Medical Marijuana

Medical marijuana; a touchy subject. Some are for the use of it, many others are against. Both sides have valid points and reasons behind their reasoning, and both sides have flaws. But who is right? And do the benefits outweigh the cost?

            "The evidence is overwhelming that marijuana can relieve certain types of pain, nausea, vomiting and other symptoms caused by such illnesses as multiple sclerosis, cancer and AIDS -- or by the harsh drugs sometimes used to treat them. And it can do so with remarkable safety. Indeed, marijuana is less toxic than many of the drugs that physicians prescribe every day," says the highly esteemed Dr. Jocelyn Elders, the former United States Service General. Her opinion seems to say that marijuana has merely acquired a very bad reputation due to the help of addicts throughout our world.

            But Dr. William Friest, an M.D. in his own right, has a very different opinion. He states, "Although I understand many believe marijuana is the most effective drug in combating their medical ailments, I would caution against this assumption due to the lack of consistent, repeatable scientific data available to prove marijuana's medical benefits. Based on current evidence, I believe that marijuana is a dangerous drug and that there are less dangerous medicines offering the same relief from pain and other medical symptoms."

            My own opinion lies somewhere between the two. While I am usually quite skeptical of people who choose the middle road, in this case I believe a compromise is not only acceptable, but also the more intelligent of the two choices. A Christian worldview states that our bodies are temples of the Most High God, and as such should be kept clean and unpolluted. Marijuana is  dangerous substance which should be treated with high respect and care. Thus I propose that, in all situations where licensed doctors deem it to be the more usable painkiller available, the drug should be administered by a practicing physician and signed off on by at least one of his colleagues.

            As always, we were given our bodies as temples of the Holy God to care for and maintain – they should be treated as such. The cases where marijuana is  used should be limited and observed carefully. We are not our own.