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Medical marijuana is legal in some states, but federal laws and state laws are still at odds over the issue. According to a recent article in Fortune magazine, over half of U.S. states have legalized or are considering legalizing the medical use of pot, but the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, National Institute of Drug Abuse, and U.S. Food and Drug Administration all say that marijuana doesn’t have a currently accepted medical use. In the past, this meant that providers were subject to raids by the federal government, and couldn’t use state laws to defend their crimes in court, but under a new act signed by Obama in February, the federal government is no longer able to perform raids on state dispensaries. The Fortune article focuses on the business side of legalizing pot, but we want to know: Do you think it should be legal?
Plenty of people are skeptical — Lee Gerdes, a brain development specialist, argues that states can gain more from legalization than patients: “States like California can grow it to help reduce their taxes, and sell it in order to create an opportunity for medical use. It’s okay that it lives in fat cells for ten years and builds up; it’s okay that in so doing that it destroys one’s ability to sequentially process.” His skepticism was palpable as we spoke to him about the pros and cons of the drug. (See more of Gerdes’ thoughts on how drugs and supplements affect the brain.)
Many say marijuana alleviates chronic pain and disease (including cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, those diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and patients with nerve pain caused by AIDS), but doctors are also free to prescribe the meds for mild symptoms like headaches and PMS.
Where do you stand in the debate? Pick a side:
via Fortune
I can’t believe this is EVEN A QUESTION!?!?!?!?!? I would LITERALLY be dead without marijuana. I was (well I still am, but I manage it with cannabis) wasting away from an ailment that made me nauseas and ill EVERY DAY for FOUR YEARS. I was 70 pounds and malnourished because I couldn’t keep any food in my stomach. Cannabis, and no not medical cannabis, just weed, Saved. My. Life. And improved my quality of life more than any western medicine ever did for me. What bullshit propaganda there is in this world that such a beneficial plant with almost NO side effects is illegal. I feel bad for all of the me’s in this world, and the terminally ill cancer patients who CAN’T GET WEED TO MAKE THEM FEEL BETTER FOR THE LAST MONTHS OF THEIR LIVES.
yeah , thats right . i agree !
People against pot amuse me. They come from years of brainwashing by all the anti-drug ads we have grown up with since we were kids. I am in my late 40′s, smoke pot, am a successful professional, exercise, eat right and live life to its fullest. I neglect neither my girlfriend, kids, job or friends. The stereotypes you have been brainwashed to believe are not true. Alcohol, tobacco, pharmacuticals, and most junk food are much more harmful than pot, yet they are somehow legal.
In fact, I have become more successful, happy and well adjusted since starting to smoke pot again in my early 40′s. I do days and weeks without smoking and suffer no side affects. If you think pot should be outlawed, then tobacco, alcohol, and most pharmacuticals should be outlawed too, because they are more destructive to your body than pot…
Marijuana is GOD’S GIFT of RELAXATION to us from him…it should be legal and FREE…. in the wild free,fast and easily replenished
yeah , its bring happiness to someone who used it.
It may make sense to accept the damage that a drug (legal or not) can do to us if we are in a terminal state, but the consequences of making such substances legal and available to all would be the wrong move. It’s not the right choice for every terminal patient either. Even if I’m in a free fall to earth with no chute, I would rather have the brain power to pull a MacGyver than drug myself and find that saving my own life was no more than an afterthought. I want the best of my brain and body if I’m faced with the fight of my life against a formidable disease.
You sound like someone who has never smoked pot and, therefore, does not know how it actually affects the body and mind.
You would better educate yourself about cannabis effects over the human body and then comment. There is plenty of info on internet !!!
The pills that you are taking right now for your headaches are in fact dangerous drugs… more dangerous than cannabis ! Don`t let yourself fooled by government`s propaganda… pills are the worst drugs and their only purpose is to give you one more day in plus in order to make you pay for next day of your pathetic life.
Nature has all the medicines that we need and cannabis is one of them !
This is such a silly issue. People keep asking, “why should we legalize it?” This is America; that’s not the question you ask. You need a good reason to make something illegal. Considering it shares many characteristics with other legal, yet harmful, substances, it should be legal. You don’t need a reason to legalize something, you need a reason to outlaw something.