This paper argues that medical marijuana lacks sufficient medical and ethical justification in a society already burdened by drug abuse. Drawing on historical precedents involving heroin and cocaine — drugs once proclaimed safe — the paper warns against repeating past errors with marijuana. It examines addiction statistics from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the drug's links to mental illness and schizophrenia, cardiovascular risks, carcinogen content, and social consequences including impaired cognition and workplace dysfunction. The author concludes that well-researched, non-addictive alternatives exist for all conditions purportedly treated by marijuana, making its medical institutionalization unnecessary and ethically unjustifiable.
Having examined the various areas in which medical marijuana has been brought into use and the various forms in which it is administered, it is also important to take note of the challenges that come with it. Various research studies have been conducted covering both the medical and ethical dimensions of medicinal marijuana, and a dilemma exists in balancing these two sides — whether to institutionalize the drug or to prohibit it, and whether medicinal use can be made to work without the proneness to abuse that currently characterizes it.
Medicinal marijuana has neither medical nor ethical standing within contemporary society, where drug abuse is one of the greatest concerns of governments across the world and where alternative medicines that medical research can appropriately develop already exist.
There are various factors pointing to the devastating effects and after-effects of marijuana use, whether for medical purposes or not. These reasons have left a trail of destruction, some of which is irreversible. The calls for medical use of marijuana are not new in the field of medicine, particularly when one considers past errors made with more lethal drugs. For instance, Ronald E. Brooks (2010), then-president of the California Narcotic Officers Association, noted that heroin was initially developed as a non-addicting analgesic intended to replace morphine — and the devastating results are now well known. Sigmund Freud made a similar mistake by declaring cocaine a non-addictive and harmless drug. The same error was replicated in the 1980s when Dr. Lester Grinspoon publicly pronounced cocaine to be as safe as aspirin. Society now knows the truth about both. These are mistakes that must not be repeated with marijuana, especially since the theories surrounding its successful and non-addictive use are based on anecdotal circumstances and are not universally applicable. This must not be allowed, given the devastation that cocaine and heroin — once considered non-addictive — have brought to society at large.
The long-term use of marijuana leads to addiction, thereby outweighing its purported medicinal value. Users develop a compulsive need to use the drug even when aware of its negative effects on their school performance, work, and recreational activities. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (2010), 9% of long-term marijuana users end up addicted. This percentage increases depending on the age at which use begins — rising to 17% among those who start while still young, and to between 25% and 50% among daily users. These statistics create an ethical dilemma: whether the medicinal benefits are worth pursuing, or whether non-addictive alternative treatments should be used instead.
"Mental illness, heart risks, and carcinogen exposure"
"Impaired cognition and workplace dysfunction examined"
The list of detriments caused especially to society by marijuana smokers is overwhelming evidence that its use is not healthy for the individual or for society as a whole. It is also noteworthy that the treatments purportedly provided by marijuana and its extracts are available in other forms of well-researched medications that are not prone to abuse. From cancer patients to AIDS patients and those with critical injuries, modes of medication exist that have been thoroughly researched and developed — and research continues. There is therefore no justification for supporting the use of addictive marijuana as a treatment when effective, non-addictive alternatives are already available.
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