Intergovernmental relationships in contemporary multi-government policy issues

Medicinal Marijuana

Medical Marijuana

The issue of accepting or not to accept the use of marijuana for the purported medical reasons still looms large. The Americans have divergent views on the Medical Marijuana with 73% supporting the idea of medical marijuana and another 31% supporting the legalization of marijuana. States like California passed the bill allowing the physicians to prescribe marijuana to patients who may find this medication appropriate and applicable to their situations.

Some of the conditions that medicinal marijuana is said to be able to treat are cancer, AIDs wasting syndrome, relief of muscle spasm and tremors among victims of multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injuries, in treating glaucoma as well as handling chronic pain (Carol Eustice, 2011).

The issue of marijuana being a drug as well as medicinal herb has brought substantial controversy among the different medical practitioners and the law enforcement agencies. However, it has remained abundantly clear that most governments have spoken consistently in one voice on the matter and have welcome the policies drafted by authority bodies concerning the use of marijuana.

Almost all nations of the world have been and continue to be part of the fight against the abuse of marijuana with the full knowledge of the adverse effects that it has on the society and the youth in particular. This is why most nations are signatories to the 'Single Convection on Narcotic Drugs, 1961' that was later amended in 1980 (Drug Library, 2012).

At the international scene, the possibility of allowing the legal use of marijuana for medical purposes is becoming more of likelihood with the developed nations leading in this effort. There is a harmonious movement among countries like the U.S.A., Australia, the UK and Canada. These countries tend to read form the same script on the issue of medicinal marijuana since they have all accepted exploring the potentiality of medicinal marijuana. In the Uk, the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology had in 1998 found out that cannabis may be good fro clinical uses for certain ailments.

The above was also repeated in the U.S.A. with a clear 73% in favor of the medicinal use of marijuana and 78% of Canadians supporting the limited use of marijuana for medical purposes. Indeed in Canada, in 2001 there began regulatory arrangements that would give authorization to have a license to produce cannabis for medical purposes.