Paper Topic:

Smoking marijuana for medical purposes should be allowed in the state of maine

N . Jackson

Professor

Class

26 August 2007

Medical Marijuana should be legalized in the United States

The use of marijuana to alleviate symptoms of many chronic illnesses has been a hotly contested issue within the United States government and among private citizens . Most recently the debate has moved to the spotlight as several states have virtually ignored federal laws and enacted their own medical marijuana laws . It is my argument that every state in the nation should allow citizens with chronic or debilitating illnesses to smoke medical marijuana for

relief of symptoms . I will present evidence to support my claim as well as introduce arguments made by opponents of medical marijuana

The major opposition against the use of marijuana for medical purposes has come from the U .S . government , so for this argument I will use three major arguments used by the Drug Enforcement Agency in an effort to shed more light on the opposition . First , the DEA argues that marijuana has a high potential for abuse . Next they argue that it has no accepted medical use within the United States and finally , they argue that there is sound evidence that smoked marijuana is harmful (FDA 2006 . To support my own argument , in favor of the use of medical marijuana , I will draw from arguments made by patients who use marijuana for medical purposes as well as medical evidence that supports my claims

In a 2006 inter-agency advisory released by the United States Federal Drug Administration , the FDA asserted its claims that marijuana has no medicinal value based on its high potential for abuse . The National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA , which falls under the National Institute of Health (NIH ) listed hashish and marijuana among the most commonly abused drugs , which helps determine the criteria for a drug to be placed on the Controlled Substance Act (CSA . The claim , by NIDA and the DEA that marijuana has a high potential for abuse has virtually been in unsupported by concrete evidence and only supported by scare tactics and rhetoric . It is important to note that their `potential for abuse is linked with addiction and the study completed by NIDA states long-term marijuana use can lead to addiction for some people (NIDA 6 . While this is not indisputable evidence of marijuana 's addictiveness , this study and others that make the same claim are where the government gets their information to place marijuana on the CSA . To further add to this absurdity , NIDA cites a study involving twins where one twin uses marijuana recreationally and the other does not , to support their claims that marijuana use is a `gateway drug . Using unreliable subjects to draw concrete conclusions further lends credibility to those who argue in favor of medical marijuana use

Another common argument made by the DEA is that medical marijuana has no accepted medical use within the U .S . Even if we forget that prior to 1937 marijuana was legal in this country , the FDA contradicts its own arguments by allowing seven...

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