Is Medicinal Marijuana More Beneficial or More Harmful?

Prejudices about marijuana are that “people only use it for purely the sensation” or that “you can start to develop an addiction.” Marijuana is a psychoactive drug that people can consume in many different ways. Some say it is a gateway drug which can lead to worse addictions, and there are those who use it for medical purposes. As of now, there are thirty-three states that have legalized medicinal marijuana to certain extents.  Although people are skeptical about medicinal marijuana being legalized in all states, it should be legalized because it would benefit those who: have cancer, seizures, and other medical conditions.

Patients suffer from pain, loss of appetite, nausea, and vomiting. In the academic journal, “Impact of Recreational and Medical Marijuana on Surgical Patients: A Review,” Chetna Bakshi and Allison Barrett (2019) wrote, “Cannabis-based medications were useful for treating refractory chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting” (p. 5). This is evidence that cannabis-based medication has been proven to be useful when it comes to these side effects. There have been some critiques on how people can start to become dependent on cannabis…  it would be the same case for when it comes to the intake of pain killers and other medications to treat the side effects. Patients are also prone to becoming dependent on any of the prescribed medications. Marijuana is a more natural drug with probably lesser side effects. According to another article, “How Medical Marijuana Works, and Which Conditions It Treats”, reviewed by Neil Lava (2018), “Research suggests cannabinoids might: control nausea and vomiting caused by cancer chemotherapy, kill cancer cells and slow tumor growth, stimulate appetite, and improve weight gain in people with cancer and AIDS” (p. 7). This is an indication that marijuana can be effective in most people that have to go through chemotherapy.

In most articles, the conclusion is that there should be more research done on whether marijuana can help treat symptoms or if marijuana can have harmful side effects to patients. Because there are so many against there being more research, the funding for research and testing is minimal. It would be better to fund the research to prove if using marijuana for medical purposes can be more harmful to beneficial. This would help to be able to study the effects of marijuana and see where it can be most effective in treating the patients.