Marijuana has been shown to be a useful modality for treating a number of medical conditions, including glaucoma, nausea from cancer treatment, and chronic pain from a variety of conditions including multiple sclerosis, cancer, and AIDS.
Marijuana can be used to treat a variety of chronic pain conditions for which narcotic medications have been traditionally prescribed.
The active components in the marijuana plant can be introduced into the body in a variety of ways, including the use of lotions, tinctures, food products and beverages.
In the United States, the use of medical marijuana can now be decided by individual states. This opens the door for a much larger acceptance of medical marijuana.
As the baby boomer generation who grew up with marijuana continues to age, there may be increased pressure on legislative bodies to make medical marijuana more widely available.
In most states where medical marijuana is legal, a doctor’s prescription is required. Patients who have received medical marijuana prescriptions are entered into a state registry, which must be consulted before any medicinal purchase can be made.
Proponents of medical marijuana point out that it is less harmful than narcotics and can significantly improve quality of life for a great number of people.
They argue that the legalization of medical marijuana makes a quality product available to those who need it for medical purposes without requiring them to risk dangerous and illegal activities.
Those who do not support the use of medical marijuana worry that marijuana use could be a gateway to the use of other drugs, and that legalization of medical marijuana is a Trojan Horse for legalization of marijuana for all uses.
