Research: Medical Marijuana

I found this column from the Washington Post about medical marijuana very interesting because it explores the intent behind people who advocate for medical marijuana and use it. Although medical marijuana is meant to be used like a prescription drug, to treat a medical condition, the author of the column points out that in California, where medical marijuana is legal, it is not under the same rigorous standards as other prescriptions. For example, to obtain the drug in the first place all one needs is a "written or oral recommendation" from a physician. Even more troubling is that the purity of the medicinal pot is not regulated from any outside source. While it's up to the FDA to regulate prescription drugs, since medicinal marijuana was passed by referendum it is not required to have FDA or any other agency oversight.

This column does a good job at pointing out that although California may have made medicinal pot legal, they are not treating with the same seriousness as an actual medicine. From purity, to accessibility to users, the author points out that the medicinal classification may just be a sly way to allow pot in general to be legally accessible.