For years research groups, certain state governments, pharmaceutical companies, and even some physicians have battled with the federal government over the legalization of the marijuana plant for medicinal purposes. A large amount of research has been devoted to both sides of the argument, and has caused a national debate on whether or not the marijuana plant should be legalized. In recent years, the pro-side has come up with several other benefits of marijuana, but none that have proved to be as important as the medicinal uses of marijuana. Due to the fact that the medicinal uses outweigh all of the other arguments, it is what should have been debated over the most, but wasn't.
Starting with the pro-side, very little of their argument had to do with the medicinal uses of marijuana. Although they did bring up many interesting aspects of the industrial uses of marijuana, they overlooked the obvious. The only thing they said about the medicinal uses was "It has been used to treat Glaucoma and several other illnesses." They did not go into any detail about how it helps Glaucoma, or even mention any other specific medical benefits. When researching Glaucoma, one would learn that the other treatments of Glaucoma have several toxic side effects. These effects range from changing one's eye color to damaging their liver and kidneys. In neurology, many doctors want to prescribe marijuana to people under deep psychological stress. They believe marijuana aids psychological perspective, which helps with relieving stress. Also, marijuana can be particularly valuable for the relief of neuralgia, a head pain that is caused by overwhelming nerve disturbance. In gynecology, many women find that marijuana relieves menstrual cramps or dysmenorrhea. In cancer research, the Medical College of Virginia discovered marijuana to be incredibly successful in reducing many types of tumors, both benign and malignant.
