Medical Marijuana Argument Analysis

Jayden David is a six years old who is suffering from Dravet's syndrome, “Rare and catastrophic form of childhood epilepsy.” According to Jayden’s father, Jason David, he tried everything to save his son from suffering from pain, but nothing worked. According to CNN news, “Jayden’s doctors prescribed 22 anti-seizure pills a day, which controlled the seizures but left him immobilized due to the side effects.” Jason David could not see his son suffering anymore therefore, his last hope was medical marijuana. According to CNN, "He's in pain and suffering and crying," said Jayden's father, Jason David. "You can't help him no matter what. What are you supposed to do? You have to do whatever it takes to save their life.” When Jayden got his first

In today’s medical field we often see a controversy over the use of medical marijuana, but the parents of eight year old Mykayla Comstock fully support the medical use of it. In the documentary called “Stoned Kids” we learned about Mykayla, a girl who had been diagnosed with leukemia. After going through numerous chemotherapy treatments, her parents were informed by Mykayla’s doctor that the chemotherapy was not working and a full body radiation would be the next step to take in the procedure. Mykayla’s parents didn’t want to put their child through radiation because there was another option, medical marijuana.

Charlotte's Web – Charlotte Figi had her first seizure when she was 3 months old. Over the next few months, she had frequent seizures lasting two to four hours, and she was hospitalized repeatedly. When Charlotte was three years old she had a least 300 grand mal seizures every week, one day she lost the ability to walk talk and eat. Her heart stopped a numeral of times. The doctors recommended putting her in a medically coma. Her father, Matt Figi, searched online for something similar, and found out that medical marijuana helped a boy's seizures. The family decided to give it a try. The Figi family soon heard about the Stanley brothers, one of Colorado's largest marijuana growers and dispensary owners. The six brothers were cross breeding

The last option for the hospital was to induce a coma, but Charlotte’s parents were against the idea. Finally, after many therapeutic interventions, they decided to attempt Cannabis, or marijuana. They found that researchers think cannabidiol (CBD) “quiets the excessive electrical and chemical activity in the brain that causes seizures” (2013). A marijuana strain with high CBD and low tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which causes the psychoactive “high”, is difficult to find because of the higher demand for THC’s psychoactive effects, according to the Stanley brothers, one of Colorado’s largest marijuana growers and dispensary owners (qtd. in Young 2013). Because the normal Cannabis plant is high in THC content, growers had to cross-breed repeatedly to end up with a high CBD content. Nonetheless, after finding the strain, extracting the oil, and starting her out on a small dose, her seizures stopped for eight days; subsequently, they occur two to three times per month. As reportedly the youngest applicant for medical marijuana, the high CBD, low THC marijuana extract was named “Charlotte’s web” after

During the ongoing battle of diagnosing Charlotte, she would have seizures that would last two to four hours at a time that would, at times, cause her heart to stop. The doctors that were treating Charlotte suggested to the family to allow them to try “putting Charlotte in a medically-induced coma to give her small-battered body a rest” (Young, CNN). At the peak of Charlotte’s Dravet syndrome, she was on seven medications, “some of them heavy-duty, addictive ones such as barbiturates and benzodiazepines,” which includes phenobarbital (Young, CNN). The invasive medications that Charlotte was prescribed by neurologists as well as epileptologists were causing her to cognitively decline; Charlotte’s mother explained to CNN that “Charlotte had lost the ability to walk, talk, and eat” (Young, CNN.com). The severity of Charlotte’s Dravet syndrome became so lethal that her parents could not watch her go through this ongoing pain so they agreed to put a do-not-resuscitate order into her file. For years, Charlotte’s mother had voted against the legalization of medical marijuana until she had discovered a story of a young boy with the same condition as Charlotte who had improved

The article “Marijuana Stops Child’s Severe Seizures” by Saundra Young reveals an unusual solution to a child’s illness. Starting from a young age, Charlotte Figi started getting frequent seizures. The seizures lasted from two to four hours and often required Charlotte to be hospitalized. After doing several tests, the doctors were not able to find the exact cause for Charlotte’s seizures. They eventually diagnosed Charlotte with Dravet Syndrome. Following the diagnosis, the doctors decided to start treatment which proved to be unsuccessful. The next step they took was to implement a ketogenic diet which worked for two years with some side effects. Finally, Charlotte’s parents decided to try using medical marijuana that has low THC levels. The medical marijuana used proved to be successful in reducing Charlotte’s seizures drastically.

At this point in her life she was using a wheelchair, had heart attacks and had trouble speaking. After trying different medications to control Charlottes seizures, with no results, her mother Page, turned to alternative medicine. She consumes oil, extracted from a medical marijuana strand known as "Charlotte's Web". Now, two year later she walks, talks, and feeds her self. This particular strain is high in cannabinoids or CBDs, (CBS News).

We expect that kids will practice risky behaviors, but it’s our job to protect them if we can. There’s not a way to predict which children will have a tragic outcome from beginning to use marijuana and other drugs.

