Abstract:

In this bibliography six different articles have been read, reviewed, and annotated to be able to extract the information needed in the Scientific Controversy paper. Some articles had one position, some stated no position at all. This bibliography will show what was extracted from each of these articles to include in the position paper and help my audience understand both sides and the position I take. These articles are reliable resources based on many experiments and studies done and recorded by scientific professionals. These articles helped with choosing my position and backing it up with evidence. 

• US), Institute of Medicine. “Introduction.” Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base., U.S. National Library of Medicine, 1 Jan. 1999, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK230713/.

This report summarizes what is known so far about the use of marijuna medically. It asks the questions of can marijuana relieve health problems? Is it safe for medical use? This article helped me understand that the use of medical marijuna was best for pain control. Due to my findings, I understood that medical marijuna is not to cure a disease but to just help avoid the side effects of major treatments such as chemotherapy. It also revealed that marijana gives off that “high” feeling which is a distortion in the sense of time and gives an individual a temporary short term memory. Marijuana also leads the individual to enhance their physical and emotional senses.

• Grinspoon , Peter. “Health.harvard.edu.” Health.harvard.edu, 2019, www.health.harvard.edu/blog/medical-marijuana-2018011513085.

This article was written by a doctor at Harvard University explaining how medical marijuna is a very controversial topic. He explains that medical marijuna is mostly common for use for pain control in ways such as nerve pain and nausea. He also explains that it is a great muscle relaxer and that it has the ability to lessen tremors in Parkinson’s disease. This doctor’s position was for medical marijuana because he encourages patients to be open and honest with their doctors about looking into medical marijuna. He also advises doctors to embrace it even if they are against the idea of medical marijuna. 

• “Healing Herb? Marijuana Could Treat These 5 Conditions.” LiveScience, Purch, www.livescience.com/55750-medical-marijuana-conditions-treat.html.

In this article it goes on to explain the active ingredient in marijuana which is called the delta- 9 – THC, and that this ingredient helps increase appetite and reduces nausea. It also goes on to talk about the other chemical in marijuna called CBD that decreases pain and inflammation as well as help muscle- control problems. It also informed me that in order to gain approval of medical marijuna, researchers need to show that marijuana is safer or will work better compared to medications that already exist. This showed me that there is not enough information and testing out there to prove that medical marijuna could be used as a medical herb. 

• National Institute on Drug Abuse. “Is Marijuana Addictive?” NIDA, www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/marijuana/marijuana-addictive

This report talks about how marijuna can be highly addictive and that the more usage, the more likely you are to develop marijuna use disorder. This disorder is based on dependence on marijuna. People who use it frequently,  their bodies become accustomed to it and will eventually need it all the time or else they will go through withdrawal. The brain starts depending on it when it adapts to large amounts of the drug which leads to it reduces the production of its own endocannabinoid neurotransmitters. 

• National Institute on Drug Abuse. “Marijuana as Medicine.” NIDA, www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/marijuana-medicine.

This report talks about how there are studies that need to be done to further expand our knowledge of this medical marijuna controversy. It also states that there are many unknowns such as the fact that researchers do not know the effects of marijuna on people who are weakened of age of illnesses. These individuals can be very harmed due to these herbs for as far as we know. It talks about marijunas effect on individuals who are not as strong due to age or illness are still not known. These individuals can just be more vulnerable to the herbs negative effect, so much more research needs to take place. 

• National Institute on Drug Abuse. “What Are Marijuana’s Long-Term Effects on the Brain?” NIDA, www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/marijuana/what-are-marijuanas-long-term-effects-brain.

This report uses studies from animal research proving that exposure to marijuna during development can cause long term effects on the infant. It goes on to explain that the mice that were exposed to THC had issues. This article also talks about how  rats exposed to THC in utero, during adolescence, show notable problems with specific learning/memory tasks later in life. This report also proved to me that there needs to be further studies done because there were studies that suggested positions.