Marijuana

            There are two sides of marijuana being used for medical purposes.
             people think it is great and say it will help the pain go away. Other .
             people .
             believe it is a bad idea and become additive over time. Many .
             propositions .
             and court cases have contributed to marijuana use. A popular one is .
             Proposition 215. This is a medical marijuana initiative. The biggest .
             argument is that there is no real evidence that smoked marijuana is .
             more .
             effective than any other available treatment (McCaffery). It has been .
             said .
             that marijuana is a temporary relief medicine for diseases such as .
             AIDS, .
             Cancer, Strokes, and so on. The main reason why it is said to help .
             these .
             patients that have acquired these sicknesses is because the treatment .
             called .
             Chemotherapy. Chemotherapy is a long tedious process and it really .
             takes a .
             toll on the recipient of this treatment. There is a chance that this .
             process .
             can cure or prolong the patients life. But there is a price to pay for .
             having to have this done to their bodies. The chemotherapy has side .
             effects .
             and the one that the marijuana helps is the vomiting. It helps the .
             patient .
             to keep their food down and it gives them a hunger so they don't waste .
             away .
             to nothing. .
             Marijuana has been around for over 5,000 years and has been used in .
             many .
             different ways (Zeller 20). Greeks and Romans made medicines from this. .
             Americans did not start to "get high" until the 1900s, and then it was .
             legal. .
             Marijuana became illegal in 1937, under the Marijuana Tax Act. This .
             restricted marijuana use everywhere in the United States. Strict .
             regulations .
             governing cultivation of the plant made its production impractical. .
             New .
             synthetic drugs caught the fancy of physicians and marijuana was used .
             less .
             frequently. In 1942, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics convinced the .
             U.S. .
             Pharmacopedia to remove the drug from its listing. .
             During the 1960s "hippies" and "flower children" used this drug to show .
             how .
             mature and independent they were, even though it was illegal (Zeller .