Why is medical marijuana such a controversial issue? It all boils down to one little word: stigma. The benefits of medical marijuana have, for all intents and purposes, already been proven. So, why isn’t medical marijuana as widespread as things like ibuprofen and Penicillin? I’ll answer for you: it’s because we’re not used to seeing marijuana as a medicine. We’re used to seeing it as a “green demon” rather than as a type of medical assistance.

It’s not our fault, though. We’ve had this idea burned into us for generations. Marijuana wasn’t always something that was associated with hippies and deadbeats. Long before we were born, it was often used as medicine. However, with the dawn of the Prohibition Era, a wave of panic quickly spread. Marijuana was made illegal and people have been afraid of it ever since.

Of course, too much of anything can be a pretty darn bad thing.  In small, controlled doses, marijuana can be used to treat and/or alleviate some of the effects of a wide array of ailments, including Glaucoma, Alzheimer’s disease, Crohn’s disease, certain types of cancer and even HIV.  Is this plant a cure?  Well, no.  Depending on the ailment, though, a small amount of marijuana can do anything from relieving pain to slowing down a disease’s progression.

As beneficial as marijuana can be for the ill, the argument still remains that it’s unnecessary because, “there’s other medicines for that.”  That may or may not be true, depending on both the ailment and the person. My grandmother, for example, is allergic to opiates (examples: Vicodin and Percocet). These are some of the most effective painkillers out there. If she were to break her leg, what could she do for immediate pain relief? Just a wee bit of marijuana could help her tremendously.

Are you afraid of my poor granny getting high? Fear not, dear readers. The amount of marijuana needed to alleviate some pain is, very often, much less than the amount people take in while they’re using it for a nonmedical purpose. Furthermore, a wide variety of strains are available for patients to choose from. To put it simply, different strains of marijuana contain slightly different chemical ratios, resulting in somewhat different effects on the body. There are certain varieties are more likely to make a person feel “stoned” than others.

I’m not saying we should all go out this weekend and smoke until we can’t stand. That kind of marijuana usage is not what I’m talking about here. I’m saying that based on the medical information that’s surfacing, we need to open our minds to the idea that maybe this little plant isn’t as bad as we’ve come to think. Maybe marijuana can be put to good use. Who knows?  Maybe, twenty years from now, the contents of our medicine cabinets will look a little different from the way they do today.