nornerator

Hi, I have been writing a research paper that briefly summarizes quite a few studies done on marijuana and its cannabinoid constituents. There are some substantial flow issues and grammatical problems with my paper so far but I am having a hard time pinpointing them. Below I will present the rough draft of the paper, feel free to critique the; form, content, grammar, or flow. I hope you enjoy, the purpose of writing this paper is to help convince people that marijuana has vast medical properties and at the very least needs to be legalized for medical purposes. It is fairly long so I apologize.

Imagine a naturally occurring plant that when consumed kills cancer cells, grows new brain cells, can stop seizures, relieves nausea during chemotherapy, treats pain more effectively than morphine, reduces muscle spasticity for people with multiple sclerosis, slows the onset of blindness in people with glaucoma, can treat tourettes syndrome, is impossible to overdose on, and makes people who use it really happy. It almost sounds too good to be true, yet it is. The plant is called Cannabis Sativa, or what is known on the streets as “marijuana.”

This November people in Michigan will have the choice to vote on whether or not a doctor can prescribe marijuana to sick people who would benefit from its use. Many have been told for years that marijuana is a dangerous drug that causes brain damage, violence, and insanity. Many wonder how it is possible that a dangerous illegal drug like marijuana could ever be considered medicine when the federal government says that it is not medicine. The truth is, the American people, and much of the world have been lied to about Cannabis Sativa and anyone with a casual interest in the subject that has access to a database of medical journals knows that.

The current medical marijuana debate began in 1996 when Californian voters passed proposition 215. This allowed doctors to prescribe marijuana to patients they thought would benefit from the drug. Since this time debate has raged among the people of this nation about whether or not marijuana could be considered medicine. Doctors and scientists invested a lot of time and money researching marijuana and the chemicals that give it its special properties.

The chemicals that give marijuana its medical and recreational properties are called cannabinoids. There are sixty-six known cannabinoids in marijuana each with slightly different biochemical effects. In the 1990's researchers discovered that the brain and body actually has receptors for cannabinoids. The two receptors are called CB1 and CB2. Shortly after the discovery of their receptors two endogenous cannabinoids also known as endocannabinoids were discovered. Their names are anandamide and 2-arachidonoyl glycerol. Both of these compounds are derivatives of arachidonic acid and both endocannabinoids appear to bind to CB1 and CB2. Biochemical research into these receptors and their agonists reveal the exact biochemical cascade of events that happens when these receptors are agonized. The overall view of the endocannabinoid system is that it mediates the effects of over stimulation, reduces inflammation, and promotes growth of new neurons in response to overstimulation.

Over the past several years researchers have been finding more and more evidence that the most prominent cannabinoid in marijuana THC (Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol ) can actually destroy cancer cells (Jia, 2006). When cells become cancerous their cellular clocks are damaged. Most cells go through a cycle where they grow, divide, then die. In cancer cells the cycle is broken and the cells do not die. When THC is injected into cancer cells, the cancer cells cycle is reactivated and cancer cells commit apoptosis, which is just a fancy word for cellular suicide (Athanasiou, 2007). Far more research has been done on the destruction of cancer cells via marijuana than has been presented here, yet the federal government denies that there is any possible medical use for marijuana.

For most of the twentieth century our government has been claiming that marijuana kills brain cells, and that medicine shouldn't destroy your brain. The problem with the assertion the government is making is that it is patently false. There has never been any studies accepted by the medical community that proves marijuana kills brain cells. In fact recent research has suggested the exact opposite, THC actually stimulates the brain to grow new neurons in a process called neurogenesis. In a study done at the Neuropsychiatry Research Unit at the University of Saskatchewan researchers found that “Cannabinoids promote embryonic and adult hippocampus neurogenesis...”(Jiang, 2005). The hippocampus is the part of the brain responsible for forming new memories. If the underlying assumption is that the destruction of brain cells results in stupidity then is it also true that the creation of new brain cells results in superior intelligence? Maybe, because according to research done by the Department of Psychology at Ohio State University, activation of cannabinoid receptors in older mice improved their spatial memory(Yannick, 2007) . This would explain how it is possible that intellectuals like science popularizer and astronomer Carl Sagan can use marijuana regularly and still retain their brilliance. Yet despite this evidence the federal government still believes that marijuana is just as dangerous as heroin, and that anyone who uses it is so dangerous that they belong in a cage.

