Marijuana is a recreational drug that contains naturally occurring psychoactive cannabinoids, which are found to provide therapeutic properties. In the U.S., marijuana is classified as a Schedule I drug, which according to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), means that it has no medical use and has potentially easy abuse. However, the same risks appear with ever other drug on the market. Today, there exists a large controversy over legalizing the medicinal usage of marijuana. Those against this legalization, claim marijuana is a harmful drug with no obvious benefits but to others, marijuana is seen as a great medication. Yet, if one thinks about it, the same debate applies for most medications. Drugs can be used for medicinal purposes …show more content…
Demetrius J. Porche explains the many benefits of the usage of medical marijuana for the treatment of conditions such as nausea, pain control, loss of appetite, seizures, etc.. Medicinal marijuana usage is closely monitored by primary care providers (PCPs) and is given in the forms of capsules or a vaporized THC. Also, no lasting effects have been found with the medicinal use of marijuana. There are many other drugs of abuse that are a lot more harmful than the medicinal use of marijuana (i.e., alcohol, narcotics, valium, typical and atypical antipsychotics). Nevertheless, these more harmful drugs are legalized in the U.S. and alcohol does not even require a prescription. As an example of how these drugs are more harmful, researchers tested depressant drugs (i.e., alcohol) and antidepressant drugs in several studies done on rats. The first study involved the use of a forced swim test. The Forced Swim Test is referred to as an animal behavioral model of depression, which measures the length of time an animal will swim in a cylinder of water. The forced swim test stems from information by Porsolt and colleagues (1977) in which shows the effective screening of clinically confirmed antidepressant drugs from non-antidepressant drugs. During this test, a rat is placed within a cylinder of water in which escape from the situation from swimming is determined