PRAIRIE DOC®
  • Home
  • About
  • People
  • TV
  • Perspective
  • Donate
  • Friends/Sponsors of the Prairie Doc
  • Radio and Podcasts
  • Contact
  • Foundation
  • Prairie Doc Publishing

Healing or Harming with Marijuana 

2/20/2017

 
​By Richard P. Holm, MD

Just about 4000 years ago, Chinese writings explained the medicinal powers of what is now called marijuana or cannabis, describing its power to help arthritis, gout, malaria, nausea, and psychological stress, along with its intoxicating/recreational properties. The use of cannabis for medicinal and recreational purposes eventually spread to India and then Persia, often used by various cultures during religious ceremonies. From there cannabis spread to Europe about the time of the middle ages.


In the 1500s and 1600s the Spanish and English brought marijuana to the new world for medical purposes, and, alongside tobacco, became a huge commercial crop. The fibrous cannabis plant was good for making rope. In the late 1800s marijuana lost popularity for use as material for rope and as a medicine for pain, but in the 1920s, Cannabis re-emerged in jazz clubs as a recreational drug. At the time, it was thought of as a better alternative to alcohol since cannabis users didn’t seem as disruptive to the community. 


During the prohibition era of the 1930s, the US Bureau of Narcotics considered marijuana as addictive and they made it illegal along with alcohol. Further, the US Controlled Substance Act of 1970 defined marijuana as a schedule 1 drug putting it in the same category as heroin and LSD, claiming high abuse potential and no medicinal use. Although these claims have changed, the US law remains on the books. During the Obama administration, the Department of Justice was directed to relax prosecution of marijuana rule-breakers while allowing state rules to supersede the US law. 

Questions about cannabis remain since scientific experimentation for medicinal use has been limited due to legal restrictions. Are there legitimate medical uses for cannabis, or any of its chemical derivatives for seizures in children, chronic pain syndrome, glaucoma, appetite stimulation in wasting diseases, and nausea and malaise in cancer patients? 

Is it right to restrict recreational use of marijuana when we accept alcohol use in this society? If we require cannabis only for medicinal use, are we limiting access for those who can afford a physician; making physicians unhappy gatekeepers for this drug; and making the cost of legitimate cannabis outrageously priced along with almost every other prescription medicine? 

We know there is abuse potential with cannabis, just like with alcohol; and that driving intoxicated with cannabis increases crashes, even if only half as much as alcohol. Also, we know excess marijuana dulls and injures minds, especially when young and undeveloped. Would legalizing cannabis worsen or, with better laws and enhanced regulation, lessen these problems?

Legalizing marijuana is a very interesting issue worthy of open-minded discussion.

    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Subscribe to Newsletter
Picture
PRAIRIE DOC® MEDIA IS A PART OF HEALING WORDS FOUNDATION.

Healing Words Foundation logo
  • Home
  • About
  • People
  • TV
  • Perspective
  • Donate
  • Friends/Sponsors of the Prairie Doc
  • Radio and Podcasts
  • Contact
  • Foundation
  • Prairie Doc Publishing