In addition to marijuana being able to grow new brain cells the cannabinoid THC is able to stop a seizure dead in its tracks and reduce the number of them. Research at the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at Virginia Commonwealth University found that if THC is given to rats before a seizure is induced the rats have fewer seizures than they do if they are given standard anti-seizure medication like phenobarbital(Wallace, 2002). Also researchers at the same university but in the department of neurology found that cannabinoid receptor agonists stopped seizures in cultures of hippocampal neurons where seizure was induced at 1% the concentration of the leading anti-convulsant pharmaceutical phenobarbital (Deshpande, 2007). A statement from a medical marijuana patient who goes by the name buzz at the medical marijuana community at www.marijuana.com says it all.
“I have had epilpesy for a while. Four years ago my sezuires were out of control. All my meds made me suicidal and I tried to take my own life. Now I use weed instead of the pills and I have taken back my life. I had both grand and petite. Some times petite as high as 20 per day. Now I can go for days sezuire free”
Yet despite this overwhelming evidence the federal government routinely breaks into medical marijuana pharmacies, steals the medicine, and then arrests the pharmacists.

Marijuana, in addition to treating epilepsy can also treat multiple sclerosis. Many patients with multiple sclerosis have reported relief of pain far superior than the relief experienced due to morphine or other dangerous legal drugs. Is there more than just pain relief? Research done in 2008 published in the Journal of Neuroimmunology found that high doses of cannabinoids actually reduces the disease, and at lower doses cannabinoids “slowed the accumulation of nerve loss and disability.”(Croxford, 2008). Furthermore a study published in 2005 in the journal Trends in Neuroscience stated, that after reviewing the literature on the subject concluded “cannabis not only relieves symptoms [of MS] but also is potentially neuroprotective and is involved in synaptic plasticity.” (Pryce, 2005). Disregarding this evidence the federal government still considers medical marijuana patients like Montel Williams, a talk show host with MS, a criminal that is a danger to society.

Recently research on marijuana and cannabinoids have suggested they could treat other diseases such as Tourettes. In 2005 researcher Susan Corey wanted to see what the result of studies of marijuana on humans was. Keep in mind that studies using marijuana on humans is highly restricted in the US because of the legal status of marijuana. She searched through the literature published after 1997, and limited the search to only randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled studies. In the end fifteen clinical trials were found that met the qualifications. The researcher found that cannabinoids produced “significant objective improvement of tics in Tourette's disease and neuropathic pain.” She concluded “cannabinoids may be useful for conditions that currently lack effective treatment, such as spasticity, tics, and neuropathic pain.”(Corey, 2005)

Additionally, it has been suggested in an article published in Nature in 2005 that THC can slow down the progression of atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is essentially the hardening of arteries due to plaque build up. According to the researches in the study “[atherosclerosis] is a chronic inflammatory disease, and is the primary cause of heart disease and stroke in western countries.” The research discovered that 1mg per kilogram of body mass per day of oral THC resulted in significant inhibition of the progression of the disease (Steffens, 2005). Considering that atherosclerosis is the root cause of most heart attacks and stroke this medical property if it can be reproduced in humans is quite frankly, incredible.

Many people have been convinced that marijuana is a gateway drug. However just this year a research article published in the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology found that marijuana could actually decrease the addictive effects of cocaine. The research investigated the relationship between the endocannabinoid system and the addictiveness of cocaine. The researchers stuck electrodes in the brains of mice and recorded how much their brains responded to cocaine under varying cannabinoid conditions. The research found that “cannabinoids may interfere with brain reward systems responsible for the expression of acute reinforcing/rewarding properties of cocaine... the cannabinoid system could be explored as a potential drug discovery target for the treatment of psychostimulant addiction.(Styliani, 2008)” This research completely flies in the face of the “gateway” theory because it implies that activation of the CB1 receptors actually makes cocaine less pleasurable and less addictive.

