There’s currently, and will likely be for a great while, debate surrounding the therapeutic use of cannabis and the chemical components which is often derived from it. There are numerous cogent and rational arguments in support of the plant’s medicinal properties, and there are certainly a number of compelling reasons for allowing people to select this treatment path as opposed to any other. The greatest 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 is prohibited to develop, possess, sell, or choose the plant. Stiff penalties are routinely imposed for almost all infractions with this prohibition against the plant.
Individual state governments could have enacted their particular legislation which decriminalizes or even legalizes the substance, but federal law continues to be paramount if the situation comes up Cannabis Dispensary Near Auburn WA. Broadly speaking, federal agencies are neither equipped nor motivated to do state level law enforcement, and so states with less strict laws governing cannabis are essentially safe places for patients.
At the basis of the problem 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, that will be based on the potential health benefits of a substance.
Many people take trouble with the scheduling and its results. They ask why cocaine and anabolic steroids are thought to own greater medicinal value than cannabis. They notice that the more proprietary and complicated the names get, the less of a challenge the Drug Enforcement Agency has with them. While this might be a tiny wild conspiracy theory to see some type of collusion between the law enforcement agencies and the major pharmaceutical companies, you will find those who maintain that something greatly of that sort is going on.
Therefore the knot is tied. It is difficult to allow patients to select cannabis as cure option since the plant is illegal. The plant is illegal since it is recognized as to own no significant medicinal value. There’s research which contradicts this claim, but it’s 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 tied to the illicit nature of the plant. This is a facet of the so called War On Drugs started many years back and which has proven incredibly expensive and completely ineffective. Abandoning this “war” would ease everyone’s problems, from the federal accountants to the chemotherapy patients who just want 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 have not degenerated into mindless, drug addled chaos. There’s a growing feeling that this movement is important and compassionate, and so it will succeed in the end.