| The Cannabis Commotion An Argumentative Essay, by Hillary Nadeau Freshman Comp Wed. Nites 9/22 |
| In Lives so full of lack of sleep and packed schedules, it's no wonder people are getting sicker and sicker. Some sicknesses can be cured or at least dealt with by an assortment of prescription drugs. But something has been plaguing the women of our time and before. This sickness isn't well documented since throughout most of history, any sort of "women’s troubles" were largely dismissed or considered taboo. The sickness I am referring to is PMS, Pre-Menstrual Syndrome, and of all the medicines out there and all the half baked ideas about it, most people don't know the first thing about why it happens or how to treat it. Europe however has come up with a very controversial and seemingly effective way to treat PMS sufferers as of late. In a few short studies, Marijuana was shown to significantly cut down cramping and and irritableness in the women who had already tried every over the counter drug and home PMS remedy there is. They've tried everything from hot water bottles, to eating only dairy products, to sleeping with their legs up in the air and over half agreed that of all the remedies out there, marijuana worked the best. Women in Europe are in fact now lobbying for an allowance on marijuana use for PMS. They would like to see it legalized for the purpose of PMS relief. If this ever went into affect, it could open up doors for women who are so laid up and in pain that they cannot work, study or function in a normal society because of PMS. My Aunt used to be so plagued by PMS four days out of every month that she would be confined to bed and hardly moved all four days. She'd only get up to eat or go to the bathroom. What kind of life is that I ask! If we have medicinal marijuana for glaucoma patients, why not have it for women who suffer from PMS? I know that they are quite different illnesses since one shows up every few days out of the month and one never goes away. I realize the contrast that one affects your eyes and the other attacks your ovaries, but both are uncomfortableand make life considerably miserable. In the European theories, a lot of pro marijuana women argue that marijuana is better then the leading PMS pain medication. They say they would have to pop several ibuprofens or midols a day to get the relief just one joint would give them. They say one or two joints during this time of need is far less damaging to them then the problems that occur with your immune system after taking numerous different pain killers. One joint, once or twice a day and there is no pain. People may argue about the long-term affects of pot thought. They would say it fries your brain and makes it so you can't think straight. So does alcohol, mid you, and that's plenty addictive and much more dangerous then marijuana. Alcohol is blamed for so many different things including abuse, divorce, adultery, and loss of a job, accidents and death. You should not get behind the wheel if you are drinking because your reflexes are slow and you don't really know what you are doing. If you smoke some pot and get behind the wheel chances are your going to be driving along at fifteen miles and hour and think that you are speeding. Alcohol does not help with cramps. In many cases it makes it worse because it dehydrates you and makes you feel bloated later on. Pot can and will make you calm, sleepy, hungry or spacey, but many more people can function when they're high then when they're drunk. People can and do work when they're high. They can hold a decent conversation and walk in a straight line. I am endlessly frustrated that Alcohol is legal and pot is not. Yes, I know that some people will abuse it and sit on their butts all day watching the flying toasters on their screen savers and eating nacho's and pop tarts, but I also know a lot of people who abuse alcohol. Alcohol abusers seem a bit more hostile, screaming at their significant others, spending all night in the bathroom trying to throw up, and blowing off school or work because they're too hung over. I have never lost a friend over their use of pot, but I have over alcohol. Medicinal Marijuana is a beautiful thing. It stops the pain and clams you down. It's perfectly legal and prescribed to you. Why then, do just glaucoma patients get to reap it benefits? Why not cancer patients and people with constant pain or terminal illnesses? Let us start small though and consider the use of medicinal marijuana for PMS sufferers! It would be a step in the right direction for all women kind. It would be the American Medical Association actually recognizing that PMS is real and it needs to be treated with the utmost seriousness. It would show that PMS is not just an excuse to be irritable and it's not a label. PMS sufferers need to be treated and if pot is a cure for it, just like PMS it needs to be recognized in a serious light too. |