My Last Blog.

            Why was I writing this blog? It was a class assignment, and for a blog choice, I chose Medical Marijuana as my topic. I had done the same topic for my other class paper and got to know some interesting things on medical marijuana. The only thing I didn’t know now about marijuana was that in less than a year Colorado would legalize marijuana and it’s not a surprise to people anymore that people smoke marijuana. From this time now, I don’t think that I will be continuing my posts, and this will be my final one.

            While writing this blog I was able to not only educate myself on medical marijuana but I was also able to see how marijuana is used around the whole world, and not just the United States. I learned many different techniques on how to become a good blogger. I’ve always seen other blogs and stumbled upon them occasionally on the Internet, but I never would’ve thought running a blog would be sort of challenging. At first, I was confused and had to get the hang of it, but after messing around with Blogger, I was able to create my own blog, which I never thought would’ve looked as professional.

            One thing that I found interesting was the links that I was able to tag the original URL webpage, so that whenever anybody is on my page, they can look directly at what I was referencing.  Although this is my last blog, I will still know how to write a blog with a lot of readability. As a class we were taught many things, such as how to give our blog more readability – Short paragraphs, easy to read font, pictures, free flowing, etc. Although this blog took a lot of time, it taught me how to get away from writing miserable, English essays. Working on this blog was more fun than typical English essays because there was more of a conversational feel when writing blogs and it gave students the ability to be more creative with their writing skills. Before writing this blog, I was used to writing papers on essay topics for different classes, but now my teacher, Ms. Wong, was able to teach the class and I how to write a blog, which is a completely different style of writing. 

            As my final blog post I want to share some of my opinions on my blog topic – medicinal marijuana. I think that medicinal marijuana is a lot safer than smoking cigarettes, which are legal. Cigarette smoking has caused many deaths over the years, while marijuana has been used medicinally and there has never been a recorded death due to the overdose on marijuana. The only reason medicinal marijuana is hard to legalize is because of the negative short and long-term side effects. Although marijuana’s legality in the United States should stay the way it is, there are still some other laws that could be adjusted.

Marijuana Addictiveness

           Finishing up my second year of college at San Francisco State University has been one of the best times of my life, but one thing that you see too much is the abuse of certain substances, such as alcohol and marijuana. It comes as no surprise that some college kids like to experiment with different things as they’re in college because of the freedom that they have. I went to Venice High School for four years and was the first time I’ve seen friends try it. Although I came to realize in college is that kids are more mature than people think when it comes to drugs, but after some questioning, it all depends on the individual whether or not someone can “Handle Drugs”. What I mean by “Handle Drugs” is being smart when handling with drugs/marijuana. I don’t mean to take a bunch of drugs to see who can handle the most, which is actually the complete opposite.

            Recently I met this girl and this guy. The guy (Anonymous name – Joe) and the Girl (Anonymous name – Kate), this year in college and I was able to ask them a few questions regarding their past/present experiences while using marijuana. Joe, at this point in time, has seen is health lower as he continued to smoke marijuana throughout this year. As a good friend of mine now, he has quit smoking marijuana close to the years wrap up. But before my friend Joe stopped smoking marijuana, he kept trying to quit smoking, but Joe kept reverting back to smoking marijuana recreationally. He explained to me the most stressful part about quitting smoking marijuana – the withdrawals of marijuana. The withdrawals of marijuana consist of the opposite affects of marijuana because after using a drug for such a long time, your body starts to adjust to the drugs affects. Joe had a hard time quitting throughout the semester, but has realized the consequences, admitted that he was had a fun time while it was there, but he started thinking about his health and now is living a healthy life-style. Since he has tried to quit before, Joe has told me that the withdrawals from marijuana have been a process to handle, like lack of hunger, lack of sleep, changes in mood, etc. Although Joe was able to experiment with marijuana for a while, his health became more of a concern, which prompted him to quit the abuse of marijuana.

            Kate has stayed away from marijuana since she was in High School and has come to college only trying marijuana twice throughout her college life. She had told me that she doesn’t care about smoking marijuana after an incident in High School, which scarred her from smoking marijuana again. Kate also claims that she doesn’t have an addictive personality, which could also explain why she didn’t need marijuana as much as Joe did. Kate, when she smoked marijuana before, said that she felt fine and that nothing frightened her. But after an incident when smoking marijuana, which she would rather leave a secret, she felt paranoid from then on smoking marijuana.

