Let’s shed some light on Medical Marijuana
As our society becomes more progressive and modernized, people are starting to adopt a relaxed mindset about many issues that were prevalent in the past. It’s a great time to be alive. Our decision-making process has its roots in deductive reasoning, which is reasoning from statements to make a logical conclusion.
As an avid news reader, I’ve encountered the word “medical marijuana” in the opinion section many times. My curiosity left me craving answers as to whether medical marijuana does more harm than good, or vice versa? The best way to answer this question would be to first establish some of the known facts about marijuana and medical marijuana in general. Then, we can move on to looking at this issue from two different viewpoints and present arguments: medical marijuana does more good than harm and medical marijuana does more harm than good. The viewpoint that has stronger arguments would then be the answer to our question.
Let’s start off with the viewpoint that medical marijuana does more harm than good. The most common argument against medical marijuana is that there may be a possibility that some patients who are prescribed marijuana will become addicted to it. According to Psychology Today, 10% to 30% will develop a dependency on the drug and 9% will become seriously addicted to it. These are definitely alarming percentages if take into account that it is estimated by United Nations that there are 158.8 million people who are marijuana users.
THC (tetrahydrocannabinol- or in other words, that chemical that makes you “high”) according to Dr. Mahmoud ElSohly of University of Mississippi is a beneficial compound. However, THC isn’t just readily available, it often gets exposed to high temperatures for it to be consumed. This burning results in many byproducts which are carcinogens. Research shows that marijuana smoke can be up to 70% more carcinogenic than tobacco smoke.
Furthermore, any miscalculation in the dosing or formulation of THC would endanger the patient. Patients may experience many of the short-term and long-term effects common among people who take marijuana for recreational purposes, such as dryness of mouth, reddening of the eyes, a constant sensation of hot and cold and etc. THC is the cause of biphasic activity. “At low doses, it has certain effects, and at high doses, it has opposite effects. Somebody using marijuana to get high at the right dose will be calm, happy, getting the munchies, and all of that. There are more emergency room admissions today than ever because of marijuana use. That’s simply because of the psychoactive side effects of the high THC content that the public uses.” explains Dr. ElSohly.
“No action is without side effects,” said Barry Commoner. This quote embodies many of the concerns of patients they have when they are prescribed a drug. The usage of medical marijuana is obviously accompanied by side effects, notably cognitive. Researchers have found out that regular marijuana use can have neurotoxic effects on brain structures. A 2012 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that people who started smoking before age 18 showed a greater decline in IQ than people who started as adults. THC intoxication is also known to impair cognitive functioning, which impedes a user’s ability to plan, organize, and make decisions.
Now let’s look at the other viewpoint: medical marijuana does more good than harm. Medical marijuana is used to treat nausea and vomiting, HIV/AIDS, chronic pain, glaucoma, improve lung health, control epileptic seizures, decrease the symptoms of Davet’s syndrome, prevent cancer from spreading, decrease anxiety, slows the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, helps with the treatment of hepatitis C, stimulates appetite, eliminates nightmares, protects the brain from concussions and strokes, and helps with Parkinson’s, Crohn’s disease and PTSD.
In many cases, other medicines which may be more effective at treating the condition and have less severe side effects, can be substituted for marijuana. For example, antiemetics are labeled as the class of drug that is the most effective against nausea and vomiting, and antiemetics have less severe side effects than marijuana (including dry mouth, frequent urination and etc.). Also, there isn’t sufficient evidence to show that using marijuana helps with HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections, neurological and brain problems.
Therefore, it would be futile to use marijuana for medicinal purposes because there are many alternatives that exist for the conditions that it is used for. We’ve considered both sides and it seems that medical marijuana does more harm than it does good. The severe short and long term effects of marijuana use severely impact a patient’s health. Before the healthcare industry yields itself to progressive and modernized mindsets, they need to think about the repercussions of a drug and weigh the pros and cons. The question here is, is it really worth it? In our case, it isn’t.
About the Author: My name is Adib A.K.M. and I am a grade 10 student at Bloor Collegiate Institute. I’m passionate about anything STEM related and I love and live for science.
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