Com/156 Week 9

The Role of Natural Drugs In Society

COM/156

Throughout the history of our species there have been many accounts that detail the use of natural drugs for several reasons. In recent years, government regulation has caused an almost worldwide prohibition of many of these potentially beneficial drugs, and as a result no research can be easily conducted to find the benefits of these substances. Naturally occurring substances such as THC, psilocybin, DMT, LSA, and mescaline have shown medical promise, but strict regulations have limited the expansion of these research efforts. While drugs can have debilitating effects on users and society, there are positive medicinal, spiritual, and recreational uses for certain drugs that are used moderately. In this essay I will go over the role that natural drugs have played in our history and the benefits that we can receive from the proper use of these substances.

There are several instances of naturally occurring substances that have positive medicinal benefits, which easily outweigh the negative effects of the drugs. Parts of the cannabis plants are a very obvious example; there are currently seventeen states that have legalized medicinal marijuana for use by patients with a qualifying medical condition that has been evaluated by a physician. Cannabis is safe and effective at treating peripheral neuropathy, which causes immense suffering to HIV/AIDS patients. Cannabis is also very effective in alleviating the pain and nausea caused from many other medical conditions and as well as some of the treatments of conditions, such as chemotherapy, which is used to treat many forms of cancer (Abrams 2007). Recently, the use of cannabis in treatment of hepatitis C also has shown to have alleviating abilities for underlying conditions, (Lippincott, Williams, & Wilkins 2006). According to a study conducted in 2006 by a research group in northern California, cannabis-using patients were three times more likely to clear the deadly...