Dustin Sulak, DO, a doctor on the front lines of medical marijuana, has

recommended various forms of marijuana to his patients and has seen striking
results. Patients with chronic pain needed fewer prescription pain meds. Patients
with multiple sclerosis had less painfulmuscle spasms. Patients with severe
inflammatory bowel diseasebegan to eat again.

These responses are the most impressive to me, says Sulak, who practices at
Maine Integrative Healthcare in Manchester. Maine is one of 20 states, along with
the District of Columbia, where medical marijuana is legal. With inflammatory
bowel disease, well see patients who were at deaths door turn around
dramatically.
Sulaks experience is powerful and adds to the large body of personal stories -dating from 5,000 years ago -- about the therapeutic value of marijuana.

But the scientific evidence behind the drugs benefits remains elusive, even as 10
more states consider legalizing medical uses in 2014. The problem: In 1970, the
federal government classified marijuana as an illegal, highly addictive drug with no
medical value, making research harder to do.

Few of these studies, though, followed a controlled clinical trial. This is considered
the best type of trial because it compares a drug to another drug, or to a placebo (a
"fake" treatment). Also, most of the studies had fewer than 200 patients. So doubt
continues about marijuanas value and who it really can help, says J. Michael
Bostwick, MD. He's a psychiatrist at the Mayo Clinic and author of a review of
medical marijuana research.

Based on medical science, it seems possible that marijuana-based treatments could

be developed for some conditions; but federal restrictions make it hard for the
research to advance, Bostwick says.

Thats because scientists in the U.S. have to get approval from the Drug
Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the FDA to do research on medical marijuana.

A series of studies allowed by the DEA came to a conclusion similar to Bostwick's.

The 13 studies were done by The Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research at the
University of California in San Diego between 2000 and 2010.

Among the unanswered questions about medical marijuana is the risk to users.
About 10% of people who smoke marijuana become addicted. Its not known what
that means if it is being used for medical reasons, Bostwick says. He adds that some
patients find the effects of marijuana intolerable.

The legalization of marijuana in the United States has been fought for over the past
years and seems to be in the works of succeeding their fight. Two sides co-exist in
the American society, the ones who are strongly for it and the others who struggle
to keep it illegal. Marijuana began to catch fire in the 1920s but by the 1930s was
brought an abrupt end. By federal law the drug is a schedule one drug which
categorizes it with other drugs such as heroine and LSD. As Narconon describes
schedule one is, having the relatively highest abuse potential and no accepted
medical use (Narconon, 2010). Although marijuana is a schedule one drug under a
federal law many states have not abided by the law and has either already made
the drug legal, allowed medical use or has decriminalized the laws to be more
lenient towards small possession cases. In 2012 Washington, Colorado and Oregon
allowed voters decide whether or not marijuana should be kept legal or to be
legalized, both Washington and Colorado voters decided that they were going to be
the first states in the U.S. to legalize marijuana. Oregon voters on the other hand
decided that they were going to keep their marijuana laws exactly the same way
theyve had them. Eighteen states have allowed for medical marijuana and two of
the eighteen have made it legal, so whats going on with the other thirty-two
states? Many people still feel that although marijuana might have medical benefits
the cons outweigh the pros.

Organizations have been collected on both sides and have fought day in and
day out to either keep marijuana illegal or for the drug war to come to an end and
legalize marijuana. People in each side have valid arguments that need to be
considered when it comes to the legalization of marijuana because it can have
drastic change on many things that involve our daily lives. The legalization of
marijuana can cause for good things to occur but also bad things which can linger,
like the odor of the crazed drug.