Recently, I had a research paper for my english class. The theme of the assignment was a social issue. After looking at the list that was presented to me and my class, there was only one thing that I wanted to write about. That was medical marijuana. It is something that hits close to home for me because my father was diagnosed with a Glioblastoma Multiforme, a rare form of brain cancer, and he was prescribed marijuana to help in his treatment after other forms of care failed. It has been proven to help cancer patients, and it helped my father, so it is something that I am for. However, I was not able to express my opinion in my paper, hence my writing this. I chose the topic for other reasons too. It is something that I had some background information on, but there was still more that I wanted to know. From what I found, it made me more for it. It helps people, and there has never been a document death from its use. Marijuana’s benefits, especially in the medical field, outweigh its negatives. The drug has the following positive side effects when used:

Marijuana is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known. No one has ever died from an overdose, and it has a wide variety of therapeutic applications, including:

Relief from nausea and appetite loss;
Reduction of intraocular (within the eye) pressure;
Reduction of muscle spasms; and
Relief from chronic pain (Marijuana Policy Project).

It can help those afflicted with ailments that otherwise are not treatable with normal treatments, and with the right rules and regulations, states can offer it to patients who truly need it, and can still ban it for recreational use if they want. I do agree with the other sides argument that there needs to be some rules. Just like alcohol, marijuana is a drug, there should be an age restriction, a purchase limit, and for states that only clear it medically, there should be some type of limit to make sure it doesn’t get into the wrong hands, or someone is using it for the wrong reasons. I have seen with my own eyes what medical marijuana can do for a person who is suffering from a terminal illness, and although I wouldn’t call it a miracle drug like some do, I advocate its use for those who need it. The relief it gave to my father when he needed it was something that nothing else gave him when all other options failed.