Medicinal MarijuanaJoin now to read essay Medicinal MarijuanaRoll it up, light it up, smoke it up, inhale, exhale, is a process of consuming marijuana. Marijuana is known as a gateway drug because it seems to be the first illegal drug teenagers use. It is a theory of drug abuse that there are stages of progression, from tobacco and alcohol to marijuana to other illicit drugs. Marijuana is gaining renewed recognition for medicinal use. It is a medicinal herb that has hundreds of proven, valuable therapeutic uses, from stress reduction to glaucoma to asthma to cancer therapy. Marijuana was a major active ingredient in forty through fifty percent of patent medicines before its ban. It could replace at least ten though twenty percent of prescribed drugs now in use. Marijuana may be harmful towards the bodies lungs; it is effective in treating several different illnesses and is cheaper than pharmaceutical medication, such as Marinol.
Smoking any substance can cause damage to the lungs. An article in the March, 2001 issue of the Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology, Pages 339-344, states: “Marijuana tar induced higher levels of CYP1A1 messenger RNA (mRNA) than did tobacco tar, yet resulted in much lower CYP1A1 enzyme activity. These differences between marijuana and tobacco were primarily due to Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol.” The high levels of CYP1A1 by marijuana smoke and the THC that it contains is a risk of cancer. Cigarettes may have less tar, but they do have more chemicals in them than marijuana.
Marijuana is effective in treating AIDS wasting, Alzheimers, nausea, chemotherapy, epilepsy, glaucoma, pain, muscle spasms, and terminal illness. The substitute for marijuana is Marinol, which provides the THC concentrations and does not provide the high that marijuana often does when it is smoked. Though people prescribed to Marinol have taken risk upon them selves to smoke marijuana instead for numerous reasons. Some say that Marinol gets them too high, whereas they can smoke as little marijuana as they would like. Joycelyn Elders, M.D., former U.S. Surgeon General, wrote in 3/26/04 an editorial published in Rhode Islands The Providence Journal: “These other drugs [like Marinol] dont work for everyone Inhalation gives a more rapid response and better results. For some very sick people, marijuana simple works better.” The Marinol pill just is not effective, or is not as effective as natural marijuana. Marinol
All the better when you take it when you are on a high. And, as a friend points out, we know Marinol is safe and works better in smokers.„ << Back to Top > A quick primer on marijuana and how it can be harmful. There is also some scientific and anecdotal evidence surrounding marijuana. Dr. Robert R. Reiss is president of NORML and NORML Legal Support, a medical marijuana advocacy organization, and this article is at the top of his document.
Dr. Reiss, Dr. William H. Vinson and Dr. David L. DeBare’s A Study of the Effects of Proposed Health Contamination in Children on Health, Education and Function, Journal of Family Medicine, Vol. 23, Issue. 4, p. 619.
This article was written by David C. DeBare. It has been used in medical research on some populations, such as children, and is provided for general readers.
About the Author: David C. DeBare is a graduate of North Carolina State College with a BA in Sociology. He received his bachelor’s degree in Psychology with a specialization in pediatrics and a master’s degree in Behavioral Sciences, from the University of Rochester, in his senior year at UNC. He holds a doctorate in Psychology with a specialty in social sciences in the Humanities from the National University of Singapore and a Master’s Degree in Psychology from Uppsala University in Sweden, Sweden. He earned a doctorate in Psychology from UNC in 1993. He received his PhD from Columbia University psychology in 1999. Prior to teaching, he taught English in Korea at the University of South Carolina, and from 2005 to 2008, he worked as the Assistant Professor of Psychology at the Center for Clinical Development of the Center for Substance Use and Mental Health at Columbia University. He is the author of 13 professional articles on the subject, including articles on Marijuana, Alcohol, and Cocaine. He is an adjunct fellow at the American Psychological Association in Atlanta.
Dr. Reiss published with the Center for Substance Use and Mental Health a 2007 report that recommended that the average American take a few grams in a day to maintain body function.
Citation References:
David C. Reiss, Medical Marijuana and Health in Adults, National Center for Substance Abuse Research, 2010.
Dr. Michael M. Noguchi, MD, Director of The Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Control, Institute for Psychiatric and Biological Epidemiology, Center for Psychiatria, 2009.
Kevin R. Williams, Ph.D., Author, “The Effects of Marijuana on the Body: A Case Report From the Pacific Health Organization, United Nations, November 2009”
Liza A. Moore, PhD, B/F-M-D, Associate Professor, Psychology Department, University of Oklahoma, University of South Carolina, 1998. Her previous research has reviewed the effects of marijuana use on the body and the brain: the effects of cannabis on cognition and symptoms, subjective well-being, mood, and blood pressure in patients with depression and major depressive disorder with significant cannabis use, and the cognitive effects of THC. Her study will discuss various aspects of marijuana-related neurodevelopment and cognition.
Dr. Noguchi, also noted in the 2013 journal Clinical Psychopharmacology: General Review, “Tested Cannabis Can Reduce the Effects of Cannabis Use on Other Major Deprivation and Irritability of Blood Pressure.”
Dr. Williams, M.D., Author, “The Effects of Marijuana on the Body