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Sixteen American States Currently Allow Doctors To Research Paper

¶ … Sixteen American states currently allow doctors to prescribe an herbal remedy to their patients: cannabis. Herbal remedies are not typically viewed with suspicion, but cannabis has been illegal in the United States for several decades. Still technically an illegal drug, cannabis is not being sold legally in select medical dispensaries in the states that allow for its controlled use. The organization Pain Management of America outlines some of the most common conditions for which doctors prescribe cannabis. Those conditions range from seizures to muscle spasms to cancer and chronic pain (Pain Management of America). Although medical cannabis is a step in the right direction, ultimately the herb should be removed from its Schedule I classification in the Controlled Substances Act. Cannabis should be completely legal, giving American citizens the freedom to use, grow, and sell the plant.

There are a host of medical conditions -- ranging in severity from mild headaches to HIV / AIDS -- for which cannabis may be prescribed because it has been empirically proven to be successful. For example, Joy, Watson and Benson found that marijuana can be effective in treating a wide range of both physical and psychological illnesses. Given the scientific backing of the efficacy of medical marijuana, it makes no sense to ban it from the legal pharmacopeia. Doctors who can prescribe potentially dangerous chemical formulas like Oxycontin should also be able to prescribe a relatively harmless plant.
Marijuana is a relatively harmless plant, too. Although chronic smoking of marijuana is unhealthy, moderate intake is not. "The adverse effects of marijuana use are within the range of effects tolerated for other medications," (Joy et al.). Inhalation of smoke can be harmful to the lungs, which is why many cannabis users prefer alternative medicine delivery systems such as vaporizers. Cannabis and its resins can also be ingested.

One of the main reasons why medical cannabis…

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Works Cited

Havel, Vaclav. The Power of the Powerless. Palach, 1995.

Joy, Janet E., Watson, Stanley J. And Benson, John A. "Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base." Institute of Medicine. National Academy Press, 1999. Retrieved online: http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/sourcefiles/IOM_Report.pdf" target="_blank" REL="NOFOLLOW" style="text-decoration: underline !important;">http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/sourcefiles/IOM_Report.pdf

Miron, Jeffrey. "Commentary: Legalize Drugs to Stop Violence." CNN.com. Mar 24, 2009. Retrieved online: http://articles.cnn.com/2009-03-24/politics/miron.legalization.drugs_1_prohibition-drug-traffickers-violence?_s=PM:POLITICS

Pain Management of America. Retrieved online: http://www.medicalmarijuana.net/
ProCon.org. Retrieved online: http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/
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