A Matter of Marijuana

The overall theme of my English class was "wellness,' and our final paper was a research paper on a topic that is somehow related to wellness. Here is the paper I wrote....

A Matter of Marijuana

Meagan and her husband, Ken, took their six month old daughter, Adelyn, from Maine to Boston, searching for some kind of cure for her epileptic seizures. Elizabeth Theile, the couple’s second neurologist, recommended they start researching for medical cannabidiol (CBD), which is the main constituent known to help with seizures and is found in the marijuana plant. Of the hundreds of compounds found in the plant, THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) is the psychoactive component and CBD is the predominant non-psychoactive compound. Families who lived in a state where cannabis sativa is illegal were out of luck, “most couldn’t medicate their children with cannabis in their home states without risking arrest for trafficking or child abuse” (Hampton 31-57). Convinced CBD was Adelyn’s only chance, Meagan moved her family to Colorado to treat her daughter’s epilepsy. Struggling with which pharmaceutical drug to try was no longer an option. Adelyn had tried them all and none of them worked. After beginning the use of a CBD-oil concentrate, Adelyn’s seizures slowed down dramatically. Thiele, the neurologist who first recommended CBD to Maegan, said, “I have several kids in the study who’ve been completely seizure free for over a year” (Hampton 31-57). Adelyn’s is not the only life being changed by this plant medicine. Having recently directed their attention towards marijuana, science has gone around the legal barriers that surround it, and found out ways it can enter the body to cure cancer, relieve anxiety, reduce epileptic seizures, and activate physical healing in the human body that could potentially save a person’s life by helping them get off ineffective pharmaceutical drugs with dangerous side effects.

There are risks regarding the inconsistency of products derived from the marijuana plant and sold in dispensaries in legal states. Described in a recent National Geographic article, “Weed,” parents fear their children may get high from the THC levels in medicinal marijuana. THC and CBD work synergistically to potentiate the healing effects in the body. CBD is a chemical found in the marijuana plant that has no psychoactive properties. There is no way to know how much CBD or THC is in the marijuana plant that is purchased illegally. This is why many people think marijuana use should be legal: to eliminate the fear and confusion around proper doses. Responsibility for the effects of marijuana falls into the hands of the parents who are treating their children (or the adults treating themselves) with medical marijuana. People using the medicine need to read labels and figure out the most effective dose for themselves through trial and error. Access to the benefits of marijuana should not depend on the acceptance of those against it. Marijuana should be legalized so that the people who use it successfully can purchase it without fear of going to prison. Side effects of marijuana have been a concern, but the positive effects far outweigh the negative when someone’s life is on the line.

There have been discoveries of marijuana in ancient tribes, religions, and cities in other parts of the world. As for America, and hundreds of locations around the world, it has been growing wild and has been used medicinally for centuries. Once powers rejected the psychoactive properties of marijuana, scientific interest fell away, “even into the middle of the 20th century, science still didn’t understand the first thing about marijuana” (Hampton 31-57). Research into marijuana began subtly in 2700 B.C., but the research into CBD only started around 1940. Despite the recent research into CBD, science is now starting to prove how CBD works in the body and how it physically heals the body. Recently, “preclinical studies suggest beneficial anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antiemetic, antipsychotic, [...] and antiepileptic effects” (“Medical Marijuana” 4-23). The human body has receptor sites for the chemical components contained in cannabis. Receptor sites for marijuana are part of the human endocannabinoid system. From what science has discovered and documented,“the available literature suggests that the endocannabinoid system may be targeted to suppress the evolution and progression of breast, prostate and bone cancer as well as the accompanying pain syndromes”(Guindon 1447-1463). When there are such obvious facts about the beneficial connection between cannabis and the human body,  it’s silly to think of how many people still reject it.

