Smoking Marijuana for Medical Purposes is a SHAM!

I am just a little confused. I am hoping that someone can explain some things to me so I will be less confused. We want to legalize marijuana for medical purposes. Let me start by saying that I AM NOT against the use of marijuana IF IT IS TO BE USED MEDICINALLY. If there is a medical reason that someone is using marijuana, I say let them use it. But that is not the reason marijuana is being legalized.

Find me a doctor who says that smoking anything makes it a better way to take any medication. You will find arguments for taking drugs intravenously and ingesting either in pill or liquid form, but never for smoking a medication. There are multiple reasons for marijuana in a smoke-able form to not be made legal.

1. Marijuana contains dozens of carcinogens (cancer causing substance)
2. Smoking marijuana has been linked to respiratory problems as well as an increase in several types of cancer including lung and testicular.
3. Marijuana is not FDA approved

My favorite argument is that smoking marijuana does not make cancer more prevalent. That is complete crap. Are there some studies that show there is no link between marijuana and cancer? Yes, there are several studies that show this. There is a far more substantial body of studies conducted that show a link between cancer and marijuana smoking, though. Marijuana has many of the same carcinogens and chemicals that cigarettes do. It also produces more tar than cigarettes. It is also smoked unfiltered, taking huge inhalations that are held in which means more carcinogens and tar are delivered to the lungs.

Marijuana is not FDA approved for a number of reasons, and not because they are controlled by the pharmaceutical companies. There are over 400 chemicals in the cannabis sativa plant. Some of them have unknown effects. If the dangers do not outweigh the benefits than the FDA will not approve it. Also, when passing a medicine it is standardized in each dose. A 50 mg dose delivers 50 milligrams. Cannabis is highly unstable and the dosage changes from one leaf to the next leaf on the same plant.

Are there some medical uses for marijuana? There are medical uses for some of the chemicals found in marijuana, such as CBD (cannabidiol). CBD has been found to alleviate pain associated with cancer and multiple sclerosis, reducing anxiety and various other positive uses. THC (Delta 8 and 9) have been found to increase anxiety in studies. Unfortunately, in the marijuana that is being confiscated, the levels of Delta 8 and Delta 9 (substances that induce the "high:) are increasing and the levels of CBD are decreasing.

There are also some substances substances in the cannabis plant or their chemical derivatives that have been shown to stop the growth of cancer in Petri dishes as well as in some animals that have been tested. This affect has not been clinically tested and proven to occur in humans, though.

Here are several more arguments for marijuana that are not allowed. First is the income from legalizing marijuana. If legalizing marijuana was all it took to increase the economy, then California would be rocking. After all, marijuana has been legal there for quit some time and their economy at the state level sucks.

There is also the argument that legalizing marijuana would greatly reduce our prison population. A survey by the Bureau of Justice found that 0.7% of the state prison population in the United States was there for marijuana only. It does not list how many of those were people who agreed to plead guilty to marijuana charges so they could avoid more serious charges. So we let out less than 1 percent of those who are in state prisons. Yeah, that makes a huge dent. How NORML gets 1 in 8 are in prison for marijuana charges I will never know.

Finally, the last argument is that alcohol and cigarettes are legal and kill people while marijuana is not lethal. I won't argue traffic accidents, because that is too incidental to get into and there are the arguments that marijuana stays in your system long after it still would impact your driving. Instead, I want to look at the basis of the argument. This drug is not as bad as these, so it should be legal?

How is that a good argument? Not that I don't agree, alcohol and cigarettes kill a lot of people and their basis for legality is disputable. There is a causal link between smoking THC and getting into accidents just like there is a causal link between male/female intercourse and getting pregnant. Does this mean that every time you use THC you will get into an accident. Of course not, and you will not get pregnant every time you have sex.......but it happens. Why risk it if it is not even addictive, like so may argue. If it is not addictive you don't have to do it so that solves the problem right there. Case closed!

Here is a great reason why marijuana should be illegal. States that have medicinal marijuana laws have shown an increase in marijuana use of 30% for teenagers in the 12-17 year old group. Studies show that youth who are 14 or under and smoke marijuana at least once a month are twice as likely to drop out as their non-marijuana smoking counterpart. Why would we want to legalize marijuana?

I am all for the spray, oil and pill forms of various chemicals in cannabis that have been found to be helpful. I am against smoking it, though. The risks outweigh the benefits and there are far better methods to use. Any argument that says smoking medical marijuana is the best, most efficient way to use it is nonfactual. There are much better ways to ingest it. The problem is that they don't get you as high, if high at all and that is what most people want to use it for.