Medical Mariguana

The use of medical marijuana has been a controversial issue in the United States for a large part of the last decade. In 1994 a bill was passed through both houses in California which would allow the medicinal use of marijuana in critically ill patients; however the bill was vetoed by Governor Wilson. The following year a similar bill was created which protected both the patient and the doctor whom prescribed the marijuana therapy, but again Wilson axed the bill when it landed on his desk. The supporters of medicinal marijuana changed their approach. The 1996 ballot contained Initiative Prop 215 which passed, leaving Wilson with his hands tied. Despite wide federal disapproval prop 215 has helped thousands of severally ill people face their dieses and comfort them in a time of agony and despair.

The marijuana plant has been used for thousands of years for a multiple of purposes. Hemp was used for making ropes, paper, clothing and curing or improving several different aliments. At first it was used to ease nausea and vomiting but as time passed scientists discovered more applications for its unique effect. It's most common use is in the treatment of chemotherapy patients. An average chemotherapy patient will return home feeling violently ill and have a severely suppressed appetite. Marijuana is the most effective drug at making the nausea disappear and at bring back one's appetite. It's the same situation with people who suffer from HIV or AIDS. Marijuana allows the person to ingest food which contains the vitamins and minerals that will ultimately help them heal or in an HIV/AIDS case prolong their current health status. In people that suffer from Glaucoma, marijuana lowers the unbearable pressure that mounts in their eyes. Marijuana helps to relieve brain tumors and prevents any further loss of muscle coordination in Multiple Sclerosis patients along with temporarily relieving of urinary incontinence and helping them sleep more efficiently. Marijuana also helps with inflammation and prevents the destruction of joint tissue in arthritis patients. Migraine headaches, menstrual cramps and rare cases of phantom limb pain are all made more tolerable with the proper use of marijuana. There are five main therapeutic uses for marijuana: 1 analgesia (pain killer), 2 neuralgic / 3 movement disorders (MS and epilepsy), 4 Nausea/ vomiting (associated with chemotherapy), and 5 appetite stimulation (chemotherapy patients, anorexia and AIDS). These five therapeutic uses of marijuana were the foundation of prop 215.

Throughout California a doctor may recommend the usage of marijuana to a patient when there is no possible substitute and it will greatly improve the quality of the patient’s life by easing the suffering. The patient, the doctor and the primary caregiver are exempt form laws pertaining to the recommendation, use, cultivation and possession of marijuana. Proposition 215 is left fairly vague and undefined which has caused the government and the opponents to question the validity and motives behind prop 215.

"Cancer, anorexia, aids, chronic pain, glaucoma, arthritis, migraine or any illness for which marijuana provides relief" this is just one statement out of prop 215 that denotes elusiveness and leaves it open to different interpretations. One could assumedly ask a doctor for a marijuana prescription for his back pain or tooth ache and by definition it falls under "any illness". Ambiguities are prevalent throughout prop 215; it uses word like physician and caregiver. It does not define a physician as one who holds a degree in medicine which leaves the door open for chiropractors and practitioners to be able to prescribe marijuana. This vagueness is clearly what gets prop 215 in trouble. It is questioned with great suspicion if the supporters meant to leave so many loop holes in their "quest" to provide the sick medical marijuana.

The reaction of the Clinton administration after prop 215 passed stated that prop 215 would not change the government's stance on drug policies. While Barry McCaffrey, appointed drug czar, warned that the federal government would prosecute patients using medicinal marijuana along with the physicians who recommending it's use. The government took a strong position against prop 215 basing it on the rational that marijuana is addictive and a gateway to other drugs such as heroin and cocaine. It is theorized that the government took this stance not because they believed medicinal marijuana doesn't have value but on grounds of looking "soft" on drugs which makes them look week and a target for criticism. The supporters of prop 215