Maine voters faced five referendum questions. The approved four, which will legalize recreational marijuana use, increase school funding through a tax surcharge on high earners, increase the state’s minimum wage and implement ranked-choice voting. Voters rejected expanded firearm background checks. Many people have different viewpoints on all of these questions. Governor Paul LePage voiced his opinion that this system of how questions get on the ballot needs reform. Some Mainer agree with this, but the results of these five questions show mixed reviews. Stone’s Chapter on “Liberty” ties into the idea of the referendum in Maine, because it is the way our voices are heard on a ballot we vote on.

Legalizing MariJuana can be dangerous, unhealthy and a bad message for kids. For a substance considered unhealthy cannot be produced and distributed with the help of the state, because the goal of the state is to protect citizens’ health and not to expose them to risk. Also the easy availability of drugs will create new consumers rather than rescue the current ones. It can also be dangerous because a drug user cannot make an informed and rational decision to continue using drugs because the use of the drug eliminates that user’s ability to think logically. Nor can they disseminate themselves from drug taking. Furthermore, legalizing marijuana can be a bad message to children. In the “rise of health care costs” state, violence associated with the use of drugs, neglect of children by drug-addicted parents, and other third party effects. And the frequent use of drugs will give a message to the children saying it 's acceptable. Therefore, making the child do the same as his/her parents. In conclusion, legalizing marijuana can be dangerous, unhealthy and a bad message for kids.

Charlotte’s epilepsy is not the only condition for which medical marijuana can be used. First, the website ProCon.org states that medical marijuana is useful for sufferers of Alzheimer’s Disease, anorexia, AIDS, cancer, Crohn’s Disease, and many others (For Which Symptoms, para. 1, procon.org). Studies show that drugs, such as cocaine, and alcohol inhibit the growth of new brain cells. However, research conducted at Scripps Research in San Diego demonstrates that marijuana encourages neural growth. THC, one of the primary beneficial compounds found in cannabis, eases pain, minimizes

The scholarly letter Medical Marijuana first states the case study “Case Study-Mother and Son: The Case of Medical Marijuana” a son named JJ who has a severe mental illness wanting to use medical marijuana. Next, Peter J. Cohen takes his side of the argument. He states that like all other drugs, medical marijuana should go through many extensive tests and approved by FDA before giving to any more patients. So, he

Bringing together experts they asked the question “Knowing the impact alcohol and tobacco have had on public health, and if you could have written the tobacco control bill 150 years ago or the 1933 law repealing Prohibition, what provisions to protect children would you have included?” (“NFIA launches campaign”, 2010, p. 5). Opponents of legalization also argue the “gateway” effect, asserting that the younger one begins using marijuana, the more likely he or she will be to use cocaine or heroin as an adult. However, proponents highlight that in 2006, eight out of 10 states where marijuana is legal saw a decrease in teen use of marijuana over a seven year period. In addition, advocates of legalization have shown that while marijuana was the cause of 279 deaths between 1997 and 2005, there were 11,687 deaths from 17 different prescription medicines (Anonymous, 2010). Beyond these more obvious arguments, legalization would bring new issues to the forefront. Employers would be faced with revamping drug testing policies and the health insurance agencies would have prescription and treatment ramifications to deal with. Weighing the arguments and implications is a daunting task.

Today, marijuana is being rediscovered for its medicinal purposes. One such case is the plant named “Charlotte’s Web”. This plant is named after Charlotte Figi, a 5-year-old girl with Dravet’s syndrome, which caused her to have up to 300 grand mal seizures every day (“Charlotte’s Web”). Charlotte’s Web is a special strain of marijuana that has all the THC removed from it, which is the psychoactive ingredient that can cause seizures, and it has high levels of cannabidiol (CBD) in it, which has anti-seizure properties in it (“Charlotte’s Web”). Charlotte’s father said that “A year ago, she could only say one word… Now she says complete sentences” (“Charlotte’s Web”). Because it is legal at a federal level, families from across the nation have to uproot their lives and move to Colorado where they can find the plant, “It includes… families willing to move from Japan and the Philippines” to get these life-saving drugs to their children because the fact is, for most children with the syndrome, without this life-saving drug, they would die before reaching adulthood (“Charlotte’s Web”). Charlotte’s Web is a lifesaving and life changing drug for those who get to use it, yet we are resisting access to it and making families be torn away from the place they

In today's society medicinal or not, marijuana is portrayed as a dangerous drug comparable to heroin and cocaine. Marijuana is more commonly used by teenagers but the age consumption varies. The Legalization of Medicinal Marijuana nationally not only would it help everyone perceive it’s true applications, but to prove that marijuana is just more than a drug, it’s a medicine. Legalized, the awareness of medicinal marijuana benefits would be apprehended better. A friend of mine named Chris has suffered from epilepsy and brain cysts ever since he was seven, doctors told him that he wouldn’t live to be past 20. Chris is now 25, passed his life expectancy, is happy and feels perfectly fine. Ever since he moved to Colorado from Pennsylvania and started