            Because marijuana has such addictive properties, Joe wasn’t able to let marijuana go that easy, but compared to Kate, she changed her views on marijuana because of a life changing experience, I’m guessing. The abuse of marijuana has caused many people to become addicted to a drug, which should be used for medicinal purposes. Even though marijuana may be hard to quit smoking, some find marijuana less amusing than others.

Cannabis Colorado

            There was a time when marijuana was used to wrap into a paper and smoked almost like a cigarette, but due to the curious minds, over time, marijuana smoking became more advanced. Now a days we can smoke different types of marijuana (Sativa – Energetic and Happy high, and Indica – a Sleepy and Tired high), eat marijuana infused treats (Edibles), and there are concentrated marijuana substances (Wax, kieif, or hash), which all have different effects and different amounts of THC (Tetrahydrocannibinol – the chemical that gives an individual a high feeling). There are more people aware of marijuana smoking in the United States and there are even some states that are allowing recreational use, for example, Colorado. Recently, in April 2013, Colorado legalized the recreational use of marijuana, and since then Colorado has been experiencing some ups and downs, trying to figure minors things out. With all of the different ways to getting “high”, people are abusing the legalization of marijuana.

            In recent news, Colorado has had some complications trying to keep children safe from the ingestion of marijuana. Although some may think that marijuana legalization has benefited Colorado, and in some ways it has, marijuana legalization has also caused the amount of children checking in at the Children’s Hospital due to marijuana infused edibles (Stokols, 2014). In order to protect children from the overdose of marijuana edibles, Governor John Hickenlooper signs two bills involving the regulation on edibles – one bill stating that the edible packaging must establish a standard amount of retail marijuana product and stating that the edible must state the retail marijuana concentrate. And another law requiring state legislators to come up with rules that make marijuana edibles identifiable even when they are out of their packaging. I don’t know how state legislators are going to come up with such a rule because there is not much you can really do to signify something edible is marijuana infused. The odor of an edible should be able to tell you whether or not it has marijuana in it, but for edibles that don’t smell as potent, it will be very difficult to figure out some sort of marijuana signification on treats.

            It is hard enough as it is to regulate the use of marijuana, how is a state going to regulate something that is already legal? Also, another bill that is being overlooked before Colorado adopts this new rule states that every marijuana infused cookie or brownie contains the same amount of THC. This is a better rule to implement because this gives users more knowledge on how much an individual is ingesting. It was recorded that so far this year, nine children have been checked into the Children’s Hospital for accidentally eating edibles, which the Hospital only saw eight, last year. Although these new laws have been implemented, since marijuana has been legalized in Colorado, the regulation between children and edibles/marijuana is going to be even harder from when it was illegal. It’s good to see that Colorado is fixing the little problems with marijuana legalization, but there’s only so much laws can do. The rest of regulating marijuana is policing it. What are your opinions on Colorado legalizing marijuana for recreational use?

Different People, Different Ways

            Since the beginning of mankind, the world has differed from country to country. Everyone has different views and cultures depending where you travel. I’ve recently been to Italy/Greece and got the chance to experience how it was to live in a different country. Everything from the food down to how people behave in a different country was different, and so are the marijuana laws around the world. The legality of cannabis varies from country to country, but for the most part, marijuana is mostly illegal, except for two states in the United States and a few other countries. Although only some state’s/countries allow marijuana use, other countries cannabis laws aren’t heavily reinforced. The United States, for the most part, tries to regulate marijuana and other drugs as much as possible because the U.S. heavily enforces their laws and regulations, unlike other countries where government may not play such an important factor.

            Unlike the United States, citizens in countries around the world don’t easily obey to laws like we do. The United States may have a few laws for one specific thing, but when it comes to following a law, we are very understandable, or else we have consequences. But government in certain countries, like Argentina, Belize, Brazil, etc., mostly tolerates the drug even though marijuana is said to be illegal in those countries. Although the United States has laws and regulations relating to marijuana, there are loopholes on getting marijuana legally in the United States depending on state to state. For example, in California, marijuana can be used medically if recommended by a doctor and is able to apply for a medical marijuana card. Unlike other countries, the United States has more laws but has separate districts (states) where laws vary depending on the surrounding.

