Marijuana Medical Marijuana: The Interplay between State and Federal Law History of Criminalization The Current War on Drugs Political Issues The legal status of medical marijuana in the United States is something of a paradox. On one hand, federal government has placed a ban on the drug with no exceptions. On the other hand, over one-third of the states have that legalizes the cultivation, distribution, and consumption of the drug for medical purposes. As such, the

In Germany it is still an offence under the drug laws to posses the drug but the laws are some what more liberal. For example the prosecution may not press charges where the drug was found to be in 'low quantity 'and was for personal use. Thus patients have received lower penalties. The progress in Germany is such that in April 2000, the German company THC Pharm received the

Gilman asserts that the debate should not be about the medical value of marijuana, but how the drug should be delivered. The Genetic Science Learning Center outlines several delivery methods of medical marijuana. First of all is smoking. The benefits of this method include that it delivers all of the plant's active compounds, and that it is easy to regulate the dose. Disadvantages of this method are that there is

Medicalmarijuanaprocon.org/bin/procon/procon.cgi?database=5-B-Subs-1.db&command=viewone&op=t&id=1&rnd=414.848519162785)." March 1, 2007 Lester Grinspoon One of the more controversial uses of marijuana is the fact that it is believed to alleviate inflammation which opens the doors for arguments with regard to disorders including fibromyalgia which doctors still debate the existence of. However, as long as the patient is suffering and can match the set criteria for the disorder, who is society to argue that it does not exist and

Legislators and drug enforcers are not physicians and should not substitute their belief system for demonstrable scientific studies showing that medical marijuana does benefit patients. The federal argument often begins with a denial of this, as if any study that suggests there is no benefit is automatically preferred to the hundreds that show there is. The next claim made is that the harm is greater than the curative power, which

" By characterizing the use of illegal drugs as quasi-legal, state-sanctioned, Saturday afternoon fun, legalizers destabilize the societal norm that drug use is dangerous." Allowing medical use of marijuana sends the wrong message to children. Children entering drug abuse treatment have routinely reported that they heard that marijuana is medicine'and, therefore, believed it to be good for them. Those in favor of medical marijuana believe that studies such as the 1999 U.S.