Despite the numerous studies pointed out there are major restrictions of the research of marijuana within the united states. In the November edition of Scientific American in 2004 an article written by the editors was published that critiqued the united states stance on marijuana research, it was called “Current restrictions on marijuana research are absurd.” The article emphasized how anyone that wanted to do research on marijuana had to obtain the marijuana from the national institute on drug abuse (NIDA), and that the marijuana provided by them was found to be far less potent than marijuana used medically in states where medical marijuana was available. Even worse, the government restricts their funding of marijuana research to only find the negative consequences of marijuana, a quote from the article emphasizes this, “The government may also have a stake in a certain kind of result. One scientist tells of a research grant application to study marijuana's potential medical benefits. NIDA turned it down. That scientist rewrote the grant to emphasize finding marijuana's negative effects. The study was funded.(2004)” When one thinks about it, it is fairly clear that marijuana's medical qualities are probably far understated by the research that has been done because of how difficult it is to get funding to do research to actually investigate the positive medical effects. Reflecting on it, despite the governments efforts to only fund studies looking for the negative effects of marijuana it is amazing that so much research is available that finds positive effects.

Many politicians will claim that no current medicines are smoked, and due to that marijuana can not be a medicine because smoking is bad to a persons health. However a new method called vaporization offers a unique medicine delivery system the allows patients to “titrate” their doses safely and effectively. A convection style vaporizer heats up air past the boiling point of the active ingredients in the cannabis, and then that air is passed through the cannabis which is suspended on a screen. Instead of smoking which causes the plant material to undergo combustion which produces tar, carcinogens, and carbon monoxide, vaporization avoids this downfall while still providing quick relief to medical marijuana patients. With vaporization relief from pain comes within minutes and a patient can stop whenever they feel they have had enough to relieve their suffering. With the THC pill a patient must take a predetermined amount and it takes forty to ninety minutes before the effects are felt.

So what if marijuana can cure cancer, grow new brain cells, treat epilepsy and MS, the medical marijuana community is just a bunch of hippies that want to get high right? Well, thats not what was observed at the medical marijuana forums at marijuana.com. The community is incredibly diverse as it is composed of people from all across the United States and Canada. The people within the community typically range from fifteen to fifty years old. These people stand out from their other subcultures in a fairly uniform way, they are all criminals in the eye of the federal government. Therefore many are secretive about their involvement in this subculture. An example of this is a conversation in the community in which a student with ADHD describes how cannabis has helped him focus on his studies and has also helped him get along better with his family and friends. He goes as far as saying that his family and friends have complimented him on his strongly positive behavior change. However he is afraid to tell them that this positive behavioral change is due to marijuana. There is an intense paranoia about being “found out” within the community.

Many people will say that marijuana makes people paranoid, this is not true. Marijuana prohibition makes marijuana users paranoid, consider that in 2007 marijuana arrests reached record breaking levels of 872,721 and cost the tax payers $41.8billion that year alone, for comparison 597,447 people were arrested for violent crimes in 2007(Gettman, 2007). Nearly 300,000 more people are arrested for marijuana each year than for all violent crimes combined. It is for this reason that the vast majority of the medical marijuana community are silent observers and only a few actively contribute to the discussion.

Prohibition of medical marijuana makes people within the community skeptical of all government activity. These people know that marijuana is not anywhere near as harmful as heroin, and they know they aren't a danger to society that needs to be locked up. They know that the things the government says about marijuana are lies that medical science has disproved. When a mountain of research by medical science completely contradicts the claims of the government it creates skepticism by anybody within the know. For instance during an interview with a community member who goes by the name SpiralArchitect he said the government “should be [working in the best interests of the people]. It currently isn't ; private interests and personal agendas have taken priority.” and when further questioned about whether or not the government would knowingly lie to a person he simply said “Look at History.” Indeed this is a strong statement. Governments have been knowingly deceiving people for thousands of years, and the United States is no exception. Surprisingly this sort of sentiment is creeping its way into mainstream society. An interview with an individual outside the medical marijuana community about whether the government is looking out for the best interests of the people yielded this response “I think that the government, in general, takes advantage of its citizens. I think that if the government truly had the best interested of their people in mind, many things in society would be different. The government is just like any other business in the world - it is out to make a profit at the expense of the worker.”