Laws against marijuana haven’t stopped desperate families from moving their lives to a state where marijuana is legal. However, laws are is shifting and going through dramatic changes as the discovery of the medical miracles associated with cannabis spread across America. While marijuana is labeled as a poison in many states, other states have regulated it for medical and/or recreational purposes. Political leaders and the Food and drug Administration (FDA) have been involved with the laws regarding marijuana, made taxes for it, and made it illegal to purchase or have in possession without a doctor’s prescription. In 1970 cannabis was classified as harmful, containing no medical benefit, and unsafe. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has included marijuana as a schedule I drug; therefore, it is considered one of the most dangerous drugs available, “The fact that it’s a schedule I drug and it’s so tightly regulated and prohibited by the DEA makes it very difficult to do research”(Holland). Although, for centuries, people considered marijuana as a highly dangerous drug, they have finally been given reliable information by medical professionals suggesting otherwise. Modern medical research has concluded that “In animals and humans, it is virtually impossible to induce fatal toxicity, and no human fatalities resulting from cannabis ingestion have been documented to date”(“Medical Marijuana” 4-23). Long before there were harsh regulations around cannabis, it was used as a medicine around the globe. Since 1975, when Alaska legalized the possession of weed only in someone’s home, many other states, such as Washington, Oregon, Colorado, and Florida have legalized medical and recreational uses of marijuana. It is legal to possess certain amounts at home and away from home depending on the state’s individual laws. If laws keep tight restrictions on the use of medical marijuana, then the people who could be saved by it may never even see the day it’s legalized. Political leaders who have previously been against drugs are forming new opinions on the matter of marijuana.

Through research, studies, and interviewing patients, it has been proven that cannabis can enter the body effectively by smoking, eating, or vaporizing the plant. Because everyone’s body is different, everyone has their own preference that best agrees with their individual body type. Different effects occur with different intakes of the medicine, “For instance, smoked and vaporized cannabis requires heat, which may alter the putative antiepileptic substances[...]”(Maa and Figi). However, when the cannabis is vaporized it’s not heated to the point of combustion, it is only heated until steam is produced which is then inhaled. Unlike smoking or vaporizing, which is very short acting in the body, edible THC may last a few days as it diffuses out of the fat that has stored it in the body. Upon ingestion of edibles, the experience of THC comes on slower and lasts much longer; however, “Inhalation is the primary route of cannabis administration and provides rapid and efficient drug delivery from the lungs to the brain”(America’s Nurses 4-23). Many people with anxiety or PTSD use the smoking strategy, as it is fast and effective with reliable outcomes. On the other hand, eating extracts of CBD are the most popular for epileptic patients. When the CBD is extracted, it is highly concentrated into a thick paste either by being boiled down, infused into an oil or extracted by CO2 using a pressure method.

Since scientific research started focusing more on CBD in the marijuana plant, certain strains of marijuana have been created to contain very low, and almost unnoticeable traces of THC. These strains are used to treat anxiety, cancer, and epileptic patients. While children are weaned off of their meds and slowly transferred to the CBD extracts, improvements in their behavior, knowledge and capabilities have skyrocketed. Several patients who have gone from using pharmaceutical drugs to using CBD for epilepsy have reported being happier, able to speak again, and their seizures being reduced to only a few a month instead of hundreds a day. Chemotherapy for cancer patients is known for its harsh side effects. Its side effects are caused because it kills good cells along with cancer cells. Treating cancer with marijuana has proved very successful, “It can trigger the cell death of cancer cells while leaving normal cells intact”(Holland). Cancer and epilepsy patients aren’t the only people marijuana can help. For my brother, college caused him a lot of stress and anxiety. Not sure what to else to do, he started taking medication to ease his debilitating symptoms. When he came home, he wanted to get off pharmaceuticals because of the side effects. He started taking a dose of CBD as small as 10 milligrams a day. After only two days he explained that he was sleeping better and had hardly any anxiety throughout the day. He is now completely off of all pharmaceutical drugs. New discoveries are on the rise for this ancient plant, as the advancements in science, changes in social acceptability, and political standpoints continue to evolve to serve people’s needs.

