According to narconon.org, marijuana has been used since ancient times; the Chinese first described it in a medical reference dated back to 2737 B.C. Marijuana to them had noticeable intoxicating effects, but they saw it as a medicine for rheumatism, gout, malaria, and oddly enough, absent-mindedness. Marijuana arrived in America in the late 1800’s where some medicines in the era contained marijuana, but most were of opium or cocaine. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Narcotics saw marijuana as a “gateway” drug in the 1930’s and the Controlled Substance Act of 1970 termed marijuana along with heroin and LSD as a Schedule 1 drug. Coming directly from the DEA,” Schedule I drugs, substances, or chemicals are defined as drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. Some examples of Schedule I drugs are: heroin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), marijuana (cannabis), 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (ecstasy), methaqualone, and peyote.
That’s just a glimpse and highlights that I believe are important to marijuana’s history. The key statement mentioned was that marijuana is a schedule one drug. This makes research very difficult to occur and for the FDA to consider marijuana as a true medicine, it needs carefully conducted clinical trials of hundreds to thousands of human subjects to determine its benefits and risks. Supposedly, research has yet to prove that.
However, emerging research is being done on chemicals in the cannabis plant other than the main active ingredient which is THC. CBDs or cannabinoids are like THC but many/most all do not give the “high” you receive from THC. There are over 100 of these CBDs in the plant and research has been able to reproduce cannabis plants with little to no THC in them only CBDs. CBDs have gained a large popularity due to his help in treating certain diseases like epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS, Alzheimer’s disease, inflammation, pain, substance use disorders, and mental disorders.
With that overwhelming list only growing, how could someone vote against medical marijuana? As a society, we have accepted swallowing synthetically made pills of assortments of compounds to treat certain diseases or symptoms. Many of the pills today mimic something the body does naturally just as marijuana cannabinoids are naturally in the brain. Two endogenous cannabinoids, AEA and 2-AG are naturally produced in the human body, and medical marijuana helps work towards activating pathways that these natural endocannabinoids do on their own. Medication many times than not is simply to help either increase or decrease the amount of some molecule or compound which leads to a cascade of events relieving the symptoms. If you or someone you know has any of those diseases or conditions, you should be all for medical marijuana, as its going to be the leading medicine across all pharmaceuticals in the next couple decades.
Medicinal Marijuana Isn’t Federally Legal—Let’s Fix That
