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James Mahoney was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1993. In an effort to put his disease into remission, the medical team decided chemotherapy would be the best treatment. After one cycle of chemotherapy, James was treated weekly. As soon as he came up to some minimum baseline standards shown by the blood test, he was admitted for another cycle. For the most part, though, he knew before the doctors did when he was ready for another cycle. When he woke up in the morning and actually didn t feel nauseous or had an appetite, he knew he was in for another weekend at the hospital.
Simply put, you have the treatment and are sick for a week or two. When you finally feel better it is time for another treatment. This caused James to feel hopeless because he never really knew if the treatment was going to work. The most debilitating aspect of the treatment, though, was the constant nausea.
This caused his spirits to fall and also resulted in him losing a tremendous amount of weight. Seeing the nausea he was fighting, and marveling at the rapidity with which James appetite came and went, his friend suggested that the drugs he was getting from the doctors (Comparing and Benadryl) weren t doing their job. His friend offered him marijuana, and after initial resistance, he decided to try it. After his next cycle, he smoked a puff or two with his friends, and the results were dramatic. Not only was his nausea manageable (vomiting once or twice a day during the week after the cycle was usual), but his appetite would return within an hour of smoking, and stay for long enough to allow him to eat at a slower rate. There was only one problem, however.
Marijuana is an illegal substance. So, the question that needs to be answered is, should James be allowed to use this substance to alleviate his pain, or should marijuana remain illegal? In this paper I will use evidence to support the belief that marijuana should be legalized for medical reasons. Although not yet legal, marijuana is known to give patients with cancer, AIDS, and many other diseases striking relief from symptoms related to these anomalies.
To patients such as these, the long-term adverse effects or chance of addiction are irrelevant issues. Legalization through medicine is not a new concept when reviewing drug history. For years physicians have treated patients with a multitude of narcotic agents known to be addictive, with the use of these drugs, the possibility of addiction has always been weighed against the possible advantages. In their own times and places, opium, laudanum, cocaine, nicotine, alcohol and LSD have been looked on as cures. (Rosin 20). Dronabinol, a drug which contains one of the active ingredients in marijuana, THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), has been available by perscription for over a decade now. Marijuana in contrast to dronabinol, produces a rapid increase in the blood level of the active ingredients, and is thus more likely to be therapeutic. (Kassirer 366).
The following are symptoms that smoking marijuana tends to alleviate: 1. insomnia 2. migraine headaches 3. vomiting and nausea in chemotherapy patients 4. pre-treatment anxiety of chemotherapy patients 5.
improves appetite of patients suffering from AIDS-related wasting 6. pain and muscle-spasm associated with epilepsy and MS 7. pressure within the eye of people suffering from glaucoma In the eyes of the government the doctors who cooperate (with legalization) fall into three main categories. (1) Serious illness doctors. In cases of AIDS, cancer, glaucoma, and epilepsy, there is substantial anecdotal evidence, although no thorough scientific research, that marijuana helps. (2) True believers.
There are a handful of doctors who believe in marijuana s capacity to ease a myriad of symptoms. Most do independant research and monitor their patients carefully. (3) The skeptical but con vincible. Some doctors are wary of marijuana s effects, but will defer to their patients wishes. (Rosin 22) What is our government s stand on the medical use of hemp? To the lay individual, it s unclear. However, it is clear, by the beaurocratic confusion, to see that it is looked at as more of a hinderance to government reins than as a help to it s informed citizens. The government looks at the issue of legalization as a step backwards in their just say no policy.
