Another reason I strongly believe that marijuana should become a legal substance in the United States is because it can be used for medicinal purposes.

Experts say that the use marijuana dates back as far as 8000BC. Other then use of the plant for textiles and personal use, the plant was also used for medical purposes. Some things that marijuana was used for in the past were:
Constipation, rheumatic pain, female disorders, earache, jaundice, glaucoma, asthma, muscular dystrophy, epilepsy, and excitability

Other things it was known to be used for were:
Prolong life, improve judgment, lower fevers, induce sleep, stimulate appetite, aid in childbirth, and better the voice

Today marijuana is proved to treat:
 Pain, muscle spasms and tremors, seizures, nausea, vomiting, appetite stimulation, insomnia, migraine headaches, depression, and glaucoma(Arkansas Alliance for Medical Marijuana)

Here are some people that have been helped by the medical uses are marijuana...

Jean Charles Pariseau, A 30-year-old AIDS patient from Ottawa, Canada. According to his physician and himself, “if he would of stuck to his legally prescribed medications, Jean would probably be dead by now (Grey).” Before he started his marijuana therapy Jean Pariseau had to take up to thirty pills a day. The pills were to boost his immune system, fight nausea and stimulate his appetite. The only problem was, he couldn’t keep the pills down. He was only at this time 82 lbs and bedridden. Dr. Don Kilby, Pariseau’s physician, gave him three months to live. Don Kilby has his own practice and is also director of health services at the University or Ottawa so some would say he is well educated. According to Kilby in the article, in reference to Jean Pariseau’s condition after starting the marijuana treatment, “Jean has a decent prognosis. He is doing remarkably well because he can now digest his medications. His cerebral toxoplasmosis is in remission, the HIV has been suppressed because he has improved immune function, he has put on weight and he has learned to walk again, with a cane. Most important, he has a decent quality of life. He has regained weight, recovered his appetite and can join his wife and child at the dinner table. Now, instead of Pariseau forcing thirty pills a day into his body, in hopes that that will affect him in a good way, or even stay down; he smokes marijuana each day, a half an hour before taking his pills (Grey).” In Ottawa, where Jean is from, the pill form of marijuana is available, and legal. But, because one of the main reasons for the marijuana therapy is because he cannot keep his pills down, he is forced to use the, illegal, leaf form of the drug. In essence, he can get in serious trouble for just trying to keep himself alive.

A woman in Maine described the last days of her sister-in-law who was dying of pancreatic cancer. "The medications prescribed for the nausea do not work, but marijuana does. After watching her retch more than 30 times, I felt it was time for her to try it, and it worked. For the moralists out there, I suggest you see what an end-stage cancer patient has to endure."(Arkansas Alliance for Medical Marijuana)

Joe Hart, 50, has been HIV positive for 15 years. He gave up on pharmaceutical drugs two years ago, relying instead on relief from nausea from eight daily puffs on a marijuana cigarette. Hart's Key West physician Dr. Raymond McKnight said, "I think it's a fascinating case. I don't think I can get a doctor to sit in the same room with me and [Hart] and guarantee me it's not helping him. He definitely couldn't say this is not working."(Arkansas Alliance for Medical Marijuana)