(Wikipedia, 2013)

*Legalized States/Countries World Wide 

            On May 28, 2013 Colorado became the first state in the U.S. to legalize marijuana and be the first to regulate the recreational marijuana market, in the U.S. as well. This is the first time marijuana has been fully legalized in the United States, which is a good way to test how marijuana legalization will affect the U.S. and will show how much marijuana sales could benefit the U.S. as well. On December 10, 2013, Uruguay became the first county in the world to make the sale, production and distribution of marijuana, legalized (Wikipedia, 2013). The way marijuana is legalized is by the process on making money off of marijuana – cultivation, transport, sale and possession. Possession is the most lenient part relating to marijuana because drugs are not heavily regulated in most third world countries. For example, in Cambodia, marijuana is illegal but is decriminalized in cultivation, transport, and sale and for possession.

            Today, a lot of American citizens complain about the accessibility of marijuana and that the government is regulated a little too much, but what is not realized is how much different it would be somewhere other than the U.S. Many question the ability to get marijuana in the U.S. but its also not much different else where. Third world countries, with a weaker government than ours, don’t seem to regulate the drug as much. Marijuana is regulated so many different ways that some government can't police. 

Seems Pretty Medical To Me

          In my previous two blogs I mentioned how marijuana has medical properties that can either relieve pain and/or increase appetite, has saved the life of children suffering from mental and physical disabilities – a brain tumor and autism. I’ve already talked about the baby, Cash Hyde at the time, who recovered from chemotherapy with the help of marijuana oils and the ten-year-old boy, Joey Perez, who continues using marijuana edibles everyday to help with his autism (Caulfield, 2011). But are there any other diseases that can be treated with marijuana, that doesn’t deal with a child’s parents giving their children marijuana? If so, what other diseases are there? Multiple sclerosis (MS).

            Multiple Sclerosis is a disease, and like most diseases, the symptoms vary. MS is a disease that affects the brain and spinal cord resulting in loss of muscle control, vision, balance, and other senses, such as numbness. Multiple Sclerosis is when an individual’s immune system damages the nerves of their own brain and spinal cord – an autoimmune disease (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2012). I know, multiple sclerosis sounds painful, but one of the main affects marijuana has, is being able to relieve an individual from the pain that Multiple Sclerosis causes an individual. Unfortunately, Multiple Sclerosis does not have a cure, but has been studied over the years involving different types of treatment – marijuana and placebo pills.

What is Multiple Sclerosis?

            Although MS cannot be treated, scientists have made studies on MS patients by randomly providing the patients with doses of marijuana extract or placebo pills. This study involved giving the patients either the marijuana extract or the placebo pills for a two-week dose phase, ranging from five mg to twenty-five mg of tetrahydrocannabinol daily, along with a ten-week maintenance phase (Barnes,2012). The scientists that were performing the study were testing the Multiple Sclerosis patients for walking ability and the use of the medication, and by the end of the twelve weeks, the results of the study made on the patients came back significantly surprising. The results showed that the patients, given the cannabis extract (CE), showed the rate of relief from muscle stiffness after twelve weeks was twice as high with CE than with placebo, but that’s not all. The MS patients after four weeks and eight weeks also saw some relief in muscle stiffness.

            Even though marijuana has certain medical properties that are used to treat sick patients, marijuana will not cure an individual overnight. Marijuana, like all prescription drugs, should be taken given recommendation. If not otherwise told so, then the only reason for using marijuana is recreationally, which is not what marijuana should be used for if anyone wants to ever take marijuana as a medical drug, seriously. Although chemotherapy, autism and Multiple Sclerosis do not have much in common, marijuana can be used to treat such issues due to the symptoms that the patient is feeling. Marijuana can be used as treatment for many different things, based on its medical marijuana properties, but why do patients with disabilities feel the need to say no to drugs, when one of the number one cash crops has the ability to treat a patient’s illness? It’s like saying no to Advil because it’s a drug, but your head hurts. Plus, over time, there has never been a recorded death due to the overdose of marijuana, unlike prescription pills (Denoon, 2003).