There is ample evidence to suggest that marijuana has therapeutic potential. Marijuana has the ability to kill cancer cells through apoptosis. Marijuana has the ability to promote the growth of new neurons in the learning center of the brain. Marijuana has the ability to treat epilepsy, the ability to treat MS and slow its progression, and many other diseases. Cannabis is a safe non-toxic plant that grows like a weed. It remains illegal because it would destroy the pharmaceutical companies ability to profit, because none of their drugs can compete with cannabis. Next time you have severe pain try vaporizing some medical grade cannabis and see the difference for yourself. It is safe, non-toxic, and is not physically addicting unlike morphine and vicodin.

Cited Sources:
Athanasiou, Andriani . "Cannabinoid receptor agonists are mitochondrial inhibitors: A unified hypothesis of how cannabinoids modulate mitochondrial function and induce cell death." Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 364(2007): 131-137 .

Corey, Susan. “Recent Developments in the Therapeutic Potential of Cannabinoids.” Puerto Rico Health Sciences Journal 24(2005): 19-26

Croxford, Ludovic J.. "Cannabinoid-mediated neuroprotection, not immunosuppression, may be more relevant to multiple sclerosis." Journal of Neuroimmunology 193(2008): 120-129.

"Current restrictions on marijuana research are absurd." Scientific American 22 Nov 2004 1 Nov 2008 <http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=marijuana-research>.

Deshpande, Laxmikant. "Endocannabinoids block status epilepticus in cultured hippocampal neurons." European Journal of Pharmacology 558(2007): 52-59.

Gettman, Jon. "Lost Taxes and other Costs of Marijuana Laws." The Bulletin of Cannabis Reform. 05 Sep 2007. DrugScience.org. 1 Nov 2008 <http://www.drugscience.org/Archive/bcr4/Lost %20Taxes%20and%20Other%20Costs%20of%20Marijuana%20 Laws.pdf>.

Jia, Wentao . "{Delta}9-Tetrahydrocannabinol-Induced Apoptosis in Jurkat Leukemia T Cells Is Regulated by Translocation of Bad to Mitochondria ." Molecular Cancer Research 4(2006): 549-562.

Jiang, Wen. "Cannabinoids promote embryonic and adult hippocampus neurogenesis and produce anxiolytic- and antidepressant-like effects." The Journal of Clinical Investigation 115(2005): 3104–3116 .

Steffens, Sabine. “Low dose oral cannabinoid therapy reduces progression of atherosclerosis in mice.” Nature (2005): 782-787

Marchalant, Yannick. "Cannabinoid receptor stimulation is anti-inflammatory and improves memory in old rats." Neurobiology of Aging (2007):

Vlachou, Stylianai. “Enhancement of endocannabinoid neurotransmission through CB1 cannabinoid receptors couteracts the reinforcing and spychostimulant effects of cocaine.” International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology 11(2008): 905-923

Wallace, Melisa. "Evidence for a physiological role of endocannabinoids in the modulation of seizure threshold and severity." European Journal of Pharmacology 452(2002): 295-301.

nornerator

Also, feel free to re-publish this anywhere you want. Permission granted, if possible just try to include that it was written by nornerator.

I am doing this to help the community, a revised edition will be posted later tonight, not a lot of new information but it will contain grammatical corrections.

Danky 420

nice
im gonna have all my
straight edge friends reead this

I need LUNCH

This was a great essay nornerator! you included some very good points in support of cannabis. good job dude.

__________________
"When you blame yourself, you learn from it. If you blame someone else, you don't learn nothing, cause hey, it's not your fault, it's his fault, over there." -Joey Strummer

LiveForMusic1827

Nicely done

nornerator

As promised here is a revised edition with many grammatical errors fixed.

The flow still is not where I want it to be, perhaps I will think of a way to fix that in the future.

Anyways, if you want to copy this, print this, make pamphlets of it, or in any way re-distribute or re-publish this feel free to!


Imagine a naturally occurring plant that when consumed kills cancer cells, grows new brain cells, can stop seizures, relieves nausea during chemotherapy, treats pain more effectively than morphine, reduces muscle spasticity for people with Multiple Sclerosis, slows the onset of blindness in people with glaucoma, can treat Tourettes syndrome, is impossible to overdose on, and makes people who use it really happy. It almost sounds too good to be true, yet it is. The plant is called Cannabis Sativa, or what is known on the streets as “marijuana.”

