A prominent
neurosurgeon, Gupta’s recent message was contrary to his earlier stand against
the legalization of pot way back in 2009 when he even penned down an article in
TIME magazine titled ‘Why I would Vote No to Pot’.
However, Gupta
seemed to have changed his view completely and believes medical marijuana can
help the mankind immensely. His altered stand could be observed in his latest
article supporting the weed for its medical uses on CNN’s website. That’s for
sure good news for all those still ‘trying’ to have their marijuana
registration in Michigan completed.
It was only after he
researched through the papers from smaller countries that he could gain generous
idea what marijuana is exactly all about.
Marijuana has been
long listed as a banned substance by Drug Enforcement Agency; stating it to be
bereft of any kind of medicinal benefits. Also, the strain has been always
believed to carry high potential of abuse.
Dr. Gupta realized
after conducting in depth research that all the aspersions are fallacies and
based on limited scientific proofs.
It’s nothing more
than pure imprudence on the part of the society to keep mankind bereft of the medical
uses of the drug, for such a long time. Needless to say, widespread adoption of
medical cannabis in Michigan and several other states has also forced experts
and journalists to take a second look at everything they’ve said over the last
few years, or decades (in Gupta’s case).
Media and some of
the anti-weed activists have not helped in improvement of the situation either.
It’s more akin to intentionally keeping the US in dark for as long as 70 years.
Dr. Gupta further
adds that it was for the basic reason that administrators in the past were
unable to comprehend the chemical composition and effects of drug on human body
that they proposed to list it in the category of schedule 1 substance. The lack
of knowledge about marijuana led to its alienation from the society. Can you
imagine today how the little world around you would be if there were no legal
provisions for marijuana registration in Michigan.
Even though,
researchers didn’t come across any kind of evil effects (in terms of addiction
playing on the parallel lines as cocaine and morphine) marijuana wasn’t still
legalized.
Marijuana leads to
dependence in only around 9% to 10% of its adult users in comparison to 25% of
heroin users.
Also, there are no
withdrawal symptoms associated with the drug in comparison to others mentioned
before and therefore, it makes no justified case for the banning of marijuana
on the validation that it is addictive in nature. Marijuana gives no
life-threatening complications.
However, the above
reasoning doesn’t rationalize complete harmfulness of marijuana and therefore,
shouldn’t be used by young and growing brains for the reason that it can
diminish the IQ level in them.
Medical Benefits
Marijuana’s medical
uses are numerous and many patients have benefitted from the healing properties
of the wonder weed. Dr. Gupta further explained how he discovered several other
benefits of the drug after going through the research papers published between
the years 1840 to 1930. The drug is of immense use when used in the cases of
neuralgia, convulsive disorders, and emaciation.
He maintains that
for the reason most of the research work on marijuana has been done with the
sole objective of exploring its harmful effects, real benefits of the drug have
remained undiscovered for long.
To anyone
researching in the field, including those who’ve been supporting medical
cannabis in Michigan, this paints a grimly distorted picture.
Challenges in The
Way of Marijuana Research
There are plentiful
challenges in front of anyone aspiring to bring upfront the right picture with
respect to the strain. The problem arises with the easy availability of the
weed. For the simple reason that marijuana is banned in most states of the US,
researchers don’t show much interest in the research work. In case, you access
some samples from the farms in Mississippi, approval is must before beginning
with the study work.
For anyone wishing
to investigate into the anti-cancerous properties of the strain, he is required
to seek approval for his proposal from National Cancer Institute and similarly
anyone for pain study has to visit the office of National Institute for
Neurological Disorders. Lastly, it is the National institute of Drug Abuse that
evaluates the proposal.
It is for the
reasons that patients are left lurking for cures which can be easily provided
by this wonderful weed.
Patients suffering
from neuropathic pain or pain from breast cancer can be benefitted by the weed
considerably.
The prospects for
legalization of medical cannabis in Michigan are fairly low today but considering the
improvement in situation in other parts of the US the situation will only
improve.
Dr. Gupta also
opines that administrators in the 18th century categorized this drug
under schedule 1 substance grouping for lack in knowledge about the product.
However, with the developments in the field of science presently much can be
achieved in the field and situation of medical marijuana can be improved
significantly.
But, the biggest
challenges that still remain are lacking infrastructure that surrounds the
study of an illegal substance and multi-level approval process.
