A brief Discussion About Medical Marijuana.
There is currently, and will probably be for an excellent while, debate surrounding the therapeutic usage of cannabis and the chemical components which may be derived from it. There are lots of cogent and rational arguments in support of the plant’s medicinal properties, and there are a handful of compelling reasons for allowing people to select this treatment path in place of any other. The greatest obstacle facing the proponents of medical marijuana is really a frustrating tangle of politics.
In the United States of America, at least at a federal level, cannabis is illegal. It is prohibited to grow, possess, sell, or choose the plant. Stiff penalties are routinely imposed for nearly all infractions of this prohibition contrary to the plant.
Individual state governments may have enacted their own legislation which decriminalizes or even legalizes the substance, but federal law is still paramount if the problem comes up Marijuana Dispensary Near Auburn WA. Generally speaking, federal agencies are neither equipped nor motivated to do state level police, and so states with less strict laws governing cannabis are essentially safe places for patients.
At the root of the thing is the perceived therapeutic value of cannabis. Everything hinges upon the determination of actual medicinal benefit. The prohibition against cannabis is codified in the Drug Enforcement Agency’s scheduling of it, which will be on the basis of the potential health benefits of a substance.
Some people take problem with the scheduling and its results. They ask why cocaine and anabolic steroids are thought to have greater medicinal value than cannabis. They realize that the more proprietary and complicated the names get, the less of a problem the Drug Enforcement Agency has with them. While this can be a bit of a wild conspiracy theory to see some kind of collusion between the law enforcement agencies and the major pharmaceutical companies, there are people who maintain that something greatly of that sort is certainly going on.
And so the knot is tied. It is extremely hard allowing patients to select cannabis as remedy option since the plant is illegal. The plant is illegal since it is recognized as to have no significant medicinal value. There is research which contradicts this claim, but it is not considered compelling enough evidence by policy makers.
Interestingly enough, the question of the legal status of cannabis may end up being resolved for more economic and practical reasons. The social obstacle to mainstream acceptance of cannabinoids is closely linked with the illicit nature of the plant. This is a facet of the so called War On Drugs started many years back and that has proven incredibly expensive and completely ineffective. Abandoning this “war” would ease everyone’s problems, from the federal accountants to the chemotherapy patients who would like to stop vomiting for a while.
As more and more evidence mounts to counter the Drug Enforcement Agency’s assertion that cannabis has no medical benefit, public opinion changes. The states which may have enacted medical marijuana legislation have not degenerated into mindless, drug addled chaos. There is a growing feeling that this movement is important and compassionate, and that it will succeed in the end.