This November people in Michigan will have the choice to vote on whether or not a doctor can prescribe marijuana to sick people who would benefit from its use. Many have been told for years that marijuana is a dangerous drug that causes brain damage, violence, and insanity. Many wonder how it is possible that a dangerous illegal drug like marijuana could ever be considered medicine when the federal government says that it is not medicine. The truth is, the American people, and much of the world, have been lied to about Cannabis Sativa. Anyone with a casual interest in the subject that has access to a database of medical journals knows that the government has been lying for decades. In this paper studies done on the medical properties of marijuana will be reviewed and contrasted against the governments policies on medical marijuana.

The current medical marijuana debate began in 1996 when Californian voters passed Proposition 215. This allowed doctors to prescribe marijuana to patients they thought would benefit from the drug. Since this time, debate has raged among the people of this nation about whether or not marijuana could be considered medicine. Doctors and scientists invested a lot of time and money researching marijuana and the chemicals that give it its special medical properties.

The chemicals that give marijuana its medical and recreational properties are called cannabinoids. There are sixty-six known cannabinoids in marijuana, each with slightly different biochemical effects. In the 1990s researchers discovered that the brain and body actually has receptors for cannabinoids. The two receptors are called CB1 and CB2. Shortly after the discovery of their receptors two endogenous cannabinoids, also known as endocannabinoids, were discovered. Their names are anandamide and 2-arachidonoyl glycerol. Both of these compounds are derivatives of arachidonic acid and both endocannabinoids appear to bind to CB1 and CB2. Biochemical research into these receptors and their agonists reveal the exact biochemical cascade of events that happens when these receptors are agonized. The overall view of the endocannabinoid system is that it mediates the effects of over stimulation, reduces inflammation, and promotes growth of new neurons in response to overstimulation.

Over the past several years researchers have been finding more and more evidence that the most prominent cannabinoid in marijuana, THC (Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol ), can actually destroy cancer cells (Jia, 2006). When cells become cancerous their cellular clocks are damaged. Most cells go through a cycle where they grow, divide, then die. In cancer cells the cycle is broken and the cells do not die. When THC is injected into cancer cells, the cancer cells cycle is reactivated and cancer cells commit apoptosis, which is just a fancy word for cellular suicide (Athanasiou, 2007). The activation of the suicide sequence in cancer cells is obviously a good way to combat cancer because THC fails to have this effect on healthy cells, killing just the cancer. Far more research has been done on the destruction of cancer cells via marijuana than has been presented here, yet the federal government denies that there is any possible medical use for marijuana.

For most of the twentieth century our government has been claiming that marijuana kills brain cells, and that medicine shouldn't destroy your brain. The problem with the assertion the government is making is that it is patently false. There has never been any studies accepted by the medical community that proves marijuana kills brain cells. In fact recent research has suggested the exact opposite: THC actually stimulates the brain to grow new neurons in a process called neurogenesis. In a study done at the Neuropsychiatry Research Unit at the University of Saskatchewan, researchers found that, “Cannabinoids promote embryonic and adult hippocampus neurogenesis...”(Jiang, 2005). The hippocampus is the part of the brain responsible for forming new memories. If the underlying assumption is that the destruction of brain cells results in stupidity, then is it also true that the creation of new brain cells results in superior intelligence? Maybe, because according to research done by the Department of Psychology at Ohio State University, activation of cannabinoid receptors in older mice improved their spatial memory(Yannick, 2007) . This would explain how it is possible that intellectuals like science popularizer and astronomer Carl Sagan can use marijuana regularly and still retain their brilliance. Yet despite this evidence the federal government still believes that marijuana is just as dangerous as heroin, and that anyone who uses it is so dangerous that they belong in a cage.

