It’s a controversy that has filled news reports and medical studies for the past decade. Legalizing medical marijuana: is it a proposition solely lead by marijuana fans to legalize the drug or is it a medical health solution for extremely ill patients? California thought so when in 1996 it became the first state to legalize medical marijuana. In the past decade and a half an additional twelve states have followed in California’s footsteps and have legalized medical issued marijuana, including Colorado. Currently there are 100 medical pot shops in Colorado. While some would proudly exclaim the glory of that particular statistics, others are still focused on the negative effects that marijuana has on an individual who has been intoxicated by it. The National Institute of Health claims that marijuana increases one’s heart rate by 20-100% shortly after smoking. Not only is one’s heart rate drastically increased but an individual will most likely have distorted perceptions, impaired coordination, difficulty thinking and problems with memory. Besides the short term effects there are a variety of negative long term health effects which include serious damage to the lung, impaired cognitive ability and short-term memory loss.  

            Besides the negative affects, supports of the legalization of marijuana however say that there are many positive affects that marijuana can have on a health-impaired patient. If there is someone with HIV/AIDS, they tend to not eat, but marijuana can increase their appetite, thus helping with that problem. It would take a 160 pound person to smoke approximately 900 joints in one sitting to reach a lethal dose of marijuana. Some ask if it will not kill you than why is it even considered a problem.

But with marijuana being as main-stream as it is today, it once again returns to the debate whether it should even be accepted by society at all and thus whether it should be even be legal.  There are a variety of recognizable positive affects that marijuana has but it is still considered a drug. But what about prescription drugs such as Vicodin or Morphine and over the counter drugs like ibuprofen? Millions take these “drugs” each day. Legalizing marijuana and having it be a medical drug continues to be an unresolved conflict. It will continue to be a hot topic in the media unless an agreement is reached. Realistically this is certainly not going to happen in the foreseeable future.