Legalization of Marijuana for medical purposes Essays

Legalization of Marijuana for medical purposes Essays Legalization of Marijuana for medical purposes Paper Legalization of Marijuana for medical purposes Paper Proponents of legalizing cannabis for medicinal use suggest the drug could help many who currently suffer from illness and disease. Opponents of the idea assert that the legal drugs currently available provide appropriate relief from relevant symptoms. These different viewpoints have inspired spirited debates. An unbiased assessment of the drugs costs and benefits requires extensive research. Investigations must reveal the drugs ability to alleviate symptoms without creating unsatisfactory side effects. Smoked cannabis clearly helps some problems and may cost less than other medications. Synthetic cannabinoids can also alleviate symptoms of many disorders. Data suggest that cannabinoids can work well alone; they might also function effectively as part of a combination of therapies. For certain disorders, standard medications other than the cannabinoids remain the treatment of choice. Yet given the vast individual differences in reactions to medications, a few people may not improve with standard treatments and may respond better to medical cannabis. There is not enough research on most medical applications of cannabinoids to draw any firm conclusions about efficacy. Further work on marijuanas medical utility appears warranted. (Hans A. Baer, Merrill Singer, Ida Susser, 1997) Controlled studies reveal that cannabinoids can decrease pressure inside the eye for glaucoma patients, alleviate pain, reduce vomiting, enhance appetite, promote weight gain, and minimize spasticity and involuntary movement. Other work suggests additional therapeutic effects for asthma, insomnia, and anxiety. Yet only a few studies have compared cannabinoids to established treatments for these problems. Case studies and animal research suggest that the drug may also help a host of other medical and psychological conditions. These include seizures, tumors, insomnia, menstrual cramps, premenstrual syndrome, Crohns disease, tinnitus, schizophrenia, adult attention deficit disorder, uncontrollable violent episodes, post-traumatic stress disorder, and, surprisingly, drug addiction. The cases may provide enough evidence to stimulate researchers to conduct randomized clinical trials examining the impact of cannabinoids on these problems. (Erich Goode, 2001) The evidence of marijuanas effectiveness for treating each of these medical conditions appears below. Surgical Pain A more practical approach to the study of marijuanas analgesic effects involves using the drug after surgery. Studies of THC-induced analgesia after surgery report either mixed or positive results. In one study, men who needed four molars pulled had they removed in four separate sessions under four different conditions. They received placebo, diazepam (an anti-anxiety medication), and two different doses of THC prior to tooth extraction. Results were mixed. This study is often cited as evidence that THC produced no analgesia. In fact, 3 participants rated the low dose as good or excellent and preferred it to the placebo; 6 others preferred placebo to THC. The high dose of THC was the least desirable of all the treatments. The results suggest that marijuana may relieve pain for a subset of individuals but not others and then only at an optimal dose. A study of pain from trauma or surgery revealed that levonantradol, a synthetic version of THC, reduced pain more than a placebo. This evidence suggests that cannabinoids may show some promise in the treatment of acute pain, but tells little about the potential for handling more chronic conditions. (Peter J. Cohen, 2006) Headache One recurring painful condition that may benefit from cannabis treatment is headache. Migraine, a form of headache that often includes severe throbbing accompanied by disturbed vision, chills, sweating, nausea, and vomiting, can be extremely debilitating. Bright lights, loud sounds, or pungent odors can initiate the pain. Symptoms often begin with visual disturbances like seeing flashes or auras. Then sufferers feel extreme tension and fatigue. Eventually, a pulsing begins, sometimes on only one side of the head, where blood vessels outside the cranium dilate. These expanded arteries activate nerve fibers in the scalp, causing absolute agony. In the United States, roughly 23 million people suffer from these headaches. One-fourth of these individuals have at least four migraine attacks a month. Most of these people have their first severe headache before they turn 20. Productivity lost to migraine may cost up to $17. 2 billion per year. Treatments for this form of headache remain imperfect. Biofeedback, which trains people to use relaxation and imagery to change blood flow, has proven particularly helpful. With as little as eight sessions of proper therapy, people can learn to shrink the arteries or decrease the blood flow at the site of the pain, bringing meaningful relief to a headache. Several medications help alleviate symptoms for some sufferers, but fail to help 30% of people. These drugs also produce aversive side effects in up to 66% of patients. The disadvantages of these medications led some migraine sufferers to try marijuana. Physicians have prescribed cannabis for headache since as early as 1874. Advocates of the treatment protested when it was removed from the U. S. Pharmacopoeia in 1942. Marijuana may have an advantage over other painkillers, such as the opiates, because cannabis not only combats headache pain, but it also inhibits the nausea and vomiting associated with migraine. Investigators have not conducted clinical trials to support marijuanas efficacy as a headache treatment, but case