In addition to marijuana being able to grow new brain cells, the cannabinoid THC is able to stop a seizure dead in its tracks and reduce the number of them. Research at the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at Virginia Commonwealth University found that if THC is given to rats before a seizure is induced, the rats have fewer seizures than they do if they are given standard anti-seizure medication like phenobarbital (Wallace, 2002). Also researchers at the same university but in the Department of Neurology found that cannabinoid receptor agonists stopped seizures in cultures of hippocampal neurons where seizure was induced at 1% the concentration of the leading anti-convulsant pharmaceutical phenobarbital (Deshpande, 2007). A statement from a medical marijuana patient who goes by the name “buzz” at the medical marijuana community at www.marijuana.com says it all:

“I have had epilpesy for a while. Four years ago my sezuires were out of control. All my meds made me suicidal and I tried to take my own life. Now I use weed instead of the pills and I have taken back my life. I had both grand and petite. Some times petite as high as 20 per day. Now I can go for days sezuire free”
Yet despite this overwhelming evidence, the federal government routinely breaks into medical marijuana pharmacies, steals the medicine, and then arrests the pharmacists.

Marijuana, in addition to treating epilepsy, can also treat Multiple Sclerosis. Many patients with multiple sclerosis have reported relief of pain far superior than the relief experienced due to morphine or other dangerous legal drugs. There is much more than just pain relief Research done in 2008 published in the Journal of Neuroimmunology found that high doses of cannabinoids actually reduces the disease, and at lower doses cannabinoids “slowed the accumulation of nerve loss and disability.”(Croxford, 2008). Furthermore, a study published in 2005 in the journal Trends in Neuroscience stated that after reviewing the literature on the subject they concluded “cannabis not only relieves symptoms [of MS] but also is potentially neuroprotective and is involved in synaptic plasticity.” (Pryce, 2005). Disregarding this evidence the federal government still considers medical marijuana patients like Montel Williams, a talk show host with MS, a criminal that is a danger to society.

Recently, research on marijuana and cannabinoids have suggested they could treat other diseases such as Tourettes. In 2005, researcher Susan Corey wanted to see what the result of studies of marijuana on humans was. Keep in mind that studies using marijuana on humans is highly restricted in the US because of the legal status of marijuana. She searched through the literature published after 1997, and limited the search to only randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled studies. In the end fifteen clinical trials were found that met the qualifications. The researcher found that cannabinoids produced “significant objective improvement of tics in Tourette's disease and neuropathic pain.” She concluded[,] “cannabinoids may be useful for conditions that currently lack effective treatment, such as spasticity, tics, and neuropathic pain.”(Corey, 2005) This would indicate that individuals with Tourettes disease would have less “tics” using marijuana than without.

Additionally, it has been suggested in an article published in Nature in 2005 that THC can slow down the progression of atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is essentially the hardening of arteries due to plaque build up. According to the researches in the study, “[atherosclerosis] is a chronic inflammatory disease, and is the primary cause of heart disease and stroke in western countries.” The research discovered that 1mg per kilogram of body mass per day of oral THC resulted in significant inhibition of the progression of the disease (Steffens, 2005). Considering that atherosclerosis is the root cause of most heart attacks and strokes, this medical property, if it can be reproduced in humans, is quite frankly, incredible.

Many people have been convinced that marijuana is a gateway drug. However just this year a research article published in the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology found that marijuana could actually decrease the addictive effects of cocaine. The research investigated the relationship between the endocannabinoid system and the addictiveness of cocaine. The researchers stuck electrodes in the brains of mice and recorded how much their brains responded to cocaine under varying cannabinoid conditions. The research found that “cannabinoids may interfere with brain reward systems responsible for the expression of acute reinforcing/rewarding properties of cocaine... the cannabinoid system could be explored as a potential drug discovery target for the treatment of psychostimulant addiction.(Styliani, 2008)” This research completely flies in the face of the “gateway” theory because it implies that activation of the CB1 receptors actually makes cocaine less pleasurable and less addictive.

Despite the numerous studies pointed out, there are major restrictions of the research of marijuana within the united states\. In the November edition of Scientific American in 2004 an article written by the editors was published that critiqued the united states\ stance on marijuana research. The article was called “Current restrictions on marijuana research are absurd.” The article emphasized how anyone that wanted to do research on marijuana had to obtain the marijuana from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and that the marijuana provided by them was found to be far less potent than marijuana used medically in states where medical marijuana was available. Even worse, the government restricts their funding of marijuana research to only find the negative consequences of marijuana. A quote from the article emphasizes this, “The government may also have a stake in a certain kind of result. One scientist tells of a research grant application to study marijuana's potential medical benefits. NIDA turned it down. That scientist rewrote the grant to emphasize finding marijuana's negative effects. The study was funded. (2004)” When one thinks about it, it is fairly clear that marijuana's medical qualities are probably far understated by the research that has been done because of how difficult it is to get funding to do research to actually investigate the positive medical effects. Reflecting on it, despite the governments efforts to only fund studies looking for the negative effects of marijuana it is amazing that so much research is available that finds positive effects.

