Should marijuana be decriminalized and/or legalized? Should it be used for medical reasons? Are there negative effects from its use or are there positive benefits which should allow limited usage for medical purposes? This debate has been going on for a long time and has created a lot of confusion in many countries. The Senate of Canada has entered the debate with full force declaring that marijuana should be legalized. People think that the time is right for marijuana to finally be decriminalized. A decision needs to be made and it has to be well thought out because once they legalize it is difficult to make it illegal again. .
Many things have been said about the use of marijuana. But, what are the facts and what are the myths? The facts have to be separated from the fiction. It has been said that marijuana has no medical properties whatsoever. This fact is not true. Marijuana has been effective in reducing nausea induced by cancer chemotherapy, marijuana also helps aids patients and people with glaucoma. marijuana is not entirely safe, but its dangers have been blown out of proportion. Another myth is that marijuana cigarettes are more damaging to the lungs than tobacco. A single joint contains the same amount of tar and other substances as approximately four to six filtered cigarettes so if you smoke twenty-five to thirty cigarettes a day witch is the average and someone else has say two joints a day who is doing more damage to their lungs? .
So how did the possession and use of marijuana become a crime if the negative side effects have been exaggerated, and the positive medical effects have been ignored? There have been many references to marijuana and its useful effects. Marijuana has been used in history to treat illnesses including, anorexia, asthma, nausea, pain, glaucoma, epilepsy, depression, migraine, inflammation, hypertension, insomnia and cancer. .
Knowing the beneficial uses and knowing the history of how it was only in the past hundred years in Canada that it became a legal offence, marijuana should be decriminalized and used for medical and special purposes.
