Bud Essay, Research Paper
Should Cannabis Sativa, also known as marijuana, be legalized in the United States of America? Many people think the answer to this question is yes, although others think it should stay illegal. There are many points on both sides of this controversial issue. There are many groups are on both sides of the line that have strong feelings about what they stand for.
The dominant fear about marijuana in the 20th century has been that its effects were somehow similar to the dangerously addictive effects of opiates such as morphine and heroin. Scientists feared that, like opiates, it had an extremely high potential for abuse and addiction. This is why the laws in the United States forbid possessing marijuana.
Many people who think marijuana should stay illegal think it causes brain damage. This thought is untrue. There are three types of brain damage. Marijuana causes none of these three brain damages.
The first one, cerebral injury, is developed by a blow to the head. The person may be stunned, in a daze, or may become unconscious for a moment. This is usually known as a concussion. Fortunately, this does not leave any permanent damage. This does not happen when people consume marijuana.
The second type of brain disorder is Brain-Stem damage. If one were to have this, there are several symptoms that can occur. Such as: a loss in appetite, extraordinary thirst with excessive urination, and failure in body temperature-a very low temperature and last but not least uncontrolled anger or aggression. However, if one were to smoke marijuana he usually develops a big appetite, does not develop excessive urination, and his body temperature remains at the regular 98.6 degrees. If any similarly, a marijuana smoker does develop thirst, but so does a runner, regular smokers, alcoholics and last but not least any hospital patient. Also when one smokes marijuana he develops a sense of laziness, mellowness, and sleepiness, not like alcoholic who acts crazy and hyper. The only time when a marijuana abuser may develop anger or aggression is if he has no money to pay for a joint!
.The last type of brain disorder is known as a stroke. A stroke historically known as apoplexy occurs when a major artery in the brain is blocked. This blockage may be caused by blood clot, a compression of a blood vessel, or a rupture of the vessel that is accompanied by bleeding. There have only been five cases of people who developed a blood clot by smoking marijuana. However, three out of the five were also heavy consumers of alcohol. The remaining two were regular marijuana smokers. They developed their tumors after smoking marijuana at least once a day for thirty-one years. If you calculate it out for one individual, it comes out to be 22,630 joints of marijuana. That is a lot of marijuana they both consumed!
So the answer to the question, does marijuana cause brain damage? No, but it can alter functions of the body. It effects the perception of time. It upsets motor coordination, causing unsteady hands, a change in gait, uncontrolled laughter, and a lag between thought and facial expressions. Sexual functions can also be disturbed. Short-term memory deteriorates. In early stages of the use of marijuana, some users will suffer from nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Most users may find that when they are high the whites of their eyes and facial skin become red, and the pupils dilate and become sensitive to light, increase in appetite, and a dryness in the mouth and throat. They might also have a difficulty remembering things that just happened, have slow thinking, and have a short attention span.
In some countries, where marijuana is legal, they use it for medical purposes. In second century China they use it as an anesthetic, for cooling temperatures, and clearing blood. In Thailand they used it for the treatment of migraines, and dizzy spells. They also used it to relax before bedtime. The Vietnamese use marijuana to eliminate blood loss and for gynecological purposes.
Many people want to legalize marijuana in the United States for medical purposes. Another potential medical use of marijuana is to control spasm. Spasms are usually caused by stroke, cerebral palsy, and multiple sclerosis. It is also caused by spinal cord damage from automobile accidents, athletic injuries, violence, and combat. Spasms affect over one million Americans. Sometimes, muscles can become permanently contracted if the spasms are chronic. As of now, there is no effective surgery or medicine to treat spasms. Neurosurgery does not eliminate spasms. Drugs for spasms are not that effective and usually have many side effects. For these reasons marijuana should be studied more because it proving to be very effective with few or no side effects.
It could also be used to help cancer patients. When being treated for cancer many patients get chemotherapy. When on chemotherapy patients tend to vomit. Marijuana helps these patients stop vomiting if given the doseage of THC before the chemotherapy.
There are many uses for marijuana, and many are unexplored. Actually, some are explored in depth because of interest, and others are left behind. There are probably many other uses that have not been found because of the lack of experimentation on the drug as a whole. If the drug is legalized, there will be much more research done on the drug, and hopefully the drug will begin to be approved for use.
Is marijuana as bad as other drugs? When compared to tobacco it is worse and better, it all depends on how you look at it. The marijuana smoke impairs lung functions more than tobacco smoke. But on the other hand most marijuana smokers smoke two or three joints a day whereas people who smoke cigarettes smoke 20-40 cigarettes in the same period of time. The long-term effects of both are about the same.
When compared to alcohol, marijuana is a lot better for them body. Alcohol depletes the body of certain vitamins and minerals, causing an unsteady diet. It can also damage the liver. Although the effects of driving under the influence of marijuana may seem harmful, the fact still stands clear that drunk drivers cause more accidents than people on any other drug. People under the influence of marijuana cause very few accidents.
In conclusion I would like to say that marijuana has good and bad effects. Many people want it to stay illegal, while others want it to be legal. I think people should be able to choose for themselves what they do with their lives, and what they put in there bodies. If you chose to use marijuana that is your choice and noone should be able to take that away from you.