Many politicians will claim that no current medicines are smoked, and due to that marijuana can not be a medicine because smoking is bad to a persons health. However a new method called vaporization offers a unique medicine delivery system the allows patients to “titrate” their doses safely and effectively. A convection style vaporizer heats up air past the boiling point of the active ingredients in the cannabis, and then that air is passed through the cannabis which is suspended on a screen. Instead of smoking, which causes the plant material to undergo combustion which produces tar, carcinogens, and carbon monoxide, vaporization avoids this downfall while still providing quick relief to medical marijuana patients. With vaporization, relief from pain comes within minutes and a patient can stop whenever they feel they have had enough to relieve their suffering. With the THC pill a patient must take a predetermined amount and it takes forty to ninety minutes before the effects are felt.

So what if marijuana can cure cancer, grow new brain cells, treat epilepsy and MS, the medical marijuana community is just a bunch of hippies that want to get high right? Well, thats not what was observed at the medical marijuana forums at marijuana.com. The community is incredibly diverse as it is composed of people from all across the United States and Canada. The people within the community typically range from fifteen to fifty years old. These people stand out from their other subcultures in a fairly uniform way: they are all criminals in the eye of the federal government. Therefore many are secretive about their involvement in this subculture. An example of this is a conversation in the community in which a student with ADHD describes how cannabis has helped him focus on his studies and has also helped him get along better with his family and friends. He goes as far as saying that his family and friends have complimented him on his strongly positive behavior change. However he is afraid to tell them that this positive behavioral change is due to marijuana. There is an intense paranoia about being “found out” within the community.

Many people will say that marijuana makes people paranoid, this is not true. Marijuana prohibition makes marijuana users paranoid. Consider that in 2007 marijuana arrests reached record breaking levels of 872,721 and cost the tax payers $41.8billion that year alone, for comparison 597,447 people were arrested for violent crimes in 2007(Gettman, 2007). Nearly 300,000 more people are arrested for marijuana each year than for all violent crimes combined. It is for this reason that the vast majority of the medical marijuana community are silent observers and only a few actively contribute to the discussion.

Prohibition of medical marijuana makes people within the community skeptical of all government activity. These people know that marijuana is not anywhere near as harmful as heroin, and they know they aren't a danger to society that needs to be locked up. They know that the things the government says about marijuana are lies that medical science has disproved. When a mountain of research by medical science completely contradicts the claims of the government, it creates skepticism by anybody within the know. For instance during an interview with a community member who goes by the name SpiralArchitect, he said the government “should be [working in the best interests of the people]. It currently isn't ; private interests and personal agendas have taken priority.” And when further questioned about whether or not the government would knowingly lie to a person he simply said “Look at History.” Indeed this is a strong statement. Governments have been knowingly deceiving people for thousands of years, and the United States is no exception. Surprisingly this sort of sentiment is creeping its way into mainstream society. An interview with an individual outside the medical marijuana community about whether the government is looking out for the best interests of the people yielded this response: “I think that the government, in general, takes advantage of its citizens. I think that if the government truly had the best interested of their people in mind, many things in society would be different. The government is just like any other business in the world - it is out to make a profit at the expense of the worker.”

There is ample evidence to suggest that marijuana has therapeutic potential. Marijuana has the ability to kill cancer cells through apoptosis. Marijuana has the ability to promote the growth of new neurons in the learning center of the brain. Marijuana has the ability to treat epilepsy, the ability to treat MS and slow its progression, and many other diseases. Cannabis is a safe non-toxic plant that grows like a weed. It remains illegal because it would destroy the pharmaceutical companies ability to profit, because none of their drugs can compete with cannabis. Next time you have severe pain try vaporizing some medical grade cannabis and see the difference for yourself. It is safe, non-toxic, and is not physically addicting unlike morphine and vicodin.




















