The main goal of this paper will be to analyze the problem of marijuana and to provide the sensible opposition to the banning of medical marijuana usage; to provide the analysis of the marijuana legalization matter from medical and lawful points of view. Marijuana can damage health of people, but it also has positive effects on people and could help to cure certain diseases; therefore, these are some strong enough arguments to make the usage of marijuana legal in cases it was prescribed by a doctor for medical purposes.
It would be logical to start with the definition of the main object of the discussion. There are several names for marijuana in the Schedule 1: hemp, Indian hemp, marijuana, cannabis. Officially the term marijuana means “all parts of the plant Cannabis sativa L., whether growing or not; the seeds thereof; the resin extracted from any part of such plant; and every compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of such plant; its seeds and resin” (Cole, 12).
But all the above-mentioned facts are not the only ones that can be done out of it, in the definition wasn’t mentioned fiber, oil, sterilized seeds of the plan, that can not be germinated.
Legalization of marijuana has always been a very controversial issue. After 16 years of court battles, the DEA’s chief administrative law judge, Francis L. Young said: “Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known. It would be unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious for DEA to continue to stand between those sufferers and the benefits of this substance.” (Roman, 111)
He is absolutely right, there was not a single case when a person died because of overdose, but the number of therapeutic applications for marijuana is really big. Some most important are:
 - Relief from nausea and increase of appetite;
-Â Â Reduction of intraocular pressure;
-Â Â Reduction of muscle spasms;
-Â Relief from chronic pain.
There is a long list of diseases, where marijuana can be used as a treatment facility.
.1. AIDS. Marijuana could help when the patients suffer from the loss of appetite nausea, and vomiting, which could appear after other medications against AIDS.
2. Glaucoma. Marijuana can reduce intraocular pressure, as well lessen the pain and slow or even sometimes stop the progress of the condition. (Glaucoma is the leading cause of blindness in the United States. It damages vision by increasing eye pressure over time.)
3. Cancer. When people are treated with the help of chemotherapy, they usually suffer from such effects, like loss of the appetite, nausea and vomiting, in this cases marijuana could also be subscribed.
4. Multiple Sclerosis. Marijuana is able to reduce the muscle pain and spasms, which are the results of this disease, as well as help by tremor and unsteadiness of gait. (Multiple sclerosis is one of the main causes of neurological disability among young people and middle-aged adults in the USA.)
5. Epilepsy. Marijuana can prevent epileptic seizures in some patients.
6. Chronic Pain. Marijuana could be used to reduce pain by a wide range of injuries and diseases. (Cole, 128).
Some researches even prove, that marijuana is helpful for treating arthritis, menstrual cramps, alcohol addiction and mood disorders. So we come to the conclusion, that marijuana could help a lot of patients, but in reality only some patients are allowed to use it, after getting some special permission from the federal government. Can you imagine, that a sick person actually becomes two options to make his choice: either to continue suffering from the symptoms of his disease, or take a risk and illegally buy marijuana, but there is no guarantee, that he won’t be either arrested or fined, or get criminal records or put in prison and so on?
It would be not correct to state, that legalization of marijuana would be a simple process without any negative consequences. There is always a risk, that legalization of marijuana would result in more people getting addicted to it. On the other hand, there are enough addicted people at the moment and they cause a lot of fights and conflicts, when they need their dose immediately. Legalization in this case could serve as a serious obstacle for expansion of violence.
It is absolutely clear, that government should control marijuana, as it is a serious drug and as it is able to cause so much problems in the society, but concerning the medical purposes of marijuana, numerous facts and researches prove, that it should not be banned and patients who need it as a medicine and doctors, who offer it for such purposes as well, should not be considered criminals and compared to addicted people, who really use marijuana as a drug. There are in reality not few things that should be banned and controlled, and there is no use for doubling this number adding the ones that do not do any harm. It is only necessary to consider all the matters, connected with legalization of marijuana for medical purposes really thoroughly and work out the special laws or rules, which would guarantee help for people, who need it, and restriction for teens experiments with marijuana or serious addiction.