To the AIDS or cancer patient, it is the plant that fights nausea and appetite loss.
second only to the soybean in nutritional value, and is a source of cooking oil and vitamins. To the paper or cloth .
manufacturer, it is the plant that provided much of our paper and clothing for hundreds of years and produces four .
times more fiber per acre than trees. To the environmentalist, it is the plant that could greatly slow deforestation, .
restore robbed nutrients by other crops, and help prevent erosion. And according to Lonnelle Aikman, "Preliminary .
findings show the drug may prove effective against glaucoma and asthma, and control such side nausea in cancer .
treatment" (158). Unfortunately, to most people in this country, it is a useless plant when it comes to economic or .
medical value. Marijuana should be legalized in the United States. In technical terms, hemp, cannabis, or for the .
average American, marijuana, it is used only for recre! .
ational purposes. I think marijuana is a plant that could save the world. In this paper I hope to reverse prejudices, .
relieve ignorance, and inform people of the known and potential therapeutic uses of this remarkable plant. .
As of today the nation stands behind three basic ideas of what to do with marijuana; legalize marijuana, make it .
legal only as a prescription drug, or keep it as it is, illegal. People who are pro-marijuana, argue that marijuana is .
considerably less harmful than tobacco and alcohol, the most frequently used legal drugs. Furthermore marijuana .
has never directly caused anyone's death. People who side with the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes .
believe that the ends justify the means. But the people who want to keep it illegal think that the medical uses do not .
outweigh the harmful side effects. .
Before deciding whether marijuana should be legal or illegal, one needs to know some basic facts. Lester Grinspoon, .
M.D. and James B. Bakalar note "most botanists agree that there are three species of marijuana; Cannabis sativa, the .