It is hard to understand what the exact positions of the government when it comes to the issue over making marijuana legal for medical use. This is due to the fact that many specific cases are being held up in the court system awaiting further research to show whether marijuana is the only choice left for some seriously ill patients. In November 1996 the state of California placed on the ballot a proposition dealing with the legalization of marijuana for medical use. It was known to the citizens of California, that if this bill was passed, it would become legal to smoke marijuana in California with the approval or recommendation of a doctor. Proposition 215, known as the Medical Marijuana Initiative is read as follows: Proposition 215 Medical Marijuana Initiative Section 1. Section 11362. 5 is added to the Heath and Safety Code, to read: 11362. 5. (a) This section shall be known and may be cited as the Compassionate Use Act of 1996. (b) (1) The people of the State of California hereby find and declare that the purposes of the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 are as follows: (A) To ensure that seriously ill Californians have the right to obtain and use marijuana for medical purposes where that medical use is deemed appropriate and has been recommended by a physician who has determined that the person s health would benefit from the use of marijuana in the treatment of cancer, anorexia, AIDS, chronic pain, spasticity, glaucoma, arthritis, migraine, or any other illness for which marijuana provides relief. (B) To ensure that patients and their primary care- givers who obtain and use marijuana for medical purposes upon the recommendation of a physician are not subject to criminal prosecution or sanction. (C) To encourage the federal and state govern- ments to implement a plan to provide for the safe and affordable distribution of marijuana to all patients in medical need of marijuana. (2) Nothing in this act shall be construed to legislation prohibiting persons from engaging in conduct that endangers others, nor to condone the diversion of marijuana for non-medical purposes. (c) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no physician in this state shall be punished, or denied any right or privilege, for having recommended marijuana to a patient for medical purposes. (d) Section 11357, relating to the possession of marijuana, and Section 11358, relating to the cultivation of marijuana, shall not apply to a patient, or to a patient s primary caregiver, who possesses or cultivates marijuana for the personal medical purposes of the patient upon the written or oral recommendation or approval of a physician. (e) For the purposes of this section, primary caregiver means the individual designated by the person exempted under this act who has consistently assumed responsibility for the housing, health, or safety of that person.
Section 2. If any provision of this measure or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, that invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of the measure which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this measure are servile. (Internet source) Although Proposition 215 is considered by many advocates to be a giant step on the path to medical legalization, a true debate over whether this nation should legalize marijuana has never been held in the American political system. Though many studies have been brought forward to reveal that marijuana can be helpful to many people, one has stood out from the rest. Mark Kleiman, an associate professor of public policy at Harvard s John F.
Kennedy School of Government, co-authored the landmark study that showed that forty-four percent of oncologists have already recommended marijuana for their patients. Kleiman, who is well known for his studies of medical marijuana, when asked to suggest a policy for marijuana, says I d propose something similar to what I ve proposed for alcohol, which is legal availability, in limited quantity, at a high price, and a personal license to use it that could be revoked for misconduct. Kleiman is just stating what poll after poll has been showing us. When asked, more than eighty-five percent of the public supports making marijuana available by doctor s perscription. In order to fully understand why marijuana is still illegal, one must look at the views of the opposition. According to Dr.
Robert L. DuPont, a physician and consultant in Rockville, Md. , and the first director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, it is easy to understand why marijuana fails as a medicine. It s smoke contains over two thousand chemicals in an unstable and unpredictable cloud. Marijuana smoke is known to be hazardous to health, causing adverse effects on the lungs and brain and on the immune and reproductive systems. But even with these side-effects withstanding would it be more dangerous for already health impaired individuals to practice marijuana as medicine?
The answer It may not be I don t think we should reject the possibility that marijuana may have some medicinal benefits. (McCaffrey 27). However, McCaffrey also argues that It (legalization of marijuana) sends a very mixed and confusing message to the young. (McCaffrey 27). I believe it sets the stage clear when such statements as above are made. McCaffrey, a retired general in the U. S.
Army, is more recently known for his work as the appointed director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Instead of spending millions of dollars on anti-marijuana campaigns, use that money to educate the public on the legitimate uses of the drug. I myself am a firm advocate for the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes. I know that if I was suffering from an ailment that caused me intolerable nausea and vomiting, I would welcome any relief from these debilitating symptoms.
For years people like James Mahoney have been risking their last days of freedom in search of relief. It is my position that, legal or not, people with such ailments will continue their use of marijuana if it offers the relief they seek. I believe that this limited legalization would not cause any further problems with abuse if properly sanctioned by such agencies as the Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Government. One must remember that marijuana will not be legalized for use by the general public, only for cases of medical necessity. Therefore, recreational users would still be held accountable under law.
Because of the narrowed scope of the legislation, there would not be an overwhelming increase in the abuse of the substance. The fact that the government must find ways to regulate cultivation and sale seems a worthwhile endeavor. There would be a tremendous improvement in the quality of life for people like my uncle Jimmy. I have used a fictitious name to protect my uncle s memory, however there is no fiction to the story of the positive effects that marijuana played in alleviating some of the misery of his last days.
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Research essay sample on Marijuana For Medical Purposes Act Of 1996
