Gupta, Dr. Sanjay. “Dr. Sanjay Gupta: It’s time for a medical marijuana revolution.” CNN.com. CNN, 20 April 2015. Web. 15 July 2015.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta is a chief medical correspondent for CNN. He is also a neurosurgeon & an assistant professor of neurosurgery at Emory University School of Medicine and associate chief of the neurosurgery service at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. As the title indicates, Dr. Gupta is ready to legalize medical marijuana because there are so many medical benefits.
In his early paragraphs, Dr. Gupta observes that a majority of Americans are on board with the legalization with 53% for recreational & 77% for medical. The attitude has changed since 1969 when only 12% were for recreational. He references a first hand experience of knowing someone who went from 300 seizures a week to about 1 or 2 a month after using medical marijuana.
In the following paragraph he shares a story of when he told his mother what he was writing an article over. One can begin to understand the mindset of a much older person. One can assume she was shocked/disappointed, but ended up becoming happy for him because she says, “You probably helped a lot of people who were suffering.” Which is true because he has helped some veterans with PTSD because he sees the work being done.
Dr. Gupta knows that the research on the medicinal aspects of marijuana will be worth while because it’ll be headed by the National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases which have conducted research into AIDS, polio, smallpox, etc. The research has started to show that it could be used as a treatment for cancer, Alzheimer’s & epilepsy. Not just affecting ones with actual diseases, but also preventing people from overdosing on painkillers & allow many to rely less on more harmful narcotics.
There is now promising research into the use of marijuana that could impact tens of thousands of children and adults, including treatment for cancer, epilepsy and Alzheimer’s, to name a few. With regard to pain alone, marijuana could greatly reduce the demand for narcotics and simultaneously decrease the number of accidental painkiller overdoses, which are the greatest cause of preventable death in this country.
Lastly in his concluding paragraphs he also sees the revolution rolling politically when he sees Senators Gillibrand & Booker when they were referring to data from earlier investigations. Also the thing is they were saying all this before the interviews started. They want marijuana rescheduled & legalized. They want it now and want to do everything they can to make sure it happens for the doctors to prescribe, dollars towards research, & lawmakers to open their eyes. He reminds them that many have failed in the past & that they should have a strong argument. Dr. Gupta sees the passion & is glad that the revolution is changing minds.
Overall this article has covered the medical & political aspect of the legalization of medical marijuana. He has seen the revolution personally touch lives of those personally & that it has changed the mind of politicians. I found this article useful because I knew a girl with seizures & I have seen her personally not have them in my math class anymore because she was introduced to marijuana. Other people in the class might find this essay useful if they are on the edge of the medical aspect of marijuana. He has seen the magic work, I have seen it, & the politicians are too.