PROJECT IN

ORAL COMMUNICATION 11

Legalizing Medical Marijuana:

A Persuasive Text

Submitted by:

Darling Pearl P. Santos

Submitted to:

Ms. Maria Charlot Ann S. Bergantin

 LEGALIZING MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Cannabis, also known as Marijuana, is a psychoactive drug from the Cannabis

Plant intended for medical or recreational use. Although medical Marijuana is still not
legal in the Philippines, most of the people in the country continue to use it. But in 2002,
the congress introduced the House Bill No. 4477, known as the Compassionate use of
Medical Marijuana Act, which would legalize the use of it. Since the said Bill is not yet
approved, I am hoping that they will finally approve it soon for I wholeheartedly agree on
legalizing medical Marijuana since several countries have decided to do it. Their reason
is that it really helps when used as a medicine. It also prevents various diseases and it
truly helps those people who are experiencing seizures.

We should all agree on legalizing Medical Marijuana here in our country. I, who
is in favour of legalizing it, have a personal reason. I have a sister who has a disability,
Cerebral Palsy to be exact. I researched about Marijuana and it turns out that there is a
content on the plant that gives an individual a somehow relaxation. So the tension on the
muscles whenever they are experiencing seizures ease.

I know many of us are still not accepting Marijuana as a medicine because they
have this mind-set that if you talk about Marijuana or Cannabis, they will already think
that it is bad; that it is a drug used by drug addicts and criminals.

I have a close friend who shared his grandmother’s experience in Marijuana. He

said that his grandmother would put Cannabis flowers on her baked cookies and then
intake it while she is on her chemotherapy because of breast cancer. He said that
Cannabis somehow prolonged his grandmother’s life before passing away. Cannabis truly
helps those people who have cancer since according to the research at the California
Pacific Medical Centre in 2007, they stated that Cannabidiol a content in Cannabis
stops cancer by turning off a gene called Id-L.

Although Marijuana gives as a lot of benefits on our body, it still has some
negative effects when you smoked too much or used it for non-medical purposes.
Medical Marijuana, when overused or abused, can lead to dependency and mess with
your memories and emotions. It can give you problems, paranoia, psychosis or
hallucinations; it can decline your IQ and may lead to addiction. So always keep in mind
that all things, when taken too much, may cause harm.

Medical Marijuana really helps people to treat various diseases. We should

legalize it on our country. We should break the stereotype. Marijuana cannot kill you. It
can even treat your disease from the simplest to the most complicated ones. But still,
remember, take it as per advised by your doctor because too much can cause you harm.