Using Medical Marijuana for Pain Relief

Is the use of marijuana ethical because it is legal in some states? Greg Cole has retired from the Marine Corps with several life-threatening injuries and insomnia. Living in California, Greg used medical marijuana to ease his pain and help him sleep at night because he did not want to get addicted to pain pills. After a few years, Greg moved to Florida, where medical marijuana was no longer legal. Greg’s new problem is deciding whether or not to keep using marijuana illegally or take his prescribed pain meds and risk getting addicted. If he continues to use marijuana, he could put other people at risk, but it would help Greg.

Ethics plays a big role in Greg’s decision to use marijuana illegally or not. Considering marijuana is still illegal under federal law, he would be breaking the law. For someone who served in the Marine Corps, breaking the law should not be an option. For Greg to continue to use medical marijuana, he would have to find someone who deals with it. Then he would be supporting a drug dealer, which could end up dangerous. If Greg got caught with marijuana, he would be breaking the law and could end up in jail.

Prescription medicines are prescribed to make a patient feel better. In many cases, the prescribed pills are just right for a patient, so they will not become addicted. The Doctor prescribing medicines does not want a patient to get addicted, and that is why it is their job to decide how much and how strong of a medicine someone is getting. Unless Greg plans on taking someone else’s prescribed medicines, he should not be at risk of getting addicted.

Many people will be impacted if Greg makes the decision to illegally use medical marijuana. The first person who would be impacted is himself. Greg would become someone who buys drugs illegally, which is never good. Greg would be putting himself in danger by doing an illegal activity, and he would be a risk of getting caught. Someone else who would be affected by his decision is the Marine Corps. The reputation of the Marine Corps will be at risk if Greg gets in trouble with the law. The person who sells the marijuana would be positively impacted by Greg’s decision because they would be making more of a profit from another customer.

There are a few reasons it could be considered justifiable for Greg to continue to use medical marijuana. Greg has lived in California for several years and is used to using medical marijuana to help ease his pain. He is not a teenager using it to get high with his friend in an alleyway. Greg is a grown man and is capable of making the best decision for himself and handling the consequences. Many states are making their way to making marijuana legal. It is just a matter of time before Florida does too. Then if Greg decided to illegally use medical marijuana, he would be only just ahead of time. Ethically because Greg has served in the Marine Corps, he deserves to be able to sleep at night and live his life, not in pain, and if the solution to his problems is medical marijuana, then he should be able to use it.

The Final decision is up to Greg and if he wants to break the law or not. Honestly, the easiest solution to his problem could be to move back to a state where it is legal. Although the decision to stay in Florida and use medical marijuana may not be completely ethical, he would not be the only middle-aged man doing it. It all just depends on the point of view.

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