There’s currently, and will probably be for a great while, debate surrounding the therapeutic use of cannabis and the chemical components which can be derived from it. There are lots of cogent and rational arguments in support of the plant’s medicinal properties, and there are certainly a couple of compelling reasons for allowing people to choose this treatment path instead of any other. The largest obstacle facing the proponents of medical marijuana is just a frustrating tangle of politics.
In the United States of America, at the least at a federal level, cannabis is illegal. It’s prohibited to grow, possess, sell, or choose the plant. Stiff penalties are routinely imposed for the majority of infractions of the prohibition from the plant.
Individual state governments may have enacted their very own legislation which decriminalizes as well as legalizes the substance, but federal law is still paramount if the situation comes up Auburn Dispensary. Generally speaking, federal agencies are neither equipped nor motivated to do state level police, and so states with less strict laws governing cannabis are essentially safe places for patients.
At the root of the issue is the perceived therapeutic value of cannabis. Everything hinges upon the determination of actual medicinal benefit. The prohibition against cannabis is codified in the Drug Enforcement Agency’s scheduling of it, which is based on the potential health advantages of a substance.
Many people take trouble with the scheduling and its results. They ask why cocaine and anabolic steroids are thought to possess greater medicinal value than cannabis. They realize that the more proprietary and complicated the names get, the less of a problem the Drug Enforcement Agency has with them. While this can be a small wild conspiracy theory to see some kind of collusion between the law enforcement agencies and the major pharmaceutical companies, you can find people who maintain that something very much of this sort is going on.
And so the knot is tied. It’s difficult allowing patients to choose cannabis as cure option since the plant is illegal. The plant is illegal as it is recognized as to possess no significant medicinal value. There’s research which contradicts this claim, but it is not considered compelling enough evidence by policy makers.
Interestingly enough, the question of the legal status of cannabis may become resolved for more economic and practical reasons. The social obstacle to mainstream acceptance of cannabinoids is closely linked with the illicit nature of the plant. This can be a facet of the so called War On Drugs started many years ago and which includes proven incredibly expensive and completely ineffective. Abandoning this “war” would ease everyone’s problems, from the federal accountants to the chemotherapy patients who would like to stop vomiting for a while.
As more and more evidence mounts to counter the Drug Enforcement Agency’s assertion that cannabis has no medical benefit, public opinion changes. The states which may have enacted medical marijuana legislation haven’t degenerated into mindless, drug addled chaos. There’s an increasing feeling that this movement is important and compassionate, and so it will achieve the end.