Marijuana Should Not Be Considered as a Lethal Drug

Marijuana Should Not be Considered As a Lethal Drug

In out society drugs are considered to be addictive and lethal. People tend to abuse drugs regardless of their side effects. In many cases government agencies regulate their use. Also there are drugs that are illegal to use, produce and sale. One of those illegal drugs is marijuana. For thousands of years, marijuana has been used to treat a wide variety of sickness. It became illegal in 1937 under The Marijuana Stamp Tax Act. This act prohibits the use, sale and growing of marijuana. It was made illegal because no one understood why smoking marijuana made people feel the way they did and because appropriate researches had not been conducted about it. Though marijuana remains illegal today and considered to be dangerous, it is known to be a cure for many health problems. It is known for a fact that marijuana is considerably less harmful than tobacco and alcohol. Furthermore it has never caused anyone’s death. Marijuana is being compared with crack and heroin, which are very addictive and known to cause death. Therefore marijuana should not be considered a lethal drug.

Even though marijuana is considered lethal, it is known for it’s effective use in healing and preventing pain. However it’s use is not conformed by government agencies such as Drug Enforcement Administration. DEA placed marijuana in Schedule I, defining it as having a high potential for abuse, no currently medical use in treatment and a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision. Though the DEA and other agencies deny its use, the federal government allows seven individuals to use marijuana for medical purposes. Marijuana can reduce the nausea, vomiting and loss of appetite caused by the HIV virus and by the various AIDS medications given to patients. Glaucoma patients use marijuana to reduce the pressure formed in the eye, thereby alleviating the pain and sometimes stopping the progress of the condition. Marijuana can stimulate the appetite and alleviate nausea and vomiting, which are common side effects of chemotherapy treatment. It can reduce the muscle pain caused by multiple sclerosis. (Multiple Sclerosis is the leading cause of neurological disability among young and middle-aged adults in the United States.) It can also relieve migraine pains. I believe that some of these might not be true or associated with side effects; marijuana should be classified as a non-lethal medicine.

Unfortunately marijuana is being compared with lethal drugs, such as crack, heroin, LSD, and PCP, which are very bad and can have a fatal effect on the human body. However no one has ever died from smoking or ingesting marijuana. In fact, it is estimated, though not proven, that to receive a fatal dose from marijuana, one would have to smoke one hundred pounds per minute for fifteen minutes. On the other hand, consuming crack or the other bad drugs, one can overdose or die from them on the first try. Also those dangerous drugs are very addictive to the human body. The effects of marijuana last about an hour depending on the person’s ability to sober up. Other drugs such as LSD take about eleven hours; alcohol takes an hour for every drink one has, and heroin and cocaine last for hours. So one could smoke marijuana and in about an hour or two be capable of driving.

The fact that drugs are legal and sold at the convenient store does not mean they are safe to use. Alcohol and tobacco,