbeing. As about twenty percent of all deaths in cancer patients result from them wasting away, it is meaningless and cruel to criminalize physician-advised consumption of an effective, safe, and easily accessible treatment option (Should marijuana be a medical option?).

In my view, doctors should be permitted to freely prescribe marijuana to patients and not worry about their license being canceled by governmental authorities; further, physician-patient privacy ought to be safeguarded. The DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) ought not to meddle in the medical area, which is a subject to be addressed by patients and physicians. If a physician feels marijuana is the best option to alleviating a patient's suffering, compassion demands that the physician's decision be supported by the government (Should marijuana be a medical option?).

Works Cited

"Should marijuana be a medical option?" 2016. Web. 3 Oct. 2016.