Marijuana lovers everywhere experienced a big blow this past week with the Drug Enforcement Agency’s announcement that they will not reschedule marijuana to a Schedule II drug. Its current classification as a Schedule I drug essentially labels marijuana as useless for medical purposes, even harmful. With medical marijuana of some form or another currently legal in 25 states and Washington D.C., clearly at least half of the nation disagrees with the DEA’s position. And with another election coming up in just a few months, it’s possible that the scales will tip with more than half of the states legalizing medical marijuana.
Rescheduling marijuana could lead to amazing new facts about a potential wonder drug that has the power to help people all over the world who live with medical conditions. As Americans, we want scientific evidence that something will be beneficial. We want proof that something has been tried and tested before we get behind it. But without the federal government’s help to reschedule marijuana and separate it from the world’s most dangerous drugs, we may not get the facts we’ve been groomed to demand. At least not in a quick time period. The DEA’s announcement last week only slows the scientific process that we expect in America.
While this may be the case, there is at least one silver lining and that is how Americans think. Perhaps it is safe to say that the way individuals that make up this great nation are thinking is more open mindedly than in the recent past. As mentioned before, we are a society that does make decisions heavily based on science – except for when it comes to marijuana.
As supporters of the marijuana movement, you and I know that marijuana has benefits for medical use. We’ve heard the stories about children with forms of epilepsy experiencing fewer seizures after even just a few doses of their prescribed cannabis treatment. We’ve also heard the stories of people living with less pain caused by an injury or chronic condition after seeking treatment inclusive of marijuana. And we also know someone whose life has changed because of the legalization of medical marijuana. Heck, that someone could even be you!
The point is that these stories we hear or live are not scientific studies. They are anecdotal results of what worked for Bob down the street. They are just barely scratching the surface of science which requires controlled parameters. While the science side of medical marijuana is yet to be dug up in the United States, look at how far it has gone. Half of the states in the country have a legal medical marijuana program of some kind. This right here is the proof that marijuana for medical use has benefits. Half of the country has already raised their hands to say “Yes” to medical marijuana without the studies that we as Americans usually require. And as the number of states legalizing continues to grow over time, the more loud and clear this message will be.
And this is only the beginning.
