MEDICINAL MARIJUANA: WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?

I've just finished watching a commercial from the advertising
campaign Above the Influence. You know, those extremely factual
commercials that show legit reasons for not smoking weed. Remember
the commercial when the girl goes into the kitchen to grab something
to drink and her dog starts talking to her about her habit?

What did I learn from this? If you smoke a little green, dogs will
start talking to you. Yes, you will actually be able to speak to
animals. Now don't go thinking this is cool or anything. If you spark
up a joint, animals will follow you and incessantly comment on why
they think you should quit smoking. So don't start.

What do people find so alluring about weed anyway? It will not only
destroy your future, but also your bones. Yes, you read that
correctly: Marijuana will destroy your bones. I learned this from
another Above the Influence commercial I saw awhile back. Apparently,
once you start smoking weed, all your bones completely disappear! The
commercial doesn't exactly state how they disappear, but the pothead
in the commercial is nothing but a saggy sack of human flesh draped
onto the couch. So this is what I gather from that: smoking weed =
complete bone loss.

Surprisingly, I don't think the real issues with marijuana are the
talking dogs or the bone loss. I think it's the fact that people
can't seem to agree whether or not the reefer should be considered a
legitimate drug that deserves the federal government's stamp of approval.

In March 2004, former U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders wrote an
editorial in Providence Journal stating, "The evidence is
overwhelming that marijuana can relieve certain types of pain,
nausea, vomiting and other symptoms caused by such illnesses as
multiple sclerosis, cancer and AIDS - or by the harsh drugs sometimes
used to treat them. And it can do so with remarkable safety. Indeed,
marijuana is less toxic than many of the drugs that physicians
prescribe every day."

Is it true? Is marijuana really less harmful?

On June 24, 2005 procon.org sent a Freedom of Information Act request
to the Food and Drug Administration. The organization wanted
information on the number of deaths caused by marijuana versus the
number of deaths caused by 17 FDA-approved drugs. Twelve of the 17
drugs are frequently issued in place of medical marijuana and five
are just commonly used by society.

Procon.org found that marijuana (otherwise known as Cannabis sativa
L), is the primary suspect of zero deaths in the United States and is
the contributing suspect to 279 deaths. The other 17 drugs approved
by the FDA are the primary suspects of a total of 10,008 deaths and
are the contributing suspects to 1, 670 deaths.

So if Mary Jane isn't the primary suspect of any recorded deaths and
it has been proven to actually help people, what's the big deal?
There are people out there who actually need medical marijuana to
alleviate their pain. Those people shouldn't get shunned aside
because of the propaganda behind marijuana. Let the doctors do their
jobs. If they see medical marijuana as a necessary prescription for
their patients, then let those patients have their medicine.