Shaniece Denson
Gogek, Edward. “Crunching the Numbers; why I say almost all medical marijuana patients are faking it.” Reasons to Oppose “Medical Marijuana” in Arizona. N.p., 15 Nov. 2012 Web. 11 Aug. 2015
In this article, physician Edward Gogek contends that “almost all medical marijuana patients are faking” their illnesses in order to receive medical marijuana. He supports his argument with statistics from Arizona Department of Health Services, personal experiences that he has had in the state of Arizona, and the demographics that smoke marijuana within that state. Gogek provides information from Arizona because it has been a few years since the state has legalized medical marijuana and the evidence provided is more perpetual than the questionable evidence that is presented from states that have just legalized the drug. Gogek’s primary argument is directed toward the demographics and sex of medical marijuana users in Arizona. He asserts that majority of the patients seeking marijuana prescriptions are young adults and females. He also uses a comparison of tossing a coin to compare the results from the coin with the percentage of male and female citizens requesting medical marijuana in Arizona.
I agree that not all medical marijuana patients attempt to receive the drug because they suffer from serious illnesses or unbearable symptoms. However to make this argument comparing it to the tossing of a coin 1000 times is not reasonable. Gogek argues that the chances of a coin landing on tails is equivalent to a female seeking to buy medical marijuana in the state of Arizona. I cannot perceive physician Gogek or anyone else flipping a coin 1000 times and to actually comparing their results with charts containing the marijuana statistics that show the percentage of males and females buying medical marijuana. For this reason I consider this example a faulty comparison and one of which that isn’t significant to the controversy of whether or not marijuana cardholders are substance abusers. I also believe that it can be identified as a false analogy because tossing a coin to determine how many males or females will be found to smoke weed on a study does not resemble each other at all. In addition, I find it hard to believe Gogek’s argument because as mentioned earlier he states that the marijuana patients in Arizona are “mostly female”, but later in his article he argues that the “adult pot-smokers are 74 percent male… and are faking pain to get weed”. His second argument contradicts his first, therefore the audience should question his claims before deciding to believe them. The audience should also take into consideration the lack of reasonable evidence that Gogek provides. He implies that he takes the results from flipping a coin 1000 times and says that it “is almost exactly our situation.” Would you flip a coin 1000 times, and would you trust an argument that was formed around words such as “mostly” and “almost”?
I enjoyed your blog post and it was interesting to read about how some people might fake their illnesses to get marijuana. I had never heard of that, but now that I think about it, it makes a lot of sense. It was just great to see how there are many different sides to this controversy.
I agree with Val, I had not heard of this controversy. I actually never thought that some people might actually fake to be sick to receive marijuana. Gogek’s argument is unprofessional, he should use other kind of evidence to back up his argument that most people want to buy medial marijuana in Arizona. I
I actually have heard of this controversy of some patients faking how they need medical marijuana. I remember using it as a reason in one of my research summaries. One of the sources I used explained how easy it was to get prescribed weed from a doctor. People would just have to simply ask for it and claim how they are sick and in order to feel better they would need medical marijuana.
Even if people are faking is there really room to be heavily screening everybody to see if they are actually sick. Medical marijuana is not the only thing that is exploited by people. I know that this is bad and just because a lot of people do it it shouldn’t be allowed. What is the point of his argument? Does he want to make medical marijuana illegal?
I agree with Juan. Morphine and other the counter drugs are also abused. What makes marijuana any different? People will overuse any type of drug whether it be illegal or not. If marijuana can help people who actually need it then we should focus on them. We have to be able to look passed the people who can abuse it, because that happens with any type of drug.
There are many drugs over the counter drugs that are abused such as oxycontin and codine. I believe marijuana should only be legalized for medicinal conditions, only if the doctor prescribes it. Marijuana will benefit the economy and it will help people who are in need of it.
This article was very interesting to read. Although it is not morally correct, I am sure that there are many people who have faked illnesses in order to receive “medicinal” marijuana. I think marijuana should be legalized because just as this article shows, those who want it will do whatever they need to to obtain it, legal or not.
This article really surprised me. It is crazy how people would go to extreme measures such as faking illnesses to receive medical marijuana. Although true, in which Gogek’s evidence provided his idea based on the flipping of a coin is unrealistic. the comparison does everything except prompt his argument.
Of course they fake it. Many get licenses to get access. Nothing wrong with that. The conservatives won’t allow recreational, so sometimes you must resort to lengths such as these. This isn’t new. The same happens to get access to codeine, aderall, hydrocodone, etc. Should we ban those too? absolutely not. Let’s fully legalize! Yes we cannabis
hmph, never thought i would hear someone would fake their illness for weed. Then again, it doesn’t really surprise me in the least. I think there will always be people who fake a illness to get what they want. Its kind of like a child who cries for something they want. It doesn’t make it morally right, but people gotta see that there will always gonna be people like this everywhere you go.
Maybe we shouldn’t look at it as a bad thing. Those people that fake it are working hard trying to fool doctors into giving them medical marijuana. These doctors have been to college for many years so for people to pull one over them I believe they deserve a round of applause.
I have never really seen an article saying that marijuana patients are faking their illnesses. I do agree with you that some do, but not all. That is one thing that worries me is that if marijuana should be legalized, will a new crop of patients rise up. The source was a little broad in his claim, that did him in. Overall I really liked the article you analyzed.