Ethical Issues With Medical Marijuana Essay

There has been a debate on whether to legalize marijuana or not because of its health benefits and some of the adverse effects it has on the people using it. It is believed that marijuana helps to relieve pain in patients, it helps in giving people appetite and adding weight to people who are living with HIV and AIDS and they are losing their weight at a high rate. The contrary believe is that marijuana causes lung cancer, pneumonia, and COPD. An argument arose on whether marijuana should be categorized as Schedule 1 or not (Caulkins et al., 2015). In the United States of America, it was considered that marijuana had no medical use; it was prone to abuse by the people. Under Schedule one, it was considered a hallucinogen and its buying, usage, and trade is illegal. According to the California Medical Association, legalizing of marijuana will help change the lives of those suffering from chronic diseases.

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Those who support legalization of marijuana claim that it helps to relieve pain in sick people and change the lives of people suffering from chronic diseases (Larriviere, 2014). However, it is believed to have a high potential for abuse, and it is categorized as a hallucinogen. It can cause cancer and lung diseases, and in young people who start using it before the age of 18 years, it increases their rate of getting COPD.

Legalization is the process of making something that was considered illegal to be legal. For instance, making marijuana which was initially considered as a criminal act for its consumers to now become legal and acceptable across the states. Illegalization implies making something that was deemed legal to be illegal. For example, some states that had legalized marijuana now making its consumption to be unlawful and any of its purchase and use considered to be a criminal offense.

Drugs categorized as Substance 1 are drugs that have no impact in the medical field and are highly addictive. They are believed to be harmful with severe physical and psychological reliance on them. Hallucinogens are drugs that interfere with how one perceives his surroundings, thoughts and emotions. They cause senses and images that one may think they are real but do not exist. Marijuana, when used, may cause one to have hallucinations. According to Larriviere (2014), controlled Substance Act is the act created by American's laws to regulated sale and purchase of unlawful drugs in the United States. The materials have no acceptable medical use, are not safe for use and are highly prone to abuse. This includes marijuana which lies in Schedule 1.

In the United States, marijuana is illegal by some states have legalized it. Its llegalization is informed by the belief that marijuana has no medical use, is prone to abuse and is considered as a hallucinogenic substance. On the other hand, Canada Medical Association legalizes marijuana since they believe it can help improve the lives of those suffering from chronic diseases. Another conflict arose from the research conducted by Tia Taylor of the American College of Physicians. She believed that there were certain benefits derived from the consumption of marijuana and more harmful effects from its use (Bridgeman & Abazia, 2017). The benefits include; increase in appetite, weight gain and relief of pain. The adverse effects include; cancer, pneumonia, and damaged lungs.

According to my view, marijuana consumption is harmless, but long term usage is harmful to the human brain. It affects the development, Memory, and learning in mind. The use of marijuana should be limited to people above 25 years old because it has other health associated issues such as an increased rate of COPD. Marijuana should meet the prescribed standard as all other medications as this will ensure safety and efficiency in its use (Bridgeman & Abazia, 2017). Also, doctors who recommend marijuana use to their patients should do have a medical record of it and follow up to asses and amend the treatment plan if possible.

The Kant categorical imperative points out that there should be a moral maxim of universality. That is act only as per the maxim where you can also at the same time want it to become a universal law with no issues and contradictions raised. It is an approach to one's individual choice, ones responsibilities and duties to himself and to others.as per Kant, we check the universal legalization impact on the world. Moderate use of marijuana is in line with Kant's moral maxim and he would not push for its illegalization. This because in a world where people smoke up ones in a blue moon it would not have any much difference as compared to the current world. However, where it is proven that if taken in large and excessive amounts it would result in addiction and even possible self-harm, then everyone in the society will end up being negatively affected by its legalization (Larriviere, 2014). Kant would fight and oppose the legalization of marijuana arguing that like other any other drug, marijuana would interfere with ones obligation to respect their nature.

The duties that one has to himself is based on the Kant's categorical imperative is that one should treat himself and all other people around him as an absolute end and not as an apparent means to achieve the end. According to Kant, based on the user, marijuana use can be hardly regulated. When abused, it may result into addiction, cognitive damage or even memory loss. When one becomes an addict to marijuana, the person's actions, decision that one make becomes dependent on the use of it and rarely make decisions when not under the influence.

