Are the Benefits of Medical Marijuana Being Completely Overlooked?Patrick Gallagher Peer-reviewed research has found that marijuana exhibits a serious pain-halting effect that comes with zero adverse side effects. Despite this information, there is still one hurdle to overcome for the wildly growing consumer product in its ascent to becoming nationally acclaimed: the fact that many users, if it is obvious and openly used enough for the local police to seek out, can potentially be arrested and imprisoned given the right circumstances. Why is it that, on the national level, marijuana is becoming as highly regarded as an alternative painkiller with no associated side effects? More importantly, why is it still viewed by government officials as an illegal substance and a schedule one narcotic, over 40 years later? The federal government still claims, in defiance of the scientific evidence, that marijuana has no accepted medical use. With painkillers ultimately leading to more deaths than heroin and cocaine combined, it is important to distinguish which drug is really more dangerous than the other. Though the benefits of medical marijuana are ignored by the federal government, many scientists seemingly agree that the benefits of marijuana from a medicinal standpoint heavily outweigh the risk when it comes to aiding patients. While anti-marijuana legislators typically state that smoke is technically harmful to your lungs, research has shown that marijuana may actually be beneficial to lung health. In addition, smoking marijuana is only one method of intake. Ingesting it through a wide, often healthy variety of foods as well as vaporizing the THC (tetrahyrdocannibinol, the chemical providing a sudden rush of relief) will provide the same effect as smoking without the health risks associated with smoking. There are other uses for the hemp plant as well, not just for the high-THC content within the budding flowers. Hemp oil has been used for centuries as a relaxing dermal medicine. The plant matter can also be reconstituted as paper from the pulp of the plant, which could potentially save tens of thousands of trees from being cut for the same use. So what reasons does the federal government have for sustaining such an overly generalized blanket national ban on the hemp plant? To this very day they have not provided any sort of details on why they persist. If youre asking me, profiteering is all the motive they need. Additional sources: Explore More: This article first appeared at Natural Society, an excellent resource for health news and vaccine information. 