Dear Mr./Mrs. President,

Recently in the 2000’s, I’ve become aware of a certain topic that continues to be debated on whether or not it should be legalized. This topic is medical marijuana. After conducting some research, I’ve found that marijuana is actually a much safer pain reliever than most of the other drugs that are currently used in the medical field. So, I’ve compiled all my research and personal experiences in this letter to try and convince you that writing an executive order to legalize medical marijuana is worth it.

First and foremost, marijuana has been statistically proven to help relieve the pain/effects of certain mental and physical illnesses, such as cancer, alzheimer's disease, anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), etc., without the consequences of using opioid pain relievers. Since the legalization of medical marijuana in 24 states and Washington, D.C., research has been conducted on the results of using medical marijuana instead of opioid pain relievers. The John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health concluded that since legalizing marijuana for medical use, overdoses involving opioids have decreased by 25%. This undoubtedly suggests that marijuana is a safer pain reliever than opioids, yet it is still classified as a Schedule 1 drug while opioids are classified as a Schedule 2 drug. This is because the Drug Enforcement Administration (D.E.A.) refuses to remove it from the Schedule 1 classification for several different reasons. A substantial reason is the fact that it is immensely abused in the sense of it being illegally sold throughout the states. Despite this, many scientists and public figures are flabbergasted at the D.E.A.’s decision to keep it on the same Schedule as heroin, ecstasy, LSD, methamphetamine, etc. Even President Barack Obama stated that it was no less harmful than alcohol.

Now, I’m sure you already know most of this, but do you realize how many US citizens are personally affected by medical marijuana being illegal? When I was younger, my aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer. Although I was a little too young to understand, I still realized the seriousness of the situation. When she was going through chemo therapy, her doctor suggested using medical marijuana as a pain reliever. Of course, since I live in Missouri, she could not use it. So, she had to use an alternate, which ended up being opioid pain relievers. Luckily, she did not get addicted to them, but it scares me now that she had such a high chance of getting addicted to the opioids. I know I’m not the only one who has a friend or family member who has struggled/is struggling through illnesses that can be treated with medical marijuana but doesn’t have access to it. It’s upsetting how we have a dangerous and dependent drug classified as a Schedule 2 drug and a harmless useful drug as a Schedule 1 drug.

On the contrary, some people believe that medical marijuana should not be legalized. The main reason for this, I’ve found, is that it is technically classified as an illegal substance, which I presume makes people scared and hesitant to support it being legalized. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, though, it should not be legalized or removed from the Schedule 1 drug list because it is such an abused drug. For example, some people who live in the states where medical marijuana is legal and have medical cards sell it to those who don’t have cards or distribute it to the states where it is illegal. Although this may be true, opioids are abused too and are sold to those who are addicted to them. So, either way, there’s going to be abuse of each of the substances.

What exactly are you waiting for? It’s so apparent that marijuana is helpful in more ways than it is harmful and that it would be so beneficial to both our population and our economy. All you have to do as the President is sign an executive order to legalize medical marijuana nationwide. Otherwise, millions of people will continue to struggle and have to deal with the pain of these illnesses because of the unavailability of medical marijuana. As the President, it is your job to keep your citizens safe, happy, and healthy, so please do something to help these people.

Sincerely,

Arianna Fish