Kant's categorical imperative is opposed to the use of marijuana to help deal with emotional distress whether administered by a qualified physical or for one's own enjoyment. Kant states that if a person uses marijuana to help solve his emotional distress, he is using his on person and being as a means and not as an end (Bridgeman & Abazia, 2017). Marijuana only helps one escape from the realty ad in the end has its own side effects. One ends up destroying his own being, in a push to achieve a peaceful state of mind rather than using this difficult situation gain more insight to one's own problems.

This method is better because it encourages one to choose actions that he will not wish to change in case every person adopted it. People will choose a more realistic approach to select a universal plan. For example, they will vote for legalization of marijuana if it has more positive effects in people's lives. Kant's categorical imperative suggests that as a society, should the use of marijuana be occasionally used, consistently used or it's over consumption is harmful to oneself and also the people around the person.

Americans for Safe Access was formed to help standardization in the growing marijuana industry. The American Herbal Products Association and American Association for Laboratory Accreditation partner with the Americans for Safe Access as the only certification programmer (Larriviere, 2014). American for Safe Access has helped to fight for implementation of the medical cannabis law by organizing protests in every state and having marijuana care program to educate the patients and doctors on the positive effects of marijuana. Americans for Safe Access have come up with marijuana Care Certification to guide the physician in giving their patients the best available medical marijuana to use in their treatment. Marijuana Care Certification has gone online to help educate sick people, physicians, companies, and individuals who need to improve their loved ones on the usage and importance of cannabis medication.

The moral injury involves learning the ethical implications of legalizing medical marijuana. The push for legalization of marijuana was based on its medicinal benefits, but there was a date about it. Marijuana was categorized as Schedule 1, and it is a hallucinogen, so its sell and purchase was illegal in the United States since it has no adequate medical treatment. But the Canadian Medical Association views cannabis as treatment for severe medical treatment. As evidence, they said it could be used to manage acute and chronic pain resulting from nerve injury. Marijuana can be used to relieve pain and nausea caused by chemotherapy. It also helps in improving appetite and weight gain among HIV patients who have lost weight drastically.

The usage of marijuana by young adults increases their chances of taking other drugs that are prohibited in their nations. American Doctors called for research programmer, support and funding by the willing members of the society to help the researchers come up with more positive effects of medical marijuana (Larriviere, 2014). The available research results of medical marijuana state that it aids to in reduction of high intraocular pressure. However, when you smoke marijuana it acts as a source of relief in pain in patients especially those who suffer from trauma. Marijuana, despite having positive effects, it also has negative ones. They include higher possibility of getting cancer, lung problem, and infection pneumonia and you can be prone to sleekness during pregnancy.

Medical marijuana in the workplace has been linked to an increase in workplace accidents and injury when operating the machines by the workers. When workers do their various duties under the influence of marijuana, they may handle the equipment's in the workplace in the wrong way leading to their breakage or even damage some of the types of equipment. This will slow work to be done in the workplaces and replacement of broken or damaged equipment's may be costly to the company may be due to their expensive nature. This will lead to high loses in a company.

A company may also drop some of its highly productive workers due to the adverse side effects of marijuana.Some workers may suffer from cancer, pneumonia or problems related to their lungs. This may lead to low productivity in the workplace and high absenteeism caused by sickly workers. Other workers may decide to quit their job to take care of their health in a better way. Those workers who have prolonged usage of marijuana may suffer from memory loss and reduced brain development (Caulkins et al., 2015). This affects more so workers who started using marijuana long before they were 18 years of age; thus it affected their brain development. Cannabis can lead to a problem in, and therefore it is not encouraged to be used at the workplace due to its side effects. Marijuana usage in the workplace can also affect the working environment of the workers, mainly where the only worker uses marijuana.

Marijuana was used as a patent medicine in the early 19th century by the United States before it was dropped and legal penalties for possession were increasing. These legal restrictions limited the research of cannabis for academic purposes. Doctors cannot legally recommend medical cannabis since it is considered to be in Schedule 1, but according to the state laws, he may support patients for treatment. Some factors such as the prohibition of driving during the clinical trials have denied patients from trial enrollment. The three most common methods of administration of marijuana to our human body are through inhalation through smoking, inhalation through vaporization and ingestion of edible products that contain marijuana, for example, eating of cookies baked with marijuana in them (Goldsmith, et al.,2015). However, this kind of usage can influence psychoactive effects on organ such as the liver, whereby it can alter the correct functioning of the liver.

The adverse effects may include heart damage, liver problem and poor decisions in life. The short-term use of cannabis can cause impaired short-term memory and when it is taken in high quantity is distorts one's abi...