It has been tested, experienced, and shown in science that marijuana, and every component of the plant, is beneficial for both saving threatened lives, and to offer a little bit of bliss. Either inhaled, eaten, steamed, boiled down or extracted, marijuana is a miracle medicine for whoever can open their mind to its healing abilities and is willing to experience it’s benefits. Whether medical or recreational, marijuana should be legalized to those who could benefit from it. Exciting things can happen when a majority embraces the wonders of something new. Marijuana cannot help the people who need it unless we allow it to. Whether we are curing cancer or just getting high, the matter of marijuana has presented itself, and science has proven what it can do. The evidence is undeniable! Now we can decide to let it heal and better the lives of those that don’t have any chance without it.

Trapped

This essay was written for a character sketch assignment. I had to pick a person that I vaguely knew and write a detailed essay on them.

Trapped

After walking outside of his white panelled house, Marvin would turn around to lock his door, then take the few steps necessary to his chair. His knees would bend quivering with old age as he sat down. Days, weeks even months would pass and I would notice Marvin spending his time outside of a locked door on his porch with nothing but a bird in it’s cage and a cigarette in his hand; not even a book to fill his time. He never showed up at the parties we invited him to or the events we held at our house. Although he was my neighbor, to me he was anonymous.

My eyes would only catch him if I was driving by in a car, golf cart, my bike, or on a run. Marvin would be sitting in his chair with his bird by his side. On the days he wasn’t there my mind would start to draw conclusions about where he was and what he might possibly doing. I’d think maybe he was running errands or went inside to eat. My mother would chime in on my thoughts and say something like, “Girls, don’t ever go to Marvin’s house by yourselves, ok? “ My sister Ruby and I would glance at each other with equally confused and curious looks on our faces.

Neither me or my family gave much regard to Marvin. He would cross my mind but very rarely. Once, for a school fundraiser,  my sister and I had to sell cookie dough. Talking to people in person, especially when trying to sell them something, was always a horrid thing for  me. Some cookie dough went to family members as they fulfilled their obligatory roles of supporting us 3rd and 5th graders. Although I had no inspiration or any sort of desire to sell the leftover dough, it had to be done. My mom and dad went with my sister and I to visit all of our neighbors in a desperate attempt to get rid of the dough. In the backseat, sat the remaining boxes full of pre-made sugar filled balls of dough. We reached the top of our private drive, drove once around the turnaround and ended up in Marvin’s driveway.

Walking to his door was something I had always imagined but had never experienced. Big overgrown plants hung over his pathway and the grass looked like it hadn’t been watered in years. We knocked on his door like testing to see if a melon was ripe. Anticipation was building up inside of me. When the door finally opened, the first thing I saw was his head of grey hair with unusual patches missing from it. Instantly a wave of new smells hit my palate. Cat litter, bird poop, dust and the leftover smell of noodles and chicken. Marvin invited us in and offered us to sit down. I walked over to his couch and sat down causing a small cloud of cat hair to rise from around the frame of my thighs. I almost coughed but held it in with the best intention of impressing him in my mind. I think I shared a similar speculation with my family that he had not opened a window in all the time he had lived in the house. After we courteously introduced ourselves, we sparked up conversation like it was common between us. Marvin’s wife sat rather quietly chiming in now and again. Words spilled out of Marvin’s mouth and smiles stretched across his face. It felt to me that the happiness and energy in his house would leave with us as we left.

As well as my family engaging in conversation with Marvin, Marvin’s birds seemed to be chatting amongst themselves as well. There were small parrots and big parrots, parakeets, cockatoos and more. They were all sitting in cages on the window sill, hanging from the ceiling and one stood taller than me taking up almost a third of their living room. After making our way through various topics of conversation, we got to discuss flavors of cookie dough. Marvin and his wife bought 3 boxes of dough and were happy to support us in our pre middle school activities.

Rather than a quick stop to get rid of our cookie dough, the visit resulted in extensive talking for nearly 3 hours; which for me as a 10 year old was as boring as it gets. We were walked to the door by Marvin, as his wife continued to sit still and mind herself just as she had for a majority of the time we were there. Marvin shook my dad’s hand and said goodbye to my sister, Ruby. When I made eye contact with Marvin as to say goodbye I noticed for the first time his bright blue eyes, like children trapped in a bird cage.