Essay Example on In a few years or more cannabis will replace Opioids

In a few years or more cannabis will replace opioids as the new analgesic drug Cannabis and opioids are both known for their analgesic pain relieving effects Though unlike opioids cannabis is classified by the FDA as a schedule 1 drug This makes the medicinal effects of cannabis more difficult for scientists to study any potential medical uses since human medical trials require permissions from federal agencies like the Department of Health and Human Services the FDA and when it comes to illegal substances the DEA However opioids are highly addictive Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that During 1999 2008 overdose death rates sales and substance abuse treatment admissions related to OPR all increased substantially Paulozzi L J et al 2011 p 1487 From this report opioids can be categorized as a double edged drug Double edged are drugs that has or can have both positive and negative effects Medical marijuana should be federally legalized in the United States because of its medicinal effects and ability to replace double edged drugs yet would be detrimental to society s youth because of its addictive and mind altering properties Cannabinoids are chemicals related to delta 9 tetrahydrocannabinol widely known as THC THC is marijuana s main mind altering ingredient 

Its benefits include health benefits safety comparisons and memory benefits One such is appetite stimulation More than half of the patients with advanced cancer experience lack of appetite or weight loss and they consistently rank anorexia as one of the most troublesome symptoms Anorexia might ultimately lead to weight loss which is an important risk factor for morbidity and mortality in cancer For instance according to the lead author of the only human study published of a cannabinoid as cancer treatment Dr Manuel Guzman of Complutense University in Madrid About one third of cancer patients lose more than 5 of their original body weight and cachexia is estimated to account for similar 20 of cancer deaths Guzman 2003 p 745 Furthermore cannabis may be considered beneficial to the human mind because of the drug known as dronabinol Dronabinol marketed as marinol a synthetic THC compound is a legal drug in pill form prescribed for nausea depression and spasticity The federal ban on pot is ironic because the same substance that the government has prohibited is legal under a different name Though it remains criminal cannabis offers a superior safety record in comparison to legal drugs The misuse of over the counter medications such as aspirin acetaminophen a k a Tylenol and antihistamines a k a Claritin each year kills thousands of Americans Marijuana is one of the few drugs that has yet to cause a fatality Some would argue that the mind altering effects of cannabis would only increase the depression anxiety etc in patients but Allyn Howlett the medical researcher who discovered a specific receptor for THC in the brain counterclaims that cannabis models the work of natural neurotransmitters such as serotonin dopamine and the endorphins

One in 4 deaths in the United States is due to cancer Commons ways to treat cancer include surgery radiation therapy chemotherapy etc Cancer treatments can often be expensive According to a report in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute 11 of the 12 cancer drugs approved in 2012 by the Food and Drug Administration cost more than 100 000 per year Mckoy 2014 With these facts in mind common cancer treatments can be considered double edged because of the exorbitant price in exchange for health CBD also has the capabilities to treat cancer with an average cost of 50 200 in the U S Dr Barbara Romano et al from Phytomedicine International Journal of Phytotherapy Phytopharmacology claim that CBD attenuates colon carcinogenesis and inhibits colorectal cancer cell proliferation via and receptor activation Romano et al 2014 p 631 The medical world can substitute cancer treatments for therapeutic cannabis because of the expensive prices Medical marijuana should be legalized so that cannabidiol can be implemented as an alternative to double edged medicines because of its analgesic anti inflammatory antineoplastic and chemopreventive properties