By Patsy Pell
Volume 5 Issue 2
In the past year, opioid painkillers have been approved to start being prescribed to children ages eleven to sixteen. Also in the past year, we have seen a spike in opioid poisonings among children and teenagers. The most common side effects of opioid painkillers include: sedation, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, constipation, addiction (Physical and psychological dependency), and respiratory depression. Physical dependence and addiction are standard clinical concerns. A medication that is supposed to take away a child’s pain is causing the child to be physically sick and even cause death. Why? Are big pharmaceutical companies trying to poison the nation’s youth and future?
While researching, I saw that opioid painkillers were mainly being prescribed to children with cancer. Doctors who prescribe these pills to children claim that opioids are really the only medication that works to help subside all the pain the comes along with chemotherapy and radiation. Besides the side effects from painkillers, children have to deal with the side effects of chemotherapy and radiation, which include nausea, vomiting, pain, and fatigue. Many cancer patients lose a substantial and unhealthy amount of weight due to the nausea and vomiting that comes from the combination of chemotherapy and their painkillers. Aren’t our nations doctors trying to find the best medication to help their patients survive? To me I believe our doctors should always be looking for the safest way to help their patients, especially young patients in their developing years.
I, and many others, know a much safer alternative to opioids exists that can kill cancer cells, help patients eat when undergoing chemo or radiation, is not addictive, gives patients a better quality of life, and is a medication with zero reported overdoses or deaths. Marijuana. As of now medical marijuana can be prescribe to people above the age of eighteen for cancer, chronic pain, intractable nausea/vomiting, PTSD, and many more. Children under 18 can only be prescribed medical cannabis if they have epilepsy. Marijuana has helped many children control their seizures, in some cases parents saw a 90% (Ninety-Percent) seizure reduction just after three months of using medial cannabis. To treat epilepsy with marijuana doctors suggest a non-psychoactive form called whole plant oil, which does not cause the child to experience THC’s ‘high,’ and eliminates the “munchies” marijuana is known for. Isolating beneficial oils from the marijuana plant can be better than using the whole plant. With a psychoactive form of marijuana, it will cause the patient to feel very hungry, but this can benefit a cancer patient greatly. I believe, instead of prescribing children with medications that cause more harm than good, doctors should be prescribing children with an all-natural, non-addictive medication. That is marijuana.
Marijuana is composed of mainly two cannabinoids- CBD (non psychoactive) and THC (psychoactive). The CBD in marijuana is approved for medicinal use in New Mexico, whereas the THC in marijuana causes a person to get high, complicating THC’s legality. The human body however actually has a system to process these cannabinoids, which is called the endocannabinoid system. Once the marijuana hits the endocannabinoid system it then starts naturally travel through the bloodstream.
The most common argument I came across as to why children should not be prescribed medical marijuana is that it can cause long term cognitive disorder and lower the IQ of a person. “Reasoning for cognitive problems is adding chemicals to your brain can create a mental disorder,” (Hanson qtd. in Should Marijuana ever be used to Treat Children?). Many doctors will also claim that marijuana will have a negative effect on the child’s developing brain, while many other doctors will point out the same is true in medications that are being prescribed to cancer patients.
Recent studies that have been conducted show that marijuana does not lower IQ and can actually reverse cognitive decline. As the study began researchers reviewed 789 pairs of adolescent twins between the ages 9 and 11. This study took a span of over ten years, where one sibling would not take marijuana and the other was a frequent user. The results showed that marijuana users did lose about four points of their IQ, but so did their twin sibling. “Our findings lead us to believe that this is something else that is related to something about the shared environment of the twins, which would include home, school, and peers,” (Jackson qtd. in Marijuana does not lower IQ). Twins who reported their frequent marijuana use for six months did not show any change in their IQ’s compared to those who do not smoke at all. According to Claire Mokryz, PHD, “This is a clear indication that cannabis is unlikely to be the cause of any IQ decline”(AKA: Marijuana Does not Lower IQ). Many studies exist that suggest marijuana can boost cognitive performance, and that marijuana cannabinoids repair and create new brain cells. According to German researchers, cannabinoids are capable of cleansing and repairing damaged brain cells, and in the same study found cannabinoids do increase production of new brain cells. Cannabinoid fuels the mitochondria, which are the “powerhouse” of energy responsible for cells function.
In contrast to opioids being very addictive, marijuana is not. Over the years there has yet to be a recorded death caused by marijuana, whereas there have been 18,893 deaths caused by prescribed opioids in the span of one year. “As soon as we can get people off opioids to a non addicting substance, I think it would dramatically impact the amount of opioid deaths”‘and medical marijuana is non addictive.’ (Dr. Gary Witman of Canna Care Docs). Dr. Witman has treated about eighty patients who were addicted to opioids and says, “Cannabis can treat the symptoms patients had been using opioids to manage, such as chronic pain or anxiety, and [Marijuana] has treated them far more safely” (Witman qtd. in Doctors Pioneer Pot as an Opioid Substitute). As doctors fight to substitute marijuana for opioid painkillers, many doctors are still prescribing these harmful drugs to the nation’s youth.
Overall, marijuana is a safer alternative and should be available to children under the age of eighteen. Marijuana is non addictive and has no impact on a developing brain. “Seriously ill patients have the right to an effective therapy, both adult and minor. [With medical marijuana] benefits outweigh the ‘burdens.’” (Clark qtd. in Should Marijuana ever be used to Treat Children?).
