The papers recommended marijuana for various uses concurrent with medical thought at that time. At that point in time, medical marijuana had defiantly begun to take a stake in the scene of modern U.S.; however the hay-day of medical marijuana would be short lived. The "Marijuana Tax Act of 1937" would lead to the removal of the marijuana from the United States pharmacopoeia in 1941(Einstein 40). The tax affected the price of the marijuana, subsequently leading to the eventually demise of the prescription of marijuana. Then with complete criminalization of marijuana in 1970, medical marijuana disappeared completely, until 1996. In 1996 California lead the charge to legalize medical marijuana with a fifty-six percent vote to approve Proposition 215 officially termed the Compassion of Use act. This act provided for the removal of state-level penalties for the cultivation, use, and possession of marijuana by those that possess either a written or oral prescription from a doctor. According to Proposition 215, by decree of a physician, patients who were deemed to benefit from the use of medical marijuana by their physician due to a condition that warranted the recommendation of use then became protected by the guidelines set forth by Proposition 215 and thus exempt from any state level penalties. Since then, nine states have followed suite with the latest being Maryland earlier this fall. .
But why do thousands of people claim to use marijuana for medicinal purposes? The therapeutic effects of smoked marijuana lie in the result of the drug itself. When smoked, marijuana gives the user a "euphoric state" (Barber 87). This effect commonly termed as the "high" associated with the use of the drug is said to be the source of the medicinal properties of marijuana. However the level of the "high" can be different each time the drug is used and dependant on several things. Marijuana can differ in potency from sample to sample depending on the way in which the marijuana was grown, the way in which it was harvested and the strain of the marijuana plant that is grown(85).
