You are at the doctor’s office for your annual checkup. You feel fine, and everything in life is perfect. The doctor comes in with a stack of lab reports from your blood tests. You’re expecting news about how impressive your cholesterol is, and how healthy and fit you are.

Unfortunately, the doctor has to deliver different news today. Stage 4 terminal cancer, which has already spread to the bones. You realize that not only has the news ruined your day, but potentially your life. How much time do I have left? What do I need to do for treatment? How will I afford this?

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Unfortunately, this is not imaginary for the millions of people diagnosed with cancer and other life-threatening and life-altering diseases around the world every year. Medical marijuana should be legal in all 50 states, effective immediately, because of its benefits for treatment of diseases, the benefits it will have on the economy and to help people understand that this is not a “typical drug” that people want to get high from.

Medical marijuana is cannabis and cannabinoids that are prescribed by a doctor for treatment of chronic conditions and diseases. It benefits the lives of people who have diseases such as cancer, epilepsy, Parkinson's, Crohn's disease, hepatitis C, asthma and chronic migraines. Medical marijuana can be prescribed in a number of ways, such as tablets, creams/lotions, sprays, patches, oils and edibles.

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When diagnosed with cancer, patients need to focus on their diet and nutrition. Staying healthy, especially if you're on chemotherapy or radiation, is vitally important because of the toll the treatment has on your body. Medical marijuana is very useful, especially to a cancer patient, because the drug works in three ways. It improves appetite, controls anxiety and minimizes pain. The drug has also been very useful in epileptic patients who can't control their seizures with medicine and surgery. Medical marijuana is known to have fewer side effects than many prescribed opiates and painkillers typically prescribed by doctors.

Not only does medical marijuana have an amazing success rate for treatment, but it can bring in a lot of revenue to the states and growers. It can also help people have fewer doctor visits. Seizures from epilepsy and tremors from Parkinson's disease have been known to stop completely solely from medical marijuana, and if this drug was legalized it could potentially stop people suffering from these diseases from getting brain surgery, going to the hospital and paying lots of medical bills. The additional revenue would boost our economy and increase a need for jobs.

Medical marijuana has a bad stigma throughout the United States. Many people believe if we legalize a drug known to get people high that we put people at risk and give drug seekers easy access to what they want. What most people don't understand is that medical marijuana and recreational marijuana aren't the same drug. Medical marijuana has high levels of CBD while recreational has a high level of THC, which is the ingredient that makes you high and psychoactive. This is a drug for people suffering from things like terminal cancer, bad tremors, uncontrollable seizures and bad breathing conditions. This is not a drug for people to get high with friends, sell on the streets and pass around at parties. This is a drug that, for some, means life or death.

All things considered, I think we need to legalize medical marijuana in the remaining 22 states that haven't done so yet. It has a long list of medical benefits for a wide range of diseases and conditions, it will increase the economy and a need for jobs, and the legalization could destroy the terrible stigma. Put yourself in a cancer patient’s shoes and ask yourself, “Would I want an effective medicine that helps with my pain, makes me eat again and makes me less anxious?” For me, the answer is a no-brainer: yes.

Nicholas Cappella lives in Springettsbury Township.

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