Marijuana in today's society is known as a gateway drug. Most teenagers start smoking marijuana and move on to more addictive drugs. At first glance, this may seem like your usual marijuana-related student's essay on legalizing weed in class, but that's far from it. About 12 years ago, my mother started having hives marks all over her body, which itched uncontrollably and hurt. She got it in her eyes and ears everywhere; you can imagine. We couldn't figure out what was wrong with her. We assumed she was having an allergic reaction to something around her. One day, her hemoglobin level dropped so low that doctors were amazed she was even conscious. We took her to the hospital, and they couldn't diagnose her with anything, so they gave her an injection of a corticosteroid called prednisone. Therefore, they sent her to a rheumatologist, which is a doctor, who diagnoses these patients and tells them what to do to manage their disease. The rheumatologist couldn't pinpoint exactly what was going on with my mother, but he knew it looked a lot like lupus. He then decided to diagnose him with autoimmune hemolytic anemia. Autoimmune hemolytic anemia is an autoimmune disease in which your immune system attacks red blood cells as a threat to the body and destroys them. Simply put, 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, causing mood swings and unnecessary weight gain (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 form of spray medical marijuana (Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases). I start at...... 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. “Medical Marijuana Initiatives: Are They Justified? How Likely Are They to be effective? CNS Drugs 17.10 (2003): 689-697. Academic research completed. Web. November 20, 2013. SIMONI-WASTILA, LINDA and FRANCIS B. PALUMBO. “Medical Marijuana Legislation: What We Know – and We Don’t.” 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 Medical Education and Research, 1 December 2012. Web 21 November 2013 “Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases, Bath; Cannabis-based Sativex effective in relieving the pain of rheumatoid arthritis. " Physician Law Weekly (2006): 368. ProQuest. Web. October 16. 2013.