The use of marijuana for any purpose has been banned in the United States under federal law since 1970. It is considered a Schedule I drug along with cocaine and heroin, deeming it highly addictive and seen as having no medical value whatsoever. However, new research has been changing the way many states view cannabis and its potential for use in the medical field. Since 1996, 23 states have passed laws legalizing the use of marijuana for medical use with a doctor’s consent. But, why would they do that if the federal government thinks that this drug has no medical value?

There are many beneficial aspects to treatment via medical cannabis. Marijuana can be used to treat a multitude of symptoms across a vast array of diseases. The evidence suggesting that marijuana can relieve symptoms from illnesses such as multiple sclerosis, cancer, AIDS, hepatitis C, and glaucoma is overwhelming. Marijuana has been shown to relieve nausea, vomiting, and loss of appetite from patients undergoing chemo treatment, as well as AIDS and hepatitis C treatments. Marijuana can relieve symptoms caused by painful HIV-induced neuropathy. Cannabis has also been proven to reduce intra-ocular pressure in patients suffering from Glaucoma, which is imperative as prolonged swelling on the eye can lead to long-term damage and eventual blindness in the eye. Marijuana can also limit muscle spasms due to multiple sclerosis. Smoking cannabis was also deemed to prevent seizures and seizure activity caused by epilepsy. Most importantly, however, is that medical marijuana can relieve chronic pain that can be brought on by any or all of these diseases, or can be due to a completely different underlying condition.

What is even more beneficial to using marijuana for medical purposes is the fact that you cannot overdose on cannabis. While prescription painkillers cause thousands of deaths each year, there has never been a reported death via cannabis. The reason why it is impossible to overdose on marijuana is very simple: there are no cannabinoid receptors located in the parts of the brain and brainstem that control respiration. So, unlike opioids, lethal overdoses from cannabis and cannabinoids can never occur. In simpler terms, there are opioid receptors in the part of the brain that controls breathing, but there are no marijuana receptors there. So, taking too many opioids can cause a person to stop breathing, but smoking too much marijuana cannot. This is a very important concept to understand, especially this day in age when America is going through the fastest growing opioid epidemic the United States has ever seen. If marijuana was prescribed in place of opioid drugs to relieve chronic conditions, there wouldn’t be as many deaths due to opioid overdoses as there are now. People would not have the chances they have now to get addicted to prescription painkillers if cannabis was legal to prescribe.

Many people have concerns over legalizing a drug such as marijuana because they believe it is a “gateway” drug, which will cause their loved one to turn to more harmful drugs down the line. As a person who has seen first-hand the relief that comes to a patient when treated via medical cannabis, I can tell you, that is not the case. People are also concerned because researchers do not know the side effects associated with medical marijuana. As with any drug, there are always side effects. I believe that with this particular drug, the benefits greatly outweigh the risks. Medical marijuana will one day be legalized, whether America is ready for it or not. I believe that if we understand the benefits that come along with a drug like this, more people will be willing to accept it as a conventional treatment for many diseases.