Emma Pfannenstiehl

ENGL 1001
Multimodal Essay
11 May 2022

A Patient’s Case for Medical Marijuana

I have struggled with severe anxiety my entire life. I have tried numerous forms of

therapies and medications. In the fall of 2021, I made the decision that something needed to

change. My anxiety had been preventing me from going out and doing typical activities that a

first-year student in college would enjoy. My insomnia was causing me to get three to four hours

of sleep per night, which quickly became an unlivable situation. When I went home for fall

break, my mother asked me if I had ever considered trying cannabis for my anxiety. I was

shocked. Never would I have imagined that my own mother would be recommending that I

consume cannabis, let alone that I take it as a form of anxiety medication. The medical marijuana

industry was completely foreign to me, but I was intrigued. I was tired of meetings with different

doctors and titrating different medications, so I got an MMJ card. This personal experience led

me to want to learn even more about how others perceive medical marijuana. David Casarett’s

TedTalk and his book, Stoned: A Doctor’s Case for Medical Marijuana, are rhetorical pieces that

give the perspective of a palliative care physician and his journey to discovering the shocking

benefits of the medical marijuana industry. I found scholarly articles that reviewed David

Casarett’s work along with articles that highlighted the need for more research and policy

reform. I also surveyed my own community about their knowledge and opinions on this topic.

Through extensive research, I have come to the conclusion that medical marijuana is a crucial

resource that needs to be legalized, destigmatized, and seen for what it truly is: an industry that

empowers its patients to take control over their lives.

what it is today. When it comes to the topic of stigma, most of us readily agree that marijuana is

stigmatized where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of where did it come

from. The stigma behind marijuana stems from racism in the early 1900s. Even the name

“marijuana” in itself stems from racism. A popular source, NPR, published an article that states

“numerous accounts say that ‘marijuana’ came into popular usage in the U.S. in the early 20th

century because anti-cannabis factions wanted to underscore the drug's "Mexican-ness." It was

meant to play off of anti-immigrant sentiments.” The essence of this argument is to show how

politicians in the United States politicized the cannabis plant as a part of their racist anti-

immigration agendas. Unfortunately, the racist stigmatization of marijuana has gone on to harm

millions of people of color. A popular article summarizing John Hudak’s book, Marijuana: A

Short History, states that “one consistent target for the nation’s cannabis laws were communities

of color.” This harmful picture that's been painted by privileged politicians has overshadowed the

benefits of medical marijuana and the industry itself. Once past the stigma, it is easy to

understand how this industry gives its patients control over all aspects of their medication. When

comparing the medical marijuana industry to conventional western medicine it is clear to see

how flawed our current system is. It takes away the patient's power. David Cassarett does an

incredible job of explaining the intangible benefits of the medical marijuana industry.

David Cassarett, a former palliative care physician, is the author of Stoned: A Doctor’s

Case for Medical Marijuana which is a book that describes his exploration of the medical

marijuana industry. Casarett went on to give a TedTalk about his book, where he used the three

rhetorical appeals to persuade his audience into understanding the importance of this subject. His

research journey from being a skeptic to becoming an expert allowed him to gain perspective on
why his patients were turning to medical marijuana. He was able to discover the primary reason

why patients were trying MMJ. He said, “a lot of the patients I talked with who've turned to

medical marijuana for help, weren't turning to medical marijuana because of its benefits or the

balance of risks and benefits, or because they thought it was a wonder drug, but because it gave

them control over their illness. It let them manage their health in a way that was productive and

efficient and effective and comfortable for them.” The essence of David Casarett’s argument is

that the medical marijuana industry empowers its patients by giving them a sense of control. The

patients are given the opportunity to decide the frequency and dosage along with what they want

to take, all without having to go to numerous doctors and pharmacies. Ultimately, it’s the

patient's choice, which makes the most sense, because who knows their body and illness better

than the person themself. The fact that this industry is able to provide such a life-changing

experience yet barely any progress to legalize or de-schedule medical marijuana has been made

is baffling. Throughout David Casarett’s book “the reader, who may be frustrated by the

indefiniteness of his verdicts, is reminded that the scarcity of hard data results from the benighted

federal drug policy that still classifies marijuana as a Schedule I drug (dangerous and of no

medical value), significantly worse than morphine, cocaine, or amphetamines, which are on the

less restrictive Schedule II.” By making this comment in his analysis of Casarett’s book, Bradley

