One Way Or Another

SENDING THE WRONG SMOKE SIGNALS

Medicinal Marijuana Causes More Harm Than Good

When does medicine become poison?

Even if it does not necessarily cure the illness, medicine gives a
better quality of life to someone who is chronically ill.

The risks associated with smoking marijuana outweigh the possible
medical benefits.

The Drug Enforcement Administration reported that a person who smokes
"five joints a week may be taking in as many cancer-causing chemicals
as someone who smokes a full pack of cigarettes every day."

It is strange that a society which condemns smoking so vehemently
should be so eager to allow seriously ill people to smoke a drug
known to cause serious health defects.

Smoking a marijuana cigarette every other day for a year caused the
white blood count to be 39 percent lower than normal according to a
study done by Columbia University.

White blood cells are an integral part of the human immune system.
They protect us from viruses and other foreign bodies that may cause diseases.

If marijuana is prescribed to critically ill people, including AIDS
patients, it would harm an immune system that is already compromised.
It would leave the patient at even greater risk for serious illnesses.

The legalization of medical marijuana is unnecessary. The Food and
Drug Administration has approved medicines that are made of THC, the
chemical that studies have found to relieve nausea and vomiting
caused by chemotherapy and assists with loss of appetite in AIDS patients.

It is available in a pill called Marinol. This is a much safer way to
receive the benefits of marijuana without having to suffer the
consequences of smoking the drug.

Smoking marijuana is harmful to a person's health. Sandra Bennett,
the director of the Northwest Center for Health and Safety, said that
only 66 of the 483 chemicals found in marijuana have a medicinal
value, whereas the rest of the chemicals present could be detrimental
to a patient's health. Bennett said that smoking marijuana will not
necessarily give the person the same benefits taking the medication would.

"Smoking marijuana is clearly harmful, especially in people with
chronic conditions, and is not an ideal drug delivery system,"
according to a 1999 Institute of Medicine report.

"Plants are of uncertain composition, which renders their effects
equally uncertain, so they constitute an undesirable medication."

Marijuana is an addictive drug.

In 1999, more than 200,000 Americans received substance abuse
treatment for marijuana abuse and dependence according to the DEA.

If a doctor prescribes marijuana to their patient, the patient self-
medicates so there is no way to regulate what happens once a doctor
prescribes the drug.

Isn't the point of medicine to prolong life, not to cut it short?
Although marijuana may have certain medicinal properties, it is not
an appropriate substance to be prescribed to patients.