We Need to Change the Laws Regarding Medical Marijuana
             Since 1937 marijuana has been illegal in our country for all purposes. From that time many Americans have thought of it as a dangerous drug, and its medicinal value has been disregarded simply because it has been labeled as an illegal substance. Recent studies show that marijuana is indeed safe and has many modern medicinal applications. It is proven to be beneficial in the alleviation of symptoms of AIDS, glaucoma, cancer, and epilepsy-only to name a few. I feel that the majority of the public does not know all the facts about the medical use of marijuana. Without substantial public support, marijuana will continue to be prohibited by the government and many patients will continue to not receive necessary treatment.
             Perhaps the biggest misconception of marijuana is that it is not safe. On the contrary, marijuana is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known. No one has ever died from an overdose, and it has a wide variety of therapeutic uses (4). According to Dr. Lester Grinspoon, Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, "marijuana is one of the least toxic substances in the whole pharmacopoeia" (3). It is also one of the most tested therapeutic drugs; historical records show that marijuana was a prescribed drug throughout China since the 2700s B.C. (3). To this day, more is known about the therapeutic uses of marijuana than about most prescription drugs. Marijuana has been tested by millions of people for thousands of years. In all that time, there is not a single reported death caused by consuming marijuana (3). As opposed to the crude methods of smoking the drug, marijuana can be given in the much safer pill form or by an inhaler. This already safe drug can be taken using a pill form or inhaler since it is known that smoking marijuana causes lung damage.
             The government used to claim that marijuana kills brain cells. Gov...