“Legalization of Marijuana” For many years now there has been a constant argument over whether or not the medicinal uses of marijuana are enough to overlook the side effects of the drug and make it legal for medical use in the United States. To many people, when they think of the plant marijuana, technically known as Cannabis Sativa, or hear the phrase “legalization of marijuana”, they tend to only think of the addict smoking it for a high and not the person using it as a medicine. However, many people, all around the world, including the United States benefit not only from the medical uses of the plant, but also from many others. For example, to an AIDS or cancer patient, this is the plant that fights nausea and appetite loss or to the nutritionist, in which its’ seed is second only to the soybean in nutritional value, and is a source of cooking oil and vitamins. Finally, to the paper or cloth manufacturer, it is the plant that provided much of our paper and clothing for hundreds of years and produces four times more fiber per acre than trees.Before making any sort of determination of whether or not marijuana should be legal or illegal, one needs to know some basic facts about the plant. Lester Grinspoon, M.D. and James B. Bakalar, authors of the book “Marihuana: The Forbidden Medicine”, note,” Most botanists agree that there are three species of Cannabis: Cannabis sativa, the most widespread of the three, is tall, gangly, and loosely branched, growing as high as twenty feet; Cannabis indica is shorter, about three or four feet in height, pyramidal in shape and densely branched; Cannabis ruderalis is about two feet high with few or no branches” (Grinspoon and Bakalar, Pg.1). They also say, “Cannabis has become one of the most widespread and diversified of plants. It grows as weed and cultivated plant all over the world in a variety of climates and soils” (Grinspo...
