Marijuana in today's society is known as a gateway drug. Most teens start smoking marijuana and move on to more addictive drugs. At first glance, it might seem like a typical weed legalization essay written by a pot-savvy student in class, but it's anything but. About 12 years ago, my mother started having welts like hives all over her body that itched uncontrollably and hurt. He would get them in his eyes and ears everywhere; you can imagine. We couldn't figure out what was wrong with her. We thought she was having an allergic reaction to something around her. One day his hemoglobin dropped so low that doctors were surprised he was even conscious. We took her to the hospital and they couldn't diagnose anything, they gave her an injection of a corticosteroid called prednisone. Therefore, they sent her to a rheumatologist, who is a doctor, who diagnoses patients and tells them what to do to manage their disease. The rheumatologist couldn't pinpoint what was happening to my mother, but he knew it looked very similar to lupus. He therefore decided to diagnose her with autoimmune hemolytic anemia. Autoimmune hemolytic anemia is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks red blood cells as a threat to the body and destroys them. In Lemans terms, she is allergic to herself. My mother had to start taking a corticosteroid called prednisone to suppress her immune system. Taking prednisone for a long time can be harmful to the individual by causing mood swings and making weight gain unnecessary (Staff, Mayo Clinic). I was researching treatments for autoimmune hemolytic anemia when I came across an article about a drug called Sativex, which is a liquid spray form of medical marijuana (Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases). I begin in... middle of paper... ijuana: Clearing Away The Smoke." Open Neurology Journal 6.(2012): 18-25. Academic research completed. Web. October 31, 2013. Hall, Wayne and Louisa Degenhardt "Initiatives on medical marijuana: are they justified? How successful are they likely to be?." CNS Drugs 17.10 (2003): 689-697. Academic Search Complete. Web. November 20, 2013. SIMONI-WASTILA, LINDA, and FRANCIS B. PALUMBO. "Medical Marijuana Legislation: What We Know and Don't we know." Journal Of Health Care Law & Policy 16.1 (2013): 59-75. Academic research completed. Web. November 21, 2013 Staff, Mayo Clinic. "Prednisone and other corticosteroids." Mayo Clinic. Mayo Foundation for Education and medical research, 01 December 2012. Web, 21 November 2013 “Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases, Bath; Cannabis-based Sativex is effective for relieving rheumatoid arthritis pain." Physician Law Weekly (2006): 368. ProQuest. Web. October 16. 2013.