Post date: Mar 14, 2016 1:29:34 PM
Ima Student
Mr. Woodall
American Literature
7 March 2016
Easing Access to Medical Marijuana
In 2000 my Aunt Brenda was dying of leukemia. Shortly before she moved out of her condominium and into hospice care, I went to help her pack and to take some things she wanted me to have. While we were in her room, she said, “Look in my nightstand. There’s a plastic bag in there. Take it out and pour what’s in it in the toilet and flush it.” Opening the drawer, I found a sandwich bag with dry, crushed leaves in it.
“Is this what I think it is?” I asked.
“Yep. Wendell got it for me. I tried it a couple of times, and it helped with the nausea. I was able to eat better, but I won’t need it anymore now that I’ve stopped treatments.”
Should my uncle Wendell, Brenda’s youngest brother, have had to risk arrest to help his big sister be more comfortable while undergoing chemotherapy? Should my aunt have been placed in the position of having an illegal substance in her house during the last weeks of her life, risking a potential run-in with the law? Marijuana has been proven to have beneficial medical effects, and lawmakers should act to make it available, with strict controls and safeguards in place, to those who can legitimately benefit from its medicinal effects.
The serious discussion of the use of marijuana for medical purposes began with the 1999 publication of the Institute of Medicine’s report on medical marijuana, a report that “concluded that marijuana possessed medicinal properties to treat and control pain and to stimulate appetite” (Armentano 1). Since that time, other studies have been conducted that show “inhaled cannabis can significantly reduce hard-to-treat neuropathic pain in patients with HIV and spinal cord injury” (Armentano 1). The science is clear: marijuana has a place in the treatment of some victims of serious injury and illness. If government’s role is to assist citizens, why should our legislators persist in denying relief to some suffering Americans?
(And here I’d include more argument for why medical marijuana should be available)
One of the worries regarding the availability of medical marijuana is the potential for abuse by those who do not have a legitimate medical issue. Bill Croke, a writer for the American Spectator, describes how a doctor in Montana screened 150 patients in one day, seeing one patient every six minutes to determine their eligibility for medical marijuana. No medical records were required—just a complaint of a chronic medical condition and the doctor’s fee (1). There is no doubt that this allows for abuse of the law and its intent, but it seems likely that most of those “patients” are not concerned about the legality of the drug and would find a way to procure it anyway, illegally, if Montana had not legitimized its medical use. Should governments, local or national, prohibit those who can genuinely experience pain relief and an improved quality of life from having legal access to marijuana because of those who will find a way to abuse the system?
The issue of marijuana is, no doubt, a complex one, but the promise of relief for those who are dealing with unmitigated pain should overshadow the doubts about the implementation of plans that legalize the drug for medical use. Otherwise law-abiding citizens like my dying Aunt Brenda should not be forced to break the law as they seek to make their lives—or the final days of them—bearable. Encourage your legislators to consider the needs of their constituents who suffer painful chronic or terminal illnesses when the issue of medical marijuana comes up for a vote.
Works Cited
Armentano, Paul. "Marijuana Should Be Regulated Like Other Prescription Medicines." Medical
Marijuana. Ed. Noël Merino. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2011. Current Controversies. Rpt. from "Medical Marijuana Has Come of Age: Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of a Landmark Scientific Study." Reason.com. 2009. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 11 Mar. 2016.
Croke, Bill. "Legal Medical Marijuana Has Caused Problems for Local Communities." Medical
Marijuana. Ed. Noël Merino. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2011. Current Controversies.
Rpt. from "High Under the Big Sky." American Spectator (2 June 2010). Opposing
Viewpoints in Context. Web. 11 Mar. 2016.