Cited Sources:
Athanasiou, Andriani . "Cannabinoid receptor agonists are mitochondrial inhibitors: A unified hypothesis of how cannabinoids modulate mitochondrial function and induce cell death." Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 364(2007): 131-137 .
Corey, Susan. “Recent Developments in the Therapeutic Potential of Cannabinoids.” Puerto Rico Health Sciences Journal 24(2005): 19-26

Croxford, Ludovic J.. "Cannabinoid-mediated neuroprotection, not immunosuppression, may be more relevant to multiple sclerosis." Journal of Neuroimmunology 193(2008): 120-129.

"Current restrictions on marijuana research are absurd." Scientific American 22 Nov 2004 1 Nov 2008 <http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=marijuana-research>.

Deshpande, Laxmikant. "Endocannabinoids block status epilepticus in cultured hippocampal neurons." European Journal of Pharmacology 558(2007): 52-59.

Gettman, Jon. "Lost Taxes and other Costs of Marijuana Laws." The Bulletin of Cannabis Reform. 05 Sep 2007. DrugScience.org. 1 Nov 2008 <http://www.drugscience.org/Archive/bcr4/Lost %20Taxes%20and%20Other%20Costs%20of%20Marijuana%20 Laws.pdf>.

Jia, Wentao . "{Delta}9-Tetrahydrocannabinol-Induced Apoptosis in Jurkat Leukemia T Cells Is Regulated by Translocation of Bad to Mitochondria ." Molecular Cancer Research 4(2006): 549-562.
Jiang, Wen. "Cannabinoids promote embryonic and adult hippocampus neurogenesis and produce anxiolytic- and antidepressant-like effects." The Journal of Clinical Investigation 115(2005): 3104–3116 .

Steffens, Sabine. “Low dose oral cannabinoid therapy reduces progression of atherosclerosis in mice.” Nature (2005): 782-787

Marchalant, Yannick. "Cannabinoid receptor stimulation is anti-inflammatory and improves memory in old rats." Neurobiology of Aging (2007):

Vlachou, Stylianai. “Enhancement of endocannabinoid neurotransmission through CB1 cannabinoid receptors couteracts the reinforcing and spychostimulant effects of cocaine.” International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology 11(2008): 905-923

Wallace, Melisa. "Evidence for a physiological role of endocannabinoids in the modulation of seizure threshold and severity." European Journal of Pharmacology 452(2002): 295-301.

cj117

this is a great essay. I think your flow issue might stem from the fact that in the beginning of the essay you write in a fairly informal tone, and then proceed to write the rest of the essay in a scientific, sources-cited style without bouncing back and forth between to break the monotony of evidence. other than that, I like what you've put together =D

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racin36er

I've got a few suggestions, take em or leave em. Twas a good paper all and all, more at the bottom.


Paragraph Six
"...Yet despite this evidence the federal government still believes that marijuana is just as dangerous as heroin, and that anyone who uses it is so dangerous that they belong in a cage."

Just a comment on the wording at the end. The flow is definatly broken here, its very awkward.


Paragraph 10
"...In 2005 researcher Susan Corey wanted to see what the result of studies of marijuana on humans was."

That sounds really awkward, as well.. I was going to suggest something else, to try and help, so I went up to read more of the paragraph than what i had (a few lines passed the quoted statement), and discovered that the entire paragraph is slightly flow restricting. Try some rewording, play with how you have the sentence structured. It's got lots of potential.

Paragraph 12
"...his research completely flies in the face of the “gateway” theory because it implies that activation of the CB1 receptors actually makes cocaine less pleasurable and less addictive."

This made me laugh, haha it was funny to me. Just because it seems to suggest we should all go buy some cocaine and some marijuana -- because marijuana makes the coke less addictive. Lol. Not at all insultin you dude, if it sounds like i am, I'm seriously laughing my ass off over here. That sentence is awesome -- but from a paper stand point, should probably get changed hahaha.



Other than that man, i loved this. Its very clear that you've spent a tonne of time researching this subject. I can honestly say I learned a tonne about the subject by reading this, so you've accomplished one of your goals - someone learned something!

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