Franny Papantonakis
Eng. 101.A03
Essay 2 Final Essay
Benefits of Medical Marijuana
In the documentary “Medical Cannabis and its impact on Human Health”, Doctors explain great reasons why medical marijuana should be legalized and how it’s very helpful to the body. Throughout the documentary it states that taking medical marijuana for health related issues can be beneficial and very effective. Unlike prescription drugs, marijuana is natural and is grown all over the world. Marijuana also known as cannabis are the dried leaves and flowers of a hemp plant. When ingested, it can help the body by treating a wide variety of medical related issues. Marijuana has been used for centuries, not only for recreational purpose but a main source in making paper as well. Most importantly marijuana has been used all over the world in treating people with different medical conditions. People seem to question whether legalizing marijuana will be good, and as stated in this documentary, it will have many positive effects. Facts are clearly presented that the use of marijuana is very beneficial. From treating different illnesses such as glaucoma and epilepsy or from stopping cancer cells from spreading, marijuana is known to be a miracle drug. In my opinion medical marijuana is a wonder drug.
Medical marijuana has been proven to be a successful treatment for Glaucoma. Glaucoma is an eye condition which the optic nerve becomes damaged, and over time vision is reduced which soon leads to blindness. This happens when the IOP (intraocular pressure) is higher than normal. Studies show that smoking marijuana lowered the IPO of people with glaucoma. Research shows that the active ingredient in marijuana, THC, is a compound that reacts positively with IPO in reducing the pressure. There are other options for treating glaucoma, but they can loss their effectiveness over time, marijuana is a more effective treatment and patients can control it on their own. I think that the facts of the studies speak for themselves.
There are a number of neurological conditions that medical marijuana is helpful in controlling. One condition is Epilepsy. The documentary showed the story of a young girl named Charlotte, that suffered from Epilepsy. She was having up to 300 seizures a week and has been to numerous doctors and was prescribed different medications that didn’t seem to work. The medications made her unable to eat or talk and she still continued having seizures. Charlottes father heard about medical marijuana and how it use to alleviate some symptoms of certain diseases, so they had decided to give it a try. After her first dose, Charlottes seizures had subsided tremendously from own over three hundred seizures a week to only one a week. Not only did it control the seizures but she was now able to talk, laugh and eat on her own. I think that it had a positive reaction to her disease.