The legalized use of the medical marijuana in several states of the USA is the controversial question which draws a lot of the public’s attention to its discussion. The use of marijuana is prohibited in many states of the country, but it is also legalized for the medical use in such states as California, Oregon, Colorado, and some others.
These facts are presented in the CNN news article “3-Year-Old Is Focus of Medical Marijuana Battle” in which the story of little Landon Riddle is discussed. Landon suffers from the acute lymphocytic leukemia, and his mother focuses on treating the child not only with the help of chemotherapy but also with the use of medical marijuana.
Thus, the use of the oil and pills with cannabidiol improved the boy’s state significantly, and the mother chose to reject chemotherapy as the main treatment, but today, the physicians and community oppose to treating a child with the help of marijuana because of impossibility to conclude about the treatment’s effectiveness, moral implications, and legal issues (Young par. 1-10).
The article describes the focus of the mother on the positive results of treatment and her plans to find the physician to assist her to treat the boy with the help of marijuana legally. Furthermore, the article aims to demonstrate the opposition of the physicians regarding the mother’s choice and to provide the community’s opinion on the problem.
That is why, it is possible to state that the article was written to draw the people’s attention to the problem of legalizing marijuana for the medical use while presenting the diverse visions of physicians, patients, and public because the question is the significant medical and ethical dilemma.
The mother of Landon Riddle came to Colorado in order to receive marijuana to treat the child from Utah because the use of marijuana is absolutely illegal in the state of Utah. However, according to the American Cancer Society, cannabinoids are not tested to reduce cancer risks, and a lot of challenges can be faced by those patients who use medicines with this component (Young par. 39).
As a result, the further discussion of the issue can affect the populations from all the country’s states as well as patients belonging to different age groups. The possibility to use marijuana for treating children was discussed in the American society during a long period of time, but this controversial question should be discussed more actively today, while focusing on the case of Landon.
In spite of the fact that many medicines used to decrease the cancer side effects include marijuana substances, the use of these medicines in treating children is still a controversial question. Thus, if Landon’s mother finds the attorney’s support to continue the treatment, the approach can become accepted in definite states (Young par. 42).
The article is interesting because it discusses the controversial question with references to the real and concrete example. To decide about legalizing marijuana for medical use in different states of the country, it is necessary to look at the problem from all the sides, focusing not only on the ethical and legal points but also on the real effects of using marijuana on patients with different forms of cancer and other diseases.
That is why, the article which presents the case of a little boy is selected as a good example to illustrate the importance of discussing the problem of marijuana legalization in the United States.
Works Cited
Young, Saundra. 3-Year-Old Is Focus of Medical Marijuana Battle. 2014. Web.