Last updated on: 1/9/2023 | Author: ProCon.org

Footnotes

The background and pro and con arguments were written by ProCon.org staff based upon input from the following sources.

1.Lester Grinspoon, “History of Cannabis as a Medicine,” venicecare.com, Aug. 16, 2005
2.Michelle Z. Donahue, “Earliest Evidence for Cannabis Smoking Discovered in Ancient Tombs,” nationalgeographic.com, June 12, 2019
3.Meng Ren, et al., “The Origins of Cannabis Smoking: Chemical Residue Evidence from the First Millennium BCE in the Pamirs.” science.org, June 12, 2019
4.Colleen Fisher Tully, “Did Women Use Cannabis as Medicine in Ancient Egypt?,” leafly.com, Aug. 3, 2020
5.New York Review, “Pot and the Myth of Shen Nung: Erich Goode, reply by Jerome Groopman,” nybooks.com, Mar. 20, 2014
6.Jerome Groopman, “Marijuana: The High and the Low,” nybooks.com, Feb. 20, 2014
7.Jonny Winship, “A Definitive Guide to the History of Medical Cannabis,” huckmag.com, Nov. 9, 2018
8.Joshua J. Mark, “Ancient Egyptian Medical Texts,” worldhistory.org, Feb. 21, 2017
9.Emily Ledger, “Cannabis Use in the Ancient World: Ancient Egypt,” canex.co.uk, Jan. 5, 2021
10.Weedmaps, “History of Cannabis,” herb.delivery (accessed Oct. 20, 2022)
11.Bill Weinberg, “A Brief History of Marihuana in Mexico,” freedomleaf.com, May 22, 2018
12.Kushka, “History of Cannabis in Mexico,” dinafem.org, Sep. 27, 2020
13.David McDonald, ”The Racist Roots of Marijuana Prohibition,” fee.org, Apr. 11, 2017
14.S.P.H. Alexander, K. Mackie, and R.A. Ross, “Editorial,” British Journal of Pharmacology, June 2010
15.David Moye, “Lawmaker Says Black People Can't Handle Marijuana Because of 'Genetics,'” huffingtonpost.co.uk, Sep. 1, 2018
16.Amy Tikkanen, “Why Is Marijuana Illegal in the U.S.?,” britannica.com, Apr. 15, 2019
17.Gov.uk, “Drugs Penalties,” gov.uk (accessed Oct. 20, 2022)
18.UK Department of Health, “Categories Drugs Are Separated into for Control Purposes,” health-ni.gov.uk (accessed Oct. 20, 2022)
19.ProCon.org, "State-by-State Medical Marijuana Laws," medicalmarijuana.procon.org, Nov. 9, 2022
20.ProCon.org, "State-by-State Medical Marijuana Laws," marijuana.procon.org, Nov. 9, 2022
21.Ted Van Green, “Americans Overwhelmingly Say Marijuana Should Be Legal for Recreational or Medical Use,” pewresearch.org, Apr. 16, 2021
22.Peter Grinspoon, “Medical Marijuana,” health.harvard.edu, Apr. 10, 2020
23.Caitlin Isles, “7 Potential Health Benefits of Cannabis,” jwu.edu, Sep. 22, 2021
24.Khalid A. Jadoon, Garry D. Tan, and Saoirse E. O’Sullivan, “A Single Dose of Cannabidiol Reduces Blood Pressure in Healthy Volunteers in a Randomized Crossover Study,” JCI Insight, June 15, 2017
25.Wei Xiong, et al., “Cannabinoids Suppress Inflammatory and Neuropathic Pain by Targeting α3 Glycine Receptors,” Journal of Experimental Medicine, June 4, 2012
26.Gustavo Gonzalez-Cuevas, et al., “Unique Treatment Potential of Cannabidiol for the Prevention of Relapse to Drug Use: Preclinical Proof of Principle,” Neuropsychopharmacology, Mar. 22, 2018
27.Esther M. Blessing, et al., “Cannabidiol as a Potential Treatment for Anxiety Disorders,” Neurotherapeutics, Oct. 2015
28.Vicente Martínez, et al., “Cannabidiol and Other Non-Psychoactive Cannabinoids for Prevention and Treatment of Gastrointestinal Disorders: Useful Nutraceuticals?,” International Journal of Molecular Sciences, Apr. 2020
29.Alessandra Morano, et al., “Cannabinoids in the Treatment of Epilepsy: Current Status and Future Prospects,” Neuropsychiatric Disease Treatment, Feb. 2020
30.The American Cancer Society Medical and Editorial Content Team, “Marijuana and Cancer,” cancer.org, Aug. 2, 2022
31.National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse, “Cannabis (Marijuana) Research Report: Is Marijuana Safe and Effective as Medicine?,” nida.nih.gov, July 2020
32.Greg Miller, “Could Pot Help Solve the U.S. Opioid Epidemic?,” science.org, Nov. 3, 2018
33.Stephanie Lake, M. Eugenia Socías, and M.-J. Milloy, “Evidence Shows That Cannabis Has Fewer Relative Harms than Opioids,” Canadian Medical Association Journal, Feb. 18, 2020
34.Christina Palmer,” Can Marijuana Be as Effective as Medications?,” goodrx.com, June 1, 2021
35.ProCon.org, “Votes and Polls on Medical Marijuana,” medicalmarijuana.procon.org, Sep. 29, 2022
36.Kevin M Takakuwa and Raquel M Schears, “Emergency Medicine Physicians Would Prefer Using Cannabis Over Opioids for First-Line Treatment of a Medical Condition if Provided With Medical Evidence: A National Survey,” Cureus, Nov. 2021
37.US Customs and Border Protection, “Did You Know... Marijuana Was Once a Legal Cross-Border Import?,” cbp.gov, Dec. 20, 2019
38.Sarah C. Hull, “Op-Ed: We Should Not Allow a Marijuana Free-for-All,” medpagetoday.com, Jan. 15, 2021
39.George Sam Wang, “Pediatric Concerns Due to Expanded Cannabis Use: Unintended Consequences of Legalization,” Journal of Medical Toxicology, Mar. 2017
40.National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse, “Cannabis (Marijuana) DrugFacts,” nida.nih.gov, Dec. 2019
41.Claire McCarthy, “Legalizing Marijuana Not Good for Kids: AAP Policy Explained,” healthychildren.org, Mar. 23, 2022
42.Kevin Osterhoudt, “Edible Marijuana Dangers: How Parents Can Prevent THC Poisoning,” healthychildren.org, May 16, 2022
43.CDC, “​​Addiction (Marijuana or Cannabis Use Disorder),” cdc.gov, Oct. 19, 2020
44.Emily Sohn, “Weighing the Dangers of Cannabis,” nature.com, Aug. 28, 2019
45.US Census Bureau, “2020 Population and Housing State Data,” census.gov, Aug. 12, 2021
46.NORML, “Decriminalization,” norml.org (accessed Oct. 26, 2022)
47.Jen Christensen and Sandee LaMotte, "Number of Young Children Who Accidentally Ate Cannabis Edibles Jumped 1,375% in Five Years, Study Finds," cnn.com, Jan. 5, 2023