Cannabinoids Research Paper

In today’s society, Marijuana (also known as Cannabis) is a highly grown controlled substance, and classified as a Schedule 1 agent. People all over the world consume marijuana either by smoking it, or by mixing it with different foods and beverages. The plant has high levels of psychoactive compounds called cannabinoids. Cannabinoids cause a drug-like effect all through the body, including the central nervous system and the immune system. The main ingredient in cannabinoids is THC. Furthermore, cannabinoids may also help treat symptoms or side effects in diseases, such as side effects during cancer treatment. However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not approved the use of Cannabis as a treatment for any medical condition. Furthermore,

According to a clinical trial by Ben Amar, “Cannabinoids present therapeutic potential as antiemetics, appetite stimulants in debilitating diseases (cancer and AIDS), analgesics, and in the treatment of multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injuries, Tourette’s syndrome, epilepsy and glaucoma. (Amar) Marijuana is a drug not as dangerous as hydrocodone, Vicodin, OxyContin, and morphine. Dr. David Walters, a physician, diagnosed with esophageal cancer, gave a testimony about Marijuana, “Specifically since my diagnosis I’ve been prescribed narcotic medicine including Bentinol morphine, Hydrocodone, and OxyContin. It’s my opinion that each of the medications has a greater abuse potential than marijuana.” (Muhammad) Drug overdose was the leading cause of injury death in 2013. There were 43,983 drug overdose deaths in the United States in 2013. Of those deaths, 22,767 (51.8%) related to prescription drugs. (Prescription Drug Overdose Data) However, there is not any trustworthy sources stating anyone has died from consuming too much marijuana. It is not a matter of stating Marijuana is not as bad as other drugs, but it does not affect people in ways that prescription drugs or alcohol do, and those are both legal. Marijuana helps patients with pain and if there is a better option to help them stabilize it than becoming dependent on prescription drugs, people should take

Since the government considers Marijuana as an illegal drug, people all over grow and sell it to make money. “In 2013 1.5 million people were arrested in the U.S. for nonviolent drug charges. Of those 1.5 million people, 693,482 people were arrested for crimes that included marijuana; 88% percent of the arrests were just from possession.” (Drug War Statistics) This does keep what people call criminals off the street; however, there are more important people the police should get off the street than those who have marijuana. For example, users and sellers of methamphetamine, cocaine, or heroin. In addition, all of those people wouldn’t be arrested for having marijuana, which drops crime rate. If marijuana is legal people would not have to get it from private illegal sellers. Therefore, people will have better and less life threatening access to it. For example, an article in 2013, by Christina Sarich states, “Denver is enjoying a 14.6% decrease in property crime, and violent crime is down 2.4%.” (Sarich) The state of Colorado is one of the four states to legalize it recreationally. Legalizing marijuana won’t stop crime altogether, even with marijuana; however, it drops the number of people serving time in jail or prison, as well as, it stops people from being beaten over it. The police force can pay more attention to more violent drug