Feature

 Many light up to experience the euphoric effects of marijuana to unwind at the end of a long day, or simply just to get high.  To others marijuana plays a far greater role to their medical health.

“Some people take pills for pain, this is my equivalent,” WSU student Aaron Levine said as he sits down with his pipe.  “If I weren’t being treated with marijuana I would be dependant of opiates for pain relief, which would be far more harmful to my body.”

Levine smokes his medically prescribed marijuana to treat his occasionally crippling back pain that is unrelieved by standard medical treatment. 

“A lot of people think that medicinal marijuana is just an excuse so stoners can smoke,” Levine said.  “But this is real medicine.”

Marijuana use is becoming exponentially popular among teens and adults all around the United States.

Despite state efforts to permit personal and medicinal use of marijuana, it remains classified as a schedule one narcotic by the federal government.  Therefore according to the federal government, marijuana has no possible medical benefits.  It has remained a schedule one narcotic since the prohibition 40 years ago.

“No medical benefits?” School teacher and mother Lisa Schulman asked.  “If the government thinks marijuana doesn’t have medical benefits they should take a closer look at medicinal users.”

Schulman suffers from epileptic seizures and self medicates with cannabis.  “My husband looked into it, and brought some home one day and I haven’t looked back since,” Schulman said.  “I used to have a few seizures a week, now it’s down to a couple a month.”

Medicinal benefits of marijuana are being investigated all over the world.  In multiple cases cannabis has been proven to ease the effects of chemotherapy and reduce the side effects caused by AIDS treatments.

Regardless of state or county laws premising the use and distribution of marijuana for medicinal purposes, cannabis is still illegal on the federal level.  Putting both the dispensaries and the patients at risk of the law.

Federal government and concerned citizens see a violent and disruptive trend that follows the use of marijuana, suggesting that they are more interested in the abusers and dealers of the drugs than the patients.

Also contributing to the fear of cannabis is the perceived risk of harm to the body.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, tobacco causes more than 400,000 deaths a year.  With alcohol contributing to over 100,000 thousand deaths a year in the U.S. alone.  However not one death has been attributed to the use of cannabis alone.

The federal government continues the prohibition of cannabis because it still views marijuana as a dangerous and life altering substance.  However with cannabis popularity being on the rise, the government could be missing out on a potentially profitable cash crop.  If marijuana were to be legalized on the federal level, then taxation could help the country as a whole with debts.

Legalization could allow for the government to regulate the substance as well.  Possibly benefiting the already overwhelmed prison system by reevaluating the laws restricting marijuana possession, which currently hold more than 800,000 people in prison on charges of possession alone.

Sources

Aaron Levine

A_Levine@wsu.edu

(360) 927-2377

Lisa Schulman

SchulmanL@hotmail.com

(206) 412-0343

www.cdc.gov

National Geographic: Marijuana Nation (documentary)