Pennsylvania Legalizes The Use Of Medical Marijuana

Gov. Tom Wolf signed the bill that legalized marijuana use in Pennsylvania last Sunday. Pennsylvania is among the 24 U.S. states that legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

According to News Daily, the bill had 149-46 votes in the state House of Representatives. It allows the use of marijuana extracts and oils to treat or reduce the symptoms of diseases such as epileptic seizures, nausea brought on by chemotherapy and autism. There are about 88 percent or more Pennsylvanians who support the medical marijuana.

Senator Daylin Leach, the state senator and a Democrat from the Philadelphia suburbs, said that marijuana is a medicine, and it's coming in Pennsylvania. "Children with intractable epilepsy, veterans with PTSD, grandparents with cancer, and thousands of other sick Pennsylvanians will finally get the help they need," said Senator Leach.

AOL reports that the Pennsylvanians can only access the marijuana if a physician recognizes the patient suffers from 17 medical conditions. These include intractable seizures, cancer, severe chronic pain and post-traumatic stress disorder. On the other hand, it is prohibited to smoke the marijuana. The patients can use the oil, pill, vaporizer or ointment.

The state had the ninth-highest rate of the lethal drug overdose in 2014. The lawmakers believe and hope that marijuana can become an alternative to opioid painkillers in treating chronic pain. The states that legalize marijuana laws had about 24.8 lower average annual opioid overdose death rate unlike states without the marijuana law, according to a study from the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Marijuana or also known as Cannabis is used as a medicine or a psychoactive drug. It can reduce vomiting and nausea during chemotherapy, treats chronic pain, improves the appetite of people with HIV/AIDS and help with muscle spasms. It has short-term effects such as dry mouth, red eyes, short-term memory and impaired motor skills and feelings of anxiety and paranoia. On the other hand, the long-term effects are not that clear, though it has the risk for addiction, memory and cognitive problems, a risk of children taking it by accident and risk of schizophrenia among young people.