What are the benefits and hazards of medical marijuana Research Paper

What are the benefits and hazards of medical marijuana - Research Paper Example The federal government considers marijuana as a class one controlled substance and is, therefore, illegal to have while more than twenty states in the country have effective laws that govern the use of marijuana as a medicine. Such contradictions in the importance and illegality of the drug continue to heighten the controversy that surrounds the use of marijuana in the country. This report, therefore, discusses the benefits and the hazards of medical marijuana with the view to determining the suitability of the substance. The report presents a number of the medical benefits of the drug and compares them to the possible hazards of the substance. Such is a contribution to the raging debate on the use of the drug. Cannabis sativa also known as marijuana is a type of psychoactive drug. The drug has a number of physiological and psychoactive effects. Owing to such nervous effect, the federal government just as many other governments throughout the world banned the use of cannabis in the country. However, a number of scholars and medical practitioners began vouching for the use of the drug claiming that it presented a number of medical benefits. As such, medical marijuana has been in use in a number of state and come in various forms suitable for smoking, vaporization and ingestion in the form of a pill. However, the use of the drug and the numerous advantages it presents remain contentious. Scholars and medical practitioners continue to give varied opinions concerning the use of the drug. Supporters of the use of cannabis continue to cite a number of benefits it presents while opponents of the use of the drug allude to the numerous hazards it presents as the discussion below portrays. Key among the medical benefits of marijuana is that it contributes to the management of such serious diseases as cancer, sclerosis and AIDS among many others. Marijuana can help relieve the pain from the above diseases (Caulkins, Hawken, Kilmer & Kleiman, 2012).