Many people are not aware of the benefits of legalization of marijuana. The intentions of this paper are to provide information on the benefits as well as provide information on a few of its many industrial uses.
The cannabis plant, also known as marijuana, is a natural substance made illegal for any use in 1937 with the help of Harry J. Anslinger (King, 2001) and was classified as dangerous with no medical uses. (United States Drug Enforcement Agency) However, there is an abundance of research showing that cannabis is not as dangerous as once believed and that cannabis does in fact have medical uses.
Today there are many organizations taking steps to decriminalize and potentially legalize the cannabis plant for medical, recreational, and industrial uses. These organizations take such steps as speaking with local and federal law makers and informing the public as to both the risks and benefits of use as well as what uses the plant has. While a majority of these organizations focus solely on the outright legalization of cannabis; the better known ones, such as The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) provides information on such uses as medical, recreational, and industrial.
Cannabis has a wide range of medical uses. The most common known are use in cancer, AIDs and glaucoma treatments but it has also shown promise in treating other medical problems such as pain, depression, neurological disorder (Mack, Marijuana As Medicine?: The Science Beyond the Controversy, 2000), and MRSA (Armentano, 2008). In cancer patients cannabis is used a long side traditional chemotherapy medication. Its use helps the patient cope with the pain better, helps to increase apatite, and prevents nausea caused by the treatment. (University of Washington) The medical use for cannabis in AIDs patients is as an appetite stimulant which helps the patients that are suffering from this disease regain muscle mass as well as retain muscle mass. (University of Washington) Glaucoma can also be treated with cannabis. The plant treats the symptoms as well as helping prevent the diseases from progressing in to blindness. (Mack, Marijuana As Medicine?: The Science Beyond the Controversy, 2000) Cannabis has also been showing signs of being useful for treating anti-biotic resistant strains of staff inflections such as MRSA. “Studies done in Italy and the United Kingdom have shown that five major chemicals in cannabis all showed germ killing activity against the MRSA strains.” (Armentano, 2008) Cannabis is also being studied for use with depression and has shown that smokers are less depressed than non-smokers and that there is no link between the use of cannabis and depression. (Johnson, 2005)
A common misconception about cannabis is that no matter how many people it can and does help the supposed risks are too great to legalize for any use. This thought clearly steams from the myriad of anti-marijuana propaganda that has circulated in the media for a good portion of the past 60 years. The potential side effects of marijuana use are dizziness, euphoria, bloodshot eyes, short term memory loss, paranoia, sexual dysfunction, increased risk of heart attack, and cancer. However, side effects are usually user specific and last the duration of the “high”. (Center for Substance Abuse Research) A study by the University of Michigan has also shown that there is no link between smoking cannabis and cancer as well as showing no signs of being physically addictive or that it is a “gate way” drug. (Bates, 2006) There are also no documented cases of an individual dying of a THC or marijuana overdose. (Brown University, 2008) Since THC is fat soluble there are other methods, such as extracting the THC out of the cannabis in a home kitchen using unsalted butter, which produce the same effect as smoking a joint. Marijuana is also not grown using chemical pesticides as they harm the THC content of the plant its self (ganjafarmer, 2007), and cannabis is a natural substance and THC is naturally occurring in the female plants unlike pharmaceuticals, alcohol and other illicit drugs which need human interactions and other chemicals or ingredients to give them their effect.
Some may also argue that use of marijuana may lead to criminal behaviors however studies have shown that marijuana users are often less active and therefore commit less violent acts. Studies like this seem to only be conducted in poverty level minority groups or in gang related cases making the research not only flawed but playing on racial tensions and fears. (McDonnell, 2007)
While there are many medical uses for cannabis there is an almost never-ending list of industrial uses for cannabis. Hemp, the male cannabis plant, which when smoked produces no “high “ as it yields a very small amount of THC remains illegal for industrial use in most states. The common industrial uses for hemp are paper, rope and other textiles. These products can be manufactured more efficiently and less costly than traditional methods of production thus lessening the amount of carbon dioxide released in to the Earth’s atmosphere. Cannabis can also lessens the need if not entirely eliminates the need to cut down trees to use for any industrial reason. (Small, 2002)
Another notable uses for industrial hemp are its use for plastics for cars. In fact Class-C Mercedes Benz now has over 30 parts made of natural fibers and hemp and Henry Ford used resin reinforced with hemp on one of his cars. (Small, 2002)
Hemp seeds and oil made from the seeds are also highly nutritious. They contain more protein than soybeans and contain high amounts of unsaturated fatty acids. The seeds have a nutty taste and are being incorporated into many foods. (Small, 2002)
Despite the dangers there are many reasons of why cannabis should be legal for both industrial and medical uses. Why should it remain illegal when it could help so many people?
(n.d.). Retrieved September 28, 2008, from University of Washington: Association (5th ed.). Retrieved on September 20, 2008 from University of Washington. Web Site: http://students.washington.edu/aed/archivemidget/2.htm
Armentano, P. A. (2008, September 9). Yet Another Study Reports That Pot May Halt MRSA. Retrieved September 28, 2008, from NORMLBlog. Web Site:
http://blog.norml.org/2008/09/09/yet-another-study-reports-that-pot-may-halt-mrsa/
Bates, K. L. (2006, October 6). Study fails to find link between marijuana use and cancer. Retrieved September 28, 2008, from University of Michigan. Web Site: http://www.ur.umich.edu/0607/Oct16_06/01.shtml
(2008, February 28). Retrieved Sptember 28, 2008, from Brown University. Web Site: http://www.brown.edu/Student_Services/Health_Services/Health_Education/atod/marijuana.htm
(n.d.). Marijuana. Retrieved September 28, 2008, from The Center for Substance Abuse Research. Web Site: http://www.cesar.umd.edu/cesar/drugs/marijuana.asp
ganjafarmer. (2007, September 15). What do I need to Grow Marijuana? Retrieved September 28, 2008, from Weed Needs. Web Site: http://weedneeds.wordpress.com/2007/09/15/what-do-i-need-to-grow-marijuana/
Johnson, P. J. (2005, December). Marijuana and Depression. Retrieved September 28, 2008, from University of Southern California. Web Site: http://college.usc.edu/news/december_2005/denson.html
King, R. a. (2001). Anslinger, Harry Jacob, and U.S. Drug Policy. Retrieved September 28, 2008, from Gale Power Search. Web Site: http://find.galegroup.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/ips/retrieve.do?contentSet=EBKS&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&qrySerId=Locale%28en%2C%2C%29%3AFQE%3D%28KE%2CNone%2C18%29anslinger%2C+harry+j%3AAnd%3ALQE%3D%28AC%2CNone%2C8%29fulltext%24&sgHitCountType=None&
Mack, A. a. (2000). Marijuana As Medicine?: The Science Beyond the Controversy. Retrieved September 28, 2008, from The National Academic Press. Web Site: http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=9586&page=11
It's been awhile since I've posted. Its been really busy around here and I've been sick for two weeks. Yay for kid germs.
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