Legalizing medical marijuana may seem to be a big deal to most people, but to those with illnesses, it may give them a new beginning. The use of medical marijuana helps those with depression and pain in many ways and can be quite a relief. Medical marijuana should be legalized to give those with incurable diseases a second chance at a normal life and to ease chronic pain. Marijuana is safer to consume than most pain-relieving drugs. Taking this drug would be quite simple as there are many ways to take it, and marijuana has been proven to help those who suffer from disease. 

Medical marijuana should be legalized in order for those with incurable diseases to have a second chance at life. Studies have been conducted to see how medical marijuana can help with certain diseases. With the research that doctors have been able to perform, medical marijuana has seen amazing results in patients with cancer. Although it can not cure those with cancer, medical marijuana has been proved to work for those that have that chronic pain and other side effects that come with taking chemo. It has been seen helping the best with loss of appetite, vomiting, and nausea in those who are taking chemo. An oncologist by the name of Donald Abrams says “I tell them, ‘ Go to the dispensary, tell them what you’re trying to treat and asks what works best.’ ” He also said, “There is no doubt in my mind that it is working for these people.” (Harrar)

Most drugs that people see in the world today are taken in the form of a pill. Yet 20-40% of people no matter what age are unable to swallow pills(Ellin). With that being said, medical marijuana can be taken in many different forms rather than just by pill. The most common way it can be taken is by smoking or vaping it which is quicker than the alternative which would be taking edibles or cooking it into the food you may be eating. Some medical marijuana can be taken in oil form as well but it is not used in too many cases. By smoking or inhaling, it digests into your system quicker than eating an edible or swallowing a pill which takes a significantly longer amount of time to get into your system and treat the issues you may be having. By having a variety of ways to take it, it can accommodate people’s needs if they are not able to swallow pills in which most drugs are produced.

Along with being easier to ingest, medical marijuana seems to be safer than taking other drugs. Opioids are one of the main drugs that you see used today as painkillers, but medical marijuana has been proven to not only work faster and longer but to have less of a chance to become abused by the user.  Opioids can be a very addictive drug and can be easy to overdose on if you do not pay close attention. With medical marijuana, you would need to consume approximately 1,500 lbs within 15 minutes to overdose which is nearly impossible (Pensacola Wellness, 2018). Drugs in our world today tend to have a lot of dangerous side effects mostly addiction, or just problems caused with your organs. With that,  medical marijuana does have side effects, however, these side effects are much less dangerous. If you do start to contract any negative side effects your dosage can be changed to prevent anything from getting worse  (Pensacloa Wellness, 2018).

Medical marijuana has also been tested with those who are suffering from PTSD( Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). Even with the limited research they were able to conduct, it seems as though the area it was most helpful in was anxiety and trouble sleeping at night. It really seems to be helping with severe anxiety that patients are having and seems that it can help replace the bad traumatic memories that patients may be having with new better ones. The cb1 receptors that are found in your brain are in control of regulating and storing the memories you have. In patients with PTSD, they seem to think that marijuana is helping with a process called extinction learning which trains your brain to not react to certain memories that you have and associate the memories with something more bright and less frightening (Medical Marijuana Treatment Clinics of Florida). Specialists have seen cases where medical marijuana has helped these fearful memories not to arise any longer.

Legalizing medical marijuana is not just going to help one specific aspect of people’s injuries or diseases they may have, as opposed to most drugs that target one specific part of an ailment or whatever you may be taking the drug for (Pensacola Wellness, 2018). Medical marijuana helps with just a lot of things from cancer even down to small things like headaches or even just restless sleeping at night. With other drugs or pills, it can take a multiplicity of them to try and treat the few ailments you may have. Like was stated before, medical marijuana can help so many different people with so many different things so those people who are taking so many pills every day can just use the medical marijuana and it may help treat all the symptoms. As well as most pills you need to be on a schedule with them and take them only at certain times of the day but with this, you can pretty much just take it when you are in pain under the certain restrictions that your doctor has given you. 

Upon considering all of the facts, medical marijuana has shown to be more beneficial and medicinally better to use rather than drugs like opioids. It has been seen helping those with diseases and easing people’s pain so that they may have a better and more comfortable life. Unlike many other drugs out there it seems to just be way more efficient in how it’s helping people and also more accommodating to people’s needs. With the legalization of medical marijuana, America can give those with incurable diseases not only a second chance at a normal life but also decrease the chronic pain and different trauma so many struggle with.

Works Cited

Clinics, Florida. “PTSD and Medical Marijuana.” MMTC, 6 Sept. 2021, mmtcfl.com/ptsd/.

Harrar, Sari. “What Conditions Can Medical Marijuana Help Treat?” AARP, 3 Sept. 2019, aarp.org/health/drugs-supplements/info-2019/cannabis-for-medical-conditions.html.

Wellness, Pensacola. “Medical Marijuana vs. Prescription Drugs.” Pensacola Wellness Solutions, 10 Aug. 2018, pensacolawellness.com/medical-marijuana-vs-prescription-drugs/. 

Ellin, Abby. “Can’t Swallow a Pill? There’s Help for That - Well.” Can't Swallow a Pill? There's Help for That, 21 Sept. 2015, well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/09/21/cant-swallow-a-pill-theres-help-for-that/.