Hamilton Hewitt

Professor D. Jizi
UWRT 1103-013
Sunday, November 29th 2015
Should Medicinal Marijuana be Legalized?
The times we as a society live in today are quickly changing. A very controversial topic that its
reputation precedes it is marijuana. Marijuana is used as a medicine for a wide variety of things.
Marijuana is illegal as far as the national government is concerned. The feelings about marijuana
begin to change once the government is viewed on a state level. There have been 23 states that
have legalized marijuana to be used medicinally. The first two states to push this movement was
California and Colorado. Medicinal marijuana is very new and under-studied. Because
marijuana is illegal on a national level, it makes it hard to study. There have been numerous
studies that say different things which made me start to question it. I became intrigued on this
extremely controversial topic. I would hear one source say that marijuana can be used to help the
symptoms of many different diseases. On the other hand, marijuana is a drug and is illegal. My
quest for this paper is to find out for myself what my stance is on marijuana being used for
medicinal purposes.
There are roughly 8 billion in the world today. According to Marijuana Legalization, anywhere
from 125 million to 200 million people have used or currently are using marijuana which means
roughly 4% of the world is affected by marijuana. In the US, marijuana use is about 3 times
higher than the global average. (Caulkins 16) One of the main uses for medicinal marijuana is for
cancer patients. Chemotherapy is used to help stop and kill cancer cells in the body, but it is also

very taxing on the body. Medicinal marijuana is used where it is legal, to help ease the pain from
chemo. The Center for Disease Control reported this year that roughly 650,000 people have to go
through chemo each year. (Information for Health Care Providers) If medical marijuana was
legalized, all of the patients would not have to suffer as much from the chemo. There are many
disorders and diseases that people could have their symptoms reduced if medical cannabis were
to be legalized.
There are many opinions about marijuana and if it should be used medically. Some people
believe that marijuana is strictly a bad thing. The Center for Drug Abuse is a group that believes
it is strictly bad. They report that drug has severe effects on the brain and development. The
center says that smoking weed can reduce memory, learning abilities, and can reduce the
connections the brain makes to different parts of the brain. The drug can also cause breathing
problems, rapid heart rate, and complications with pregnancy. The book Marijuana Legalization
in chapter 5 claims that marijuana can be linked to causing many different problems for people.
The book says that it can cause cancer, respiratory problems, impaired mental health, and has
been known to impair judgement. (Caulkins 54) Impairing judgement is a very bad side-effect of
smoking. This means that car wrecks are much more likely after smoking marijuana. The
Business Insider has very different opinions on marijuana. They claim that marijuana has many
benefits ranging from actually helping increase lung capacity, to reducing chronic seizures.
Business Insider claims that a study done by the Journal of the American Medical Association, a
trial was conducted by over 5000 people and took 20 years. The results from the study proved
that one, smoking cigarettes are way more hazardous to your health, and that people who smoked
marijuana had an increase in lung capacity. (Welsh, Jennifer) Another benefit that marijuana can
help is as a pain reliever. It can help ease the effects from diseases like Dravets Syndrome,

chronic seizures, multiple sclerosis. (Welsh, Jennifer) Researchers at the California Pacific
Medical Center found that marijuana does also reduce pain and symptoms of cancer, but it also
stops cancer cells from multiplying. (Welsh, Jennifer) I have had to sift through many sources to
find credible data to use. I think that the people who view marijuana as strictly a bad thing are
not looking at the big picture. They are blind to the benefits because they are so focused on one
aspect. Along with physical benefits, if medical marijuana would legalized everywhere, the tax
revenues would help the economy. While there appear to be many benefits of medically
marijuana, it is still officially illegal. One question brought up in researching this was if it can
help with many different diseases, why is it illegal where alcohol and smoking isnt?
My most significant point in determining if marijuana should be legal for medical
purposes is to look at what is legal. The first comparison between the two is fatality. One of the
main differences between the two is that it is impossible to die from marijuana, where alcohol
overdosing kills thousands of people each day. Live Science compares smoking marijuana,
cigarettes, and alcohol. They claim that alcohol and cigarettes are much more dangerous than
marijuana. Drinking also impairs judgement much more then marijuana will. This relates into
more drunk driving crashes then crashes due to being under the influence of weed. Cigarettes
have been linked to 400,000 thousand deaths each year. (Brownstein, Joe) Live Science claims
that people who smoke marijuana and much less like to smoke cigarettes or drink. After looking
at the long list of dangerous things about alcohol and cigarettes, the benefits of each of them is
much shorter. There are no known benefits of alcohol or cigarettes for medical purposes.
Smoking weed has many benefits that have been listed above. In doing this research, I have
concluded that alcohol and cigarettes are much more dangerous for you then marijuana. Alcohol
strictly has risks and no positive benefits. If alcohol and cigarettes are legal, despite being the