reports abound. Users claim that smoking cannabis at the first sign of symptoms can combat the entire episode. Investigations on animals suggest that a specific brain region involved in migraine, the periaqueductal gray, contains many cannabinoid receptors. This basic research, coupled with the case reports, led the Institute of Medicine to suggest that further work on cannabinoids and migraine is warranted. Ideal studies could compare cannabis products to established medications to help verify the utility of the drug. If cannabinoids prove equally effective with fewer side effects and lower costs, they might make a superb addition to the available treatments for migraines. Combinations of cannabinoids and other medications might also prove particularly useful. (James R. Mcdonough, 2000) Pain Patients seek medical assistance for pain more often than any other symptom. People experience a variety of pains that include diffuse, throbbing pressures or sharp, specific aches. Entire journals devote volumes to research on pain treatment. Some therapies are quite simple and cause few side effects. For example, a mere placebo can minimize pain in 16% of surgery patients. Relatively simple behavioral interventions also decrease pain. Symptoms often vary with tension and mood. Thus, relaxation, stress reduction, and biofeedback can help significantly. Alternative treatments, like acupuncture, alleviate symptoms in some studies but not others, perhaps depending on the intensity and location of the pain. Despite the success of other treatments, pharmacological interventions remain extremely popular remedies for pain. The simplest include aspirin, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, naproxen sodium, and other over-the-counter analgesics. Americans consume over 10,000 tons of these drugs a year. They are relatively cheap, have few side effects at appropriate dosages, and work well for mild pain. Nevertheless, they all can be toxic. An aspirin overdose can damage stomach lining, liver, and kidneys. A dozen acetaminophen tablets can kill a child. Other pain killers that help severe symptoms include opiates like morphine and codeine. These work quite well even for extreme distress, inducing analgesia and an indifference to pain. People take them to recover from acute stressors like surgery. Chronic pain patients may have pumps installed in their spinal cords to release these drugs continuously. The primary drawbacks of the opiates concern their potential lethality and high liability for abuse and dependence. Opiate overdoses can be fatal. People develop tolerance quickly and often increase their doses with continued use. Withdrawal from these drugs includes extremely aversive flu-like symptoms and spastic muscle twitches. Thus, alternative pain medications with fewer problems could prove extremely helpful. An ideal analgesic would have little potential for abuse but still provide inexpensive, rapid, complete relief without side effects. No single drug has all of these qualities for treating the many types of pain. Thus, investigators have developed a multitude of analgesics. Cannabis may make a promising addition to this list. Physicians have used marijuana to alleviate pain since the beginning of the first century, when Pliny the Elder, the Roman naturalist, recommended it. The Asian surgeon Hua To used cannabis combined with alcohol as an anesthetic by 200 A. D. In modern times, clinical lore and case studies support cannabis-induced analgesia. A case study reveals that oral THC can reduce phantom limb pain- the odd, aversive sensations that seem to come from amputated body parts. Another case shows that smoked marijuana can alleviate the pain of arthritis. A third suggests a tincture of cannabis can relieve tooth and gum distress. This evidence generates intriguing hypotheses but cannot prove that effects stem from expectancy rather than genuine pharmacology. Given the dramatic impact of placebos on pain, examinations of expectancy remain extremely important. Different types of research have addressed the analgesic powers of smoked marijuana or the cannabinoids. In addition to these case studies, formal projects with larger samples also focus on this issue. These projects include tests of marijuanas painkilling effects on laboratory-induced discomfort, as well as pain from surgery, headache, and chronic illnesses like cancer. (Ralph A. Weisheit, 1996) Conclusion The future for cannabis holds many possibilities. Research on the cannabinoids and their receptors will undoubtedly continue to tell more about the human mind and body. This work could reveal additional information about the brain and immune system. Further work can test the efficacy of marijuana and the cannabinoids as medical treatments. Data on the long-term health effects of the drug could address many unanswered questions, particularly those concerning the lung and brain. Techniques may evolve to limit the drugs negative consequences, like recent efforts to develop the vaporizer to reduce noxious components of smoke. Treatments for problem users could improve. In addition, laws related to the drug may change. (Alan W. Bock, 2000) References Alan W. Bock (2000) Waiting to Inhale: The Politics of Medical Marijuana; Seven Locks, 286 pgs. Erich Goode (2001), Marijuana; Atherton, 197 pgs Hans A. Baer, Merrill Singer, Ida Susser, (1997) Medical Anthropology and the World System: A Critical Perspective; Bergin Garvey, 277 pgs. Peter J. Cohen (2006) Medical Marijuana, Compassionate Use, and Public Policy: Expert Opinion or Vox Populi? Journal article; The Hastings Center Report, Vol. 36. James R. Mcdonough (2000) Marijuana on the Ballot Journal article; Policy Review, 2000. Ralph A. Weisheit (1996) Domestic Marijuana: A Neglected Industry; Greenwood Press, 196 pgs.