On July 30, 2001, the 'Narcotic Control Regulation' was amended and the 'Marijuana Medical Access Regulation' came into force. This sparked the beginning of a heated national debate, the subject in question being the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes in Canada. While marijuana is still considered an illegal substance in Canada, it is approved for use under certain circumstances. It is available for applicants who have a terminal illness with a prognosis of a life span of less than 12 months, those who suffer from specific symptoms associated with certain serious medical conditions, or those who have symptoms associated with a serious medical circumstance, where conventional treatments have failed to relieve symptoms (Health Canada, "Medical Marijuana").
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Due to previous stigmatizations associated with marijuana use, as well as its previous legal implications, public favor was not in support for the recent Bill C-17; a Bill for cannabis law reform in Canada, which was passed on November 1, 2004. The legislation allows a person to have up to 30 grams of marijuana in their possession, within limitations, while only receiving a fine (Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy, "Cannabis Law Reform in Canada"). This Act is the closest the Canadian government has ever before come toward legalizing marijuana. It is becoming increasingly apparent that through Bill C-17, there will be potentially beneficial monetary implications for the federal government, false social perceptions will lessen, and medical benefits of cannabis use will become further appreciated. In the future, marijuana use will not be perceived as the social 'evil' it once was, or still is. In light of the following information, it will become clear that it is not necessary to prohibit marijuana use, but rather to regulate it.
To drug policy reformers, prohibition of marijuana is not just a cause to be supported, but a mandatory way of life, necessary to uphold society's moral fiber. These activists do not consider marijuana to be safe. Even when scientific information supports the lack of harmful effects of cannabis on the body; many still categorize it with dangerous substances such as cocaine or heroin. It is these 'marijuana myths' that continue to influence the opinions of so many Canadian citizens, even though there is a lack of fact-driven information to support common social stigma.
A widespread belief amongst the public is that marijuana is a 'gateway drug', leading to the use of more harmful substances. Never has there been a consistent relationship between the use patterns of various lsd bestellen drugs. While marijuana use has fluctuated over the years, harder, more addictive drug use, such as LSD, remains the same. In fact, in 1999 less than 16% of high school students who smoked marijuana report trying cocaine (qtd. in Zimmer, 2). Another frequent misconception is that high levels of marijuana use can be profoundly addicting. While lab rats that are injected with THC and then given a cannabinoid receptor-blocker do experience some withdrawal symptoms, such as disturbed sleep and loss of appetite, humans are never given 'blockers'. THC slowly leaves the human system, causing no serious withdrawal (Zimmer et al. 47). A study such as this is not relevant to physical addiction in humans.
Lastly, many people still believe that the damaging effects of smoking marijuana are greater then that of smoking tobacco products. Although, except for their psychoactive ingredients, tobacco and marijuana smoke are nearly identical, tobacco use is far more dangerous than the latter. Mainly because of nicotine (cigarettes' addictive quality), cigarette smokers tend to smoke 10 cigarettes a day, while regular cannabis smokers smoke fewer than 5 (Zimmer et al. 62). Marijuana smoke also effects the lungs in a different way than tobacco smoke does. "The nature of the marijuana-induced changes were also different, occurring primarily in the lungs' large airways - not the small peripheral airways affected by tobacco smoke. Since it is small-airway inflammation that causes chronic bronchitis and emphysema, marijuana smokers may not develop these diseases" (Zimmer et al. 64).
These are just a few basic examples of the social stigmatization surrounding marijuana use, as there are many others. When closer examined, none of these 'myths' provide a solid foundation for the prohibition of marijuana use; therefore its ban remains unfounded.
There is so much debate on the subject of medical Marijuana that one could begin to believe that there are still questions about whether or not the Drug is even harmful.
But it has been known and well documented for many years that marijuana is a harmful drug and not one major American health organization accepts crude marijuana as medicine.
The fact that this debate is still being carried on in the media is no accident. So much pro marijuana information has made it into mainstream society that, according to recent surveys, children of today do not view marijuana to be as dangerous as did children of twenty years ago. It actually appears to young people and adults that the question of whether or not marijuana is harmful is undecided.
I deliver drug abuse prevention lectures in schools from third grade through college and often hear the question, "What is the story with medical marijuana?" Although that question is regarded as complex, the answer actually is rather simple.
All drugs can be toxic and are potentially dangerous. Doctors and pharmaceutical companies are aware of this. This is why the proper dosages are clearly printed on the labels of prescription bottles.
Physicians know that drugs do not really cure the patient; the body cures itself. Sometimes the body is too slow or does not even recognize the illness. In many of these cases a drug can help the body to overcome the ailment.
Even more often, drugs are used not to cure at all, but to ease the symptoms of disease.
But all drugs produce effects other than those intended-side effects. So the task is to weigh the potential gain of a particular medication against its unwanted or damaging side effects.
The government body which approves or disapproves drugs for use in the United States is the Food and Drug Administration.
The US FDA has never approved marijuana for any use.
Marijuana is a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act. Schedule I drugs are classified as having a high potential for abuse, no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States and lack of accepted safety for use even under medical supervision. Other Schedule I drugs include Cocaine, Heroin and LSD.
Of the more than 400 chemicals in raw marijuana, only one is the reason for the uproar, Delta-9 tetra-hydro cannabinol (THC). Studies have shown that THC is a neurotoxin. A neurotoxin is a substance that damages or impairs the functions of nerve tissue.
The benefits claimed by the proponents of medical marijuana include relief of nausea due to cancer chemotherapy and reduction of intraocular (inside the eye), pressure due to glaucoma. However, approved and effective medications to relieve these symptoms have been available for quite some time.
There is an approved drug called Marinol that is not smoked, which contains synthetic THC and can be taken in more controlled doses. By taking Marinol rather than smoking marijuana, the patient avoids many toxic chemicals that are the products of combustion in smoking. But even with Marinol the manufacturer warns of side effects that include paranoid reaction, drowsiness, and abnormal thinking.
The short and long term effects of marijuana use include:
Are any FDA-approved medications smoked?
No. Smoking is generally a poor way to deliver medicine. It is difficult to administer safe, regulated dosages of medications by smoking. Additionally the harmful chemicals and carcinogens that are byproducts of smoking create entirely new health problems.
According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), someone who smokes five joints per week may be taking in as many cancer-causing chemicals as may someone who smokes a full pack of cigarettes per day. Smoking one marijuana cigarette deposits about four times as much tar into the lungs as a filtered Tobacco cigarette.
Marijuana's negative effects also last well beyond the initial use. THC is lipophilic, meaning the chemical is fat-bonding and remains stored inside a person's body for weeks, months and possibly even years after use ceases.
In our drug rehabilitation centers, we are faced daily with the ravaging effects of drug abuse. Those who come in to our programs did not start on drugs yesterday; they traveled down a long road and made many wrong turns to get to the point of needing our help. The effort that is required to help these addicts at that point is monumental. Nearly all of them started down the road of addiction by first using marijuana, tobacco or alcohol. The "gateway effect" is real.
The deadliest side effect of medical marijuana is the message being sent to our kids, the lie that marijuana use is safe.
So it is imperative that we do not send that message. We must do our jobs to educate them as to the real facts and trust them to make the right decision.