cause for many sicknesses, accidents, and other complications, why is marijuana for medical use
not more widely accepted?
I do plan to further look into all of the possible benefits from medical marijuana. I will
not begin smoking marijuana however, because while very beneficial, it is still illegal. While
doing research for this paper, I found that medical marijuana has been proven to help aid in the
development patients with autism. This is important to me because my little cousin suffers from
severe autism. Once more research has come out on the idea of using weed for helping autism, I
will try and explore the option of setting my cousin up to consult with people on using marijuana
to help him. I still remain curious as the exactly how the government can justify keeping alcohol
and cigarettes legal while not legalizing weed. I believe that the answer to this question is money.
Alcohol is responsible for millions of dollars each year in tax revenue, which is influential in the
topic of legalization. I think that people are starting to realize that marijuana can be just as
beneficial for the economy as well. If I were to continue on this inquiry, I would probably go to
research more about just how much legalizing medical marijuana would boost the national
economy. I would also look at what all of the things that it would take to legalize pot.
I now believe that marijuana should be legalized for medical purposes after writing this
research paper. Looking at all of the data about marijuana being proven to cure or help disorders,
addictions, syndromes is overwhelming, not to mention it being documented to stop and kill
cancerous cells. Marijuana has gotten a very bad rap over the years because it is the most
common illicit drug in the United States. If it had never been abused as much by society
throughout the years, I doubt that it would have the same stigma as it does now.

Works Cited
Brownstein, Joe. "Marijuana vs. Alcohol: Which Is Really Worse for Your Health?" LiveScience.
TechMedia Network, 21 Jan. 2014. Web. 09 Nov. 2015.
<http://www.livescience.com/42738-marijuana-vs-alcohol-health-effects.html>.
Caulkins, Jonathan P., Angela Hawken, Beau Kilmer, and Mark Kleiman. Marijuana
Legalization: What Everyone Needs to Know. New York: Oxford UP, 2012. Print.
"Information for Health Care Providers." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, 17 Nov. 2015. Web. 14 Dec. 2015.
"Marijuana." DrugFacts:. National Center for Drug Abuse, Sept. 2015. Web. 10 Nov. 2015.
<http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/marijuana>.
"Medical Marijuana: Legalities & Health Condition Uses." Disabled World. Disabled World, 04
Nov. 2015. Web. 09 Nov. 2015. <http://www.disabledworld.com/medical/pharmaceutical/marijuana/>.
Richards, Sabrina. "Is Cannabis Really That Bad?" TheScientist. LabX Media Group, 23 Jan.
2013. Web. 9 Nov. 2015. <http://www.thescientist.com/?articles.view/
articleNo/34110/title/Is-Cannabis-Really-That-Bad- />.
Welsh, Jennifer, and Kevin Loria. "23 Health Benefits Of Marijuana."Business Insider. Business
Insider, Inc, 20 Apr. 2014. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.

Readers Responsibility - Research Essay

Readers Name: Bjorn Bovim
Writers Name: Hamilton Hewitt
Should medical Marijuana be legalized?
Answer 1: I would say that the main question being answered and focused on in the
inquiry essay would be how and why Marijuana hasnt been legalized for medicinal
purposes.
Answer 2: The point is to draw a comparison on items that are deemed legal by the
government but dont actually have any benefits for the human body and seem to only
have negatives associated with them, to Marijuana which can be supported in the inquiry
essay to have benefits for us and be less harmful in the long run. For this purpose I see
no reason as to why it shouldnt be allowed for medicinal purposes even though the other
items of comparison that were used were recreational.
Answer 3: I learnt that users of Marijuana had a larger lung capacity than people that
smoked which kind of confused me at first since I thought it was the same concept of
inhaling a substance into your lungs. I also learnt about its effects on autism and how it
could help with it. I found this to be the most significant since I also have a close friend
that suffers from autism and it would be amazing to see if this would help in any way.

Readers Responsibility-Research Essay

Readers Name: Justin St.Gelais
Writers Name: Hamilton Hewitt

Question 1: After reading the draft, what would you say is the main question the paper is trying
to answer or focus on?
Answer 1: Is medical marijuana benefitting people or is it really a dangerous illegal
drug as what the national government classifies it as?
Question 2: In your own words, what is the main point?
Answer 2: The main point of this paper was to argue whether marijuana should
still be classified as a dangerous substance, or if it should be looked at in a
positive light with all the great medical benefits. In conclusion medical marijuana
should be legalized everywhere because of how it can help and improve patients
lives. Another strong point is about how alcohol and tobacco, which are clearly
dangerous substances, are legal but marijuana is not.
Question 3: What did you learn about the topic after reading the paper that you didnt fully
appreciate before you read it? Is this something you find significant or interesting? If so, why?
Answer 3: Before reading this article I did not realize how many benefits marijuana
can have, especially to people with cancer and other chronic illnesses. I was intrigued
by the people claiming marijuana is dangerous and can severely hurt you, yet there is
research that shows this is far from true.