Alger emphasizes how more research is necessary in order to provide this empowerment to

others. This supplemental analysis of David Casarett’s book further proves that this lack of

research is a major issue. It is clear that the federal drug policy needs to update its antiquated and

historically racist opinions on marijuana. Policies need to change because patients deserve to be

empowered.
 Currently, the biggest issue in the medical marijuana industry is the lack of research

which causes weak policy implementation and communication. All of the resources I have

connected with emphasize that there is a severe lack of research on the benefits and risks of

medical marijuana. This has resulted in indistinct policies on both the federal and state level. A

study in Massachusetts found “a need for more transparency in implementation processes, a

more effective mode of communicating regulations, and a comprehensive plan for medical

marijuana education.” They ultimately came to the conclusion that “gaps in the implementation

process related to the common themes: (1) transparency; (2) communication; and (3) education.”

The authors describe how there is not enough solid evidence and information out there which is

what leads to ineffective and obscure policies. This all stems from the culminating lack of

research when it comes to all aspects of marijuana. Without more scientific research we will

never be able to move forward in legalizing and descheduling marijuana. Another study came to

a similar conclusion that “mechanisms that help researchers navigate the legal and regulatory

barriers to conducting these studies would promote rigorous evaluation of potential marijuana-

drug interactions and inform health care providers and consumers about the possible risks of co-

consuming marijuana products with conventional medications.” Essentially, they are saying that

there's a need for research on the interactions between marijuana and other drugs, but policies

and regulations prevent this from happening. This research would legitimize marijuana as a

medical treatment which would be a huge step forward for the medical marijuana industry. In

summary, sources show that more research about marijuana is of the utmost importance in

legitimizing, legalizing, and safely regulating marijuana.

I have conducted my own research survey in order to learn more about what the general

public thinks and understands about medical marijuana. I created an anonymous survey with
eight questions pertaining to marijuana and I received eighteen responses. The goal of my first

question was to understand how much people know about medical marijuana (MMJ). Roughly

80% of respondents admitted to not knowing much about MMJ while the other 20% said they

knew “a decent amount.” This goes to show that this topic is not deeply explored by the general

public. Another question that I would like to further research: how many people know someone

with a medical marijuana card. From my survey, 61.1% said that they did know somebody with a

medical marijuana card. I believe that this result is undetermined due to the fact that I, a person

with a medical marijuana card, was the distributor of this survey and a large number of

respondents know me. Even if this number is inflated, it is still quite low. Considering the

benefits of medical marijuana everyone should know somebody that has an MMJ card, but

doesn’t most likely wouldn’t know that due to the fact that it's so stigmatized that people don’t

feel comfortable talking about it. The question that I was most interested in was if medical

marijuana should only be available to terminally-ill patients. This question resulted in 72.2% of

respondents saying that it should be available to more than just terminally ill patients, 22.2% said

it should only be available for patients that are terminally ill, and 5.6% (1 person) said that it

should not be available to anybody. I found this information to be intriguing considering that

only 66.7% of people agreed that we need more research about medical marijuana. Overall, I

think that the respondents' answers were contradictory because 83.3% of them had consumed

marijuana, yet they appear to know little about this subject. In summary, my theories have been

proven true through this survey because I believe that this is a reflection of how there is a great

lack of research and clear education around the life-altering experience provided by the medical

marijuana industry.
 In summary, my research has only further proved that medical marijuana is an industry

that provides patients a sense of control over their lives, therefore we must conduct more

research and revise our policies in order to descheduled and destigmatize marijuana. David

Casarett proves that the intangible benefits can provide miraculous relief to its patients, but as we

have seen we still need more research on the physical benefits and risks. Studies have shown

how there is a clear need for policy reform which will allow people to conduct more research.

Once medical marijauna has been studied more and policies have changed then the public will be

more educated. When the public is more educated then we will be able to abandon the

historically racist stigma. Ultimately, these actions will allow millions of more patients to

become empowered in their medication practices.

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