2009 herald a newly elected president of the United States of America, President Barack Obama. During the campaign trail, Mr Obama has promised to stop the raid conducted by the DEA against medical marijuana dispensaries who accommodate patients with Medical marijuana recommendations. These patients with medical marijuana recommendations tend to use the services of these dispensaries to be able to smoke marijuana legally under state laws.
The view of the previous administration regarding this issue is totally the opposite of Mr. Obama’s. DEA raids dispensaries even if these dispensaries cater to the patients only with valid Medical Marijuana recommendation. The DEA still views marijuana as illegal and contraband inspite of the state laws declaring it as a medical drug.
To understand why Marijuana was classified as an illegal drug by all of the countries n the world, one must be able to understand marijuana.
Marijuana is a green, brown, or gray mixture of dried, shredded leaves, stems, seeds, and flowers of the hemp plant Cannabis sativa. Cannabis is a term that refers to marijuana and other drugs made from the same plant. Strong forms of cannabis include sinse-milla (sin-seh-me-yah), hashish (”hash” for short), and hash oil. All forms of cannabis are mind-altering (psychoactive) drugs. They all contain THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), the main active chemical in marijuana. They also contain more than 400 other chemicals.
Marijuana’s effect on the user depends on the strength or potency of the THC it contains. Most ordinary marijuana has an average of 3 percent THC. Sinsemilla (made from just the buds and flowering tops of female plants) has an average of 7.5 percent THC, with a range as high as 24 percent. Hashish (the sticky resin from the female plant flowers) has an average of 3.6 percent, with a range as high as 28 percent. Hash oil, a tar-like liquid distilled from hashish, has an average of 16 percent, with a range as high as 43 percent.
Long-term marijuana abuse can lead to addiction; that is, compulsive drug seeking and abuse despite its known harmful effects upon social functioning in the context of family, school, work, and recreational activities. Long-term marijuana abusers trying to quit report irritability, sleeplessness, decreased appetite, anxiety, and drug craving, all of which make it difficult to quit. These withdrawal symptoms begin within about 1 day following abstinence, peak at 2–3 days, and subside within 1 or 2 weeks following drug cessation.
Scientists have learned a great deal about how THC acts in the brain to produce its many effects. When someone smokes marijuana, THC rapidly passes from the lungs into the bloodstream, which carries the chemical to the brain and other organs throughout the body.
THC acts upon specific sites in the brain, called cannabinoid receptors, kicking off a series of cellular reactions that ultimately lead to the “high” that users experience when they smoke marijuana. Some brain areas have many cannabinoid receptors; others have few or none. The highest density of cannabinoid receptors are found in parts of the brain that influence pleasure, memory, thoughts, concentration, sensory and time perception, and coordinated movement.1
Not surprisingly, marijuana intoxication can cause distorted perceptions, impaired coordination, difficulty in thinking and problem solving, and problems with learning and memory. Research has shown that marijuana’s adverse impact on learning and memory can last for days or weeks after the acute effects of the drug wear off. As a result, someone who smokes marijuana every day may be functioning at a suboptimal intellectual level all of the time.
It is therefore with these medical reasons that doctors have shied away from issuing Medical Marijuana recommendations. The psychotic effect of marijuana may lead a patient who is soliciting a medical marijuana recommendation to help alleviate pain but eventually suffer brain dysfunction.
