Considering the research of the medicinal values of marijuana, much has already been done, yet there is still much to be done. The United States government has been against researching the positive values of marijuana for as long as prohibition has been in effect, and only supported studies researching the harmful effects of marijuana abuse. Regardless, many scientists and doctors have done private research and various studies, and found that marijuana has many medicinal values. In a book titled Marihuana: an Old Medicine of the Future, Dr. Lester Grinspoon states, “More than 7,600 annual deaths and 70,000 hospitalizations caused by NSAIDs

In California and Arizona initiatives have been passed to legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes, yet full legalization for medical use is still far away. It must be taken to the federal level. Unless federal laws change, American patients will have no freedom to use their prescription pot without fear of being labeled and treated as criminals. There is hope, however, that things are going in the right direction. On May 21, the National Institute of Health announced a new policy that opens the door to proper scientific research on the medical potential of marijuana. The government does have compassion after all. There have been signs of this in the past, such as when DEA Judge Francis Young stated “It would be unreasonable, arbitrary, and capricious for DEA to continue to stand between those sufferers and the benefits of this substance.”(Young, 1988, p.1). However, not everyone shared his views, and prohibition continued, and marijuana remained a schedule 1 drug, closed to medical research. Depriving the terminally ill from effective treatments due to age-old prohibition needs to stop. Citizens of America need to take action, and stop Congress from deciding which medications are effective. It’s time for a change.

So, what’s stopping the legalization of medicinal marijuana? There are plenty of reasons for this, aside from federal laws and the current scheduling of the drug. Some argue that it is due to the governments’ lengthy and successful prohibition of marijuana. Never before has any prohibition had so much success, and they fear that legalization of medical use will lead to full legalization for recreational use. It very well may, but is it such

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