Ingraham, Christopher. “’How medical marijuana could literally save lives’.” Washingtonpost.com, The Washington Post. 14 Jul. 2015. Web. 15 Jul. 2015.
Christopher Ingraham is a blogger for the Washington Post and former employee of the Pew Research Center. In his article “How Medical Marijuana could literally save lives” published by washingtonpost.com in July 2015, Ingraham argues that by legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes, the US could avoid many deaths due to prescription painkiller overdoses.
Ingraham first illustrates the benefits of medicinal marijuana in painkilling by describing a study in which there is a “30% or greater improvement in pain” when the use of medical marijuana is involved. This is important to keep in mind especially due to the large amount of prescription painkiller related deaths in the US. To further support this claim, Ingraham states that “drug overdoses kill more people than suicide, guns or car crashes.” Overall, Ingraham’s own research showed him that prescription painkillers “killed more than 16,000 people in 2013.”
Ingraham then explains that states that allow medicinal marijuana have “a significant decrease in both prescription painkiller abuse, and in overdose deaths from prescription painkillers.” According to the author, “the availability of medical marijuana through licensed dispensaries” is what truly contributes to the use of the drug as beneficial. Meaning that states that allow the drug medicinally see less deaths being caused from prescription painkillers. Ingraham then explains that some of the research found which paints marijuana in a bad light when compared with prescription drugs is not completely accurate due to the accuracy in which studying users of the drugs requires.
Ultimately, Ingraham is arguing for the serious consideration of marijuana being used for medicinal painkilling purposes instead of prescription drugs. Ingraham believes that because of the high death rate attributed to prescription painkiller abuse, “it’s worth taking a serious look at the use of medical marijuana for chronic pain patients.”
This summary and source is valuable for anyone looking to argue the legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes. The article uses plenty of links and credible research as well as statements from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and researchers from universities such as Stanford. With this information, author Christopher Ingraham effectively conveys his viewpoint that medicinal marijuana should be legalized for the sake of avoiding death from prescription painkiller overdoses and addictions.
Teachers, adults, and parents have all at one point said, “Drugs are bad. They will kill you. People that use them are criminals and will end up ruining their lives. Do not do drugs.” From a very early age I, and I imagine all of us, have heard words like these constantly. But bring from from The Rio Grande Valley, which is a major drug trafficking area, made me realize that there is some truth to these statements, yet that’s only one side to a broader and more complex situation.
As I got older, I was exposed to more “adult content” I would say and the first instance of pop culture in which I observed marijuana being used on tv was in That 70s Show. At first, I hated the show because I was stuck in the elementary school mindset of “Drugs are bad. People that use them are criminals.” But then my friends started talking more about the show and I decided to give it another chance. I saw an episode completely and realized they were basically normal teenagers, they just liked to use marijuana. They weren’t murderers, robbers, or rapists. And I was completely mind blown. All my life I had thought that people who use drugs belonged in the same category as evil law breakers but That 70s Show taught me this was not the case.