There's a growing body of research supporting marijuana's use for medical purposes. Some studies and anecdotal evidence suggest marijuana can be used for various medical problems, including pain, nausea and loss of appetite, Parkinson's disease, inflammatory bowel disease, PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), epilepsy, and multiple sclerosis. Several studies show legalizing medical marijuana dispensaries can lead to fewer opioid painkiller deaths, making medical marijuana one potential way to help fight the opioid epidemic. The rationale for this is simple: Studies show medical marijuana can effectively treat chronic pain, which opioids are commonly used for. But unlike opioids, medical marijuana cannot cause deadly overdoses. So medical marijuana could supplant some opioid use and save some lives. Medical marijuana legalization also has a lot of popular support: A 2010 Pew Research Center survey found that 73 percent of American voters back medical marijuana, including 80 percent of Democrats, 76 percent of independents, and 61 percent of Republicans. But the federal government doesn't recognize marijuana's medical potential, largely because the studies have been small so far, and there have been no large-scale clinical trials proving pot's medicinal value. For legalization advocates, getting the federal government to acknowledge marijuana's medical value could be a significant step forward. For one, it would push the Drug Enforcement Administration to reclassify marijuana from a schedule 1 to a schedule 2 substance, which could relax some of the restrictions on the drug. That alone would amount to a huge symbolic shift: After decades of scheduling marijuana in the strictest possible category, a downgrade could be taken as an acknowledgment by the federal government that its old policies have failed. Read more about this here.
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