Marijuana as Medicine: More Harm Than Help :: pro use of medical marijuana

Marijuana as Medicine: More Harm Than Help Joan Daly smokes marijuana. She is also a former member of the San Francisco Police Department. When Joan was diagnosed with cancer she began a rigorous chemotherapy program, which has left her in an almost constant state of nausea, to battle her disease. She, and many like her, claim that the only drug they have tried that works to ease their pain is marijuana (Lacayo np). Claims such as this have led to a national movement pushing the legalization of medical marijuana. Marijuana should not be legalized for medicine or any other purpose. (98) Naturally, those who support the cause of legalization will have their arguments, which can be summarized into three main areas. The first is the claim that marijuana is an instrumental treatment for the nausea associated with chemotherapy in cancer patients. The next assertion is that marijuana is an effective controller of glaucoma. Finally, marijuana advocates claim that it is effective in stimulating the appetite for the prevention of AIDS wasting syndrome. (71) Proponents of medical marijuana swear by its ability to ease the suffering of chemotherapy patients, however there is no research to back these staunch claims. To be sure, there is a large body of research regarding cannabinoids, the chemicals found in plants of the same type as marijuana- the cannabis family, but the overwhelming majority of those studies use the already USDA approved dronabinol, a synthetic pill version of marijuana's main psychoactive ingredient, THC (NIH np). The pill, claim legalization supporters, does not work to relieve nausea (Lacayo np). There is, in fact, only one study that has compared smoked marijuana and synthetic THC pills. Of the 20 patients studied, 9 had no preference, 7 preferred dronabinol, and only 4 preferred smoked marijuana (NIH np). Critics of the legalization Cleland 2 movement say that using the drug before its safety and effectiveness are determined is foolhardy ("Weed Wars" np). There is evidence enough to support this claim. The number of patients who have been clinically dosed with marijuana for research purposes is a staggering 56 (NIH np). That is an extremely small number to base such large claims on. The treatment of nausea debate generally focuses on the synthetic pill/smoked marijuana trade off. The simple truth is that treatments are available that much more effective than the pill in the form of ondansetron, granisetron, and others. Their effectiveness has not been rated against that of marijuana, but the vast majority of patients respond well to these new treatments, and the benefits of marijuana for the remaining few is simply not known (NIH np). (255) Another use of medical marijuana, says advocates, is for