States’ Battle over Legitimacy of Medical Cannabis
As laws have becoming somewhat lax about the consumption and propagation of cannabis, the famous singer Bob Marley could have been very pleased to reside in America if he still lives right now. Marley and his religion – Rastafarian – allowed the consumption of cannabis for religious and ritualistic purposes. The only difficulty he might get is the parameter that this type of drug can only be used for medical purposes. But regardless of this, just like the usual he can still get past of the white medical uniforms requirement and still get a dose of one of the most controversial drug in the country. That’s all if he’s still alive.
Cannabis which is widely known as marijuana and known also as ganja, hemp and many other nomenclatures comes from a species of plant that contains a drug and is considered in most countries as illegal like cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, etc. Its account of usage for the treatment of various illnesses can be traced back to 2,737 B.C. Most commonly used as analgesic or for cure of nausea. But despite the claims on the medical usage of marijuana, this drug is still controversial and is still in dispute by many nations, practitioners, pharmacists and has the disapproval of anti-drug societies and groups.
In US alone, the federal government forbade the use of marijuana in whatever purpose and the decision whether to allow this type of drug as a medical intervention has been given to the states. Legislations on the use of cannabis are different according to the respective state and indicate specifics on the implementation of the drug as well as the propagation of the plant. Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington are the only states out of the 50 that have their own ruling about the use of cannabis for medical use. Another 17 states have pending legislations on the use of marijuana and an additional 2 more have petitions to have at least one. The 17 states include Alabama, Arizona, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland (allows a medical-use defense in court), Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Wisconsin, and Virginia while South Dakota and Florida are the 2 states that has drives for legalization.
On the 14 states the main suggestion in most of the legislation that has existed contains some strict rules about the number of dosage and specific illness that it the dose can intervene. All these 14 states only offer the cannabis as medicine only on prescription. So basically, cannabis cannot be used solely for recreation.
Notwithstanding claims about a number of diseases that medical cannabis can cure, there are no specific actions about this from the government. Even the practitioners in medical scrubs and nursing uniforms are not so much vigorous of advancing loosening down the strict policies that affects this drug. In the upcoming years on the other hand, advocates are hoping that the ruling will somehow be loosen. However it is good that the slackening should only serve the medical part of the story and not to propagate it for recreational use.
Penelope Rock is a product consultant for medical scrubs like lab coats, Cherokee scrubs and other branded medical uniforms at Pulse Uniform which ships throughout the US, Canada and internationally.
