The legalization of Marijuana - Essay Example

Marijuana should be legalized in United s The controversies surrounding marijuana use is growing in America at present. Many people believe that marijuana should not be allowed to use legally in America since it is a psycho active drug. In their opinion, continuous marijuana use can make drastic changes in the behavior of a person and his entire personality could be changed as a result of that. On the other hand, supporters of legalization of marijuana use argue that compared to the positive effects associated with marijuana use, negative effects are negligible. In their opinion, marijuana should be used as a medicine to patients. Diseases like nausea, vomiting, glaucoma etc can be treated effectively with marijuana. Moreover, it can be used a pain reliever, hunger stimulant etc. Even though marijuana has good potential in medical science, it has not achieved the status of a medicine yet in America. FDA has not shown green signal to marijuana yet. It is still included in the list of drugs which are misused for changing moods rather than treating diseases. Roth (2008) has pointed out that “To date, marijuana is still classified as an illegal Schedule 1 drug by the Controlled Substances Act. It is defined as having "no accepted medical use in treatment in the United States" (Roth). This paper argues in favor of legalization of marijuana in United Sates, after analyzing the arguments in favor and against it. Pundits like Fox Newss Glenn Beck and former judge Andrew Napolitano have joined in the debate, on the pro-legalization side. "You know what, I think its about time we legalize marijuana. Hear me out for a second…" Beck told viewers in April. "We have to make a choice in this country. We have to either put people who are smoking marijuana behind bars, or we legalize it. But this little game were playing in the middle is not helping us, and is causing massive violence on our southern border." Even Sarah Palin, whos opposed to legalization, has called pot a relatively "minimal problem," telling Fox Business Network this summer, "I think we need to prioritize our law-enforcement efforts. And if somebodys gonna smoke a joint in their house and not do anybody else harm, then perhaps there are other things our cops should be looking at to engage in and try to clean up some of the other problems that we have in society"(Conant and Maloney) Neither the administration, nor the judiciary has any ideas about what to do with the issue of legalization of marijuana. Instead of conducting a pilot study to learn more about the pros and cons of marijuana use, the governments are playing political games using the marijuana subject. It is because of the growing popularity of marijuana use in America. Americans do believe that most of the arguments marijuana use has come from illusions and prejudices rather than facts. It is a fact that cocaine like drugs can cause severe damage to the physical and mental health of a person. Opponents of marijuana are trying to equate marijuana with cocaine and they succeeded in developing much hype with respect to marijuana use. According to a study conducted by Investigators at the University of Melbourne and the Australian National University, Center for Mental Health Research over 2,000 self-identified marijuana consumers and non-users over an eight-year period, “the adverse impacts of cannabis use on cognitive functions either appear to be related to pre-existing factors or are reversible in this community”(Armentano) It is a fact that legalization of marijuana may bring enormous amount of revenue to the government. Some studies have shown that “legalizing all illicit drugs would save the government $41.3 billion a year in law-enforcement costs and generate some $46.7 billion in tax revenue; marijuana would account for $8.7 billion of the savings, and another $8.7 billion in taxes”(Conant and Maloney). If marijuana is legalized, it can be sold from legal channels and the government can collect tax money for that. On the other hand, if the marijuana use is prohibited, the ultimate result would be a loss of substantial amount of money to the government. Marijuana users will make use of illegal channels to get marijuana and therefore the government will never get any tax revenue out of it. Khatapoush and Hallfors (2004) have opposed the legalization of marijuana strongly. In their opinion, legalization of marijuana will send wrong signals to the children. Marijuana is a "gateway" drag. Children who have used marijuana are more than 85 times likelier to use cocaine than children who have never used marijuana. They send the wrong message to our children. Coming at a time when marijuana use has doubled among our youth, these initiatives threaten to undermine our efforts to prevent drug use by our children. We cannot afford to further erode youth attitudes towards drags by allowing marijuana to be falsely depicted as a safe drug and as effective medicine. Labeling marijuana as "medicine" sends the wrong message to children that it is a safe substance (Khatapoush and Hallfors, p.753) The above arguments seem to be illogical. It is a fact that alcohol use and smoking can cause severe physical and mental problems to the public; however neither the government nor the judiciary made any conscious efforts to ban these substances in America. It should be remembered that children are more vulnerable to these things and still the authorities seem to be keeping silence about the issue of prohibition of smoking and alcohol use. Authorities are not taking any action upon smokers or alcohol users because of the huge popularity of these things in America. According to American Medical Association “Marijuana is actually less dangerous than alcohol, cigarettes, and even most over-the-counter medicines or prescriptions Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man” (Legalizing Marijuana). Compared to alcohol use and smoking, marijuana use seem to be less dangerous. Moreover, the negative effects associated with alcohol use and smoking, are well researched and documented; however no research or scientific studies proved the dangers associated with marijuana use yet. At the same time, utility of marijuana in treating some diseases have been proved beyond doubt. Some of the researches conducted in early 1970’s and 80’s have shown that light or moderate use of marijuana may not develop any physical or psychological problems. As in the case of many other drugs, over usage of marijuana can cause problems. Under such circumstances, instead of prohibiting marijuana use, it is better to regulate or control the marijuana use. As in the case of alcohol, if used in a controlled manner, marijuana can provide more utility than harm. One study used bivariate analyses to consider characteristics of people who supported marijuana legalization, views regarding whether the “war on drugs” was winning, and the effectiveness of specific types of policies. The results indicated that age, education, political ideology and income were most consistently related to attitudes (Nielsen p.467). The above facts clearly show that the attitude of people towards marijuana use is different because of the differences in social, economic, educational and political backgrounds in which they brought up. In some cultures, marijuana use is more prominent than that in other cultures. For example, Mexicans use marijuana more frequently than any other people in the world. According to a scientific study conducted by Cockerham WC and Alster JM, “On all measures, Mexican-American youth were found to have significantly more positive attitudes toward marijuana and more extensive marijuana use” (Cockerham and Alster). The above facts show that the public opinion about marijuana use is different in different cultures. Moreover, people with different educational standards visualize marijuana use differently. All these factors clearly point towards the necessity of a scientific study before prohibiting marijuana use in America. Pediatricians are not of one mind in their views regarding the legal status of marijuana. In a periodic survey of fellows of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) conducted in 1995, only a minority (18%) favored legalization, and 26% believed that possession or sale should be a felony; 31% felt that marijuana should be available by prescription for medical purposes to a certain class of patients, and 24% believed that marijuana should remain illegal but penalties for personal possession should be reduced or eliminated (Joffe & Yancy, p.632) The above facts clearly show that even doctors have no consensus about the good and evil effects of marijuana. This is because of the lack of scientific studies available on this topic. At the same time, it is an accepted fact that marijuana has the ability to relieve pain and effective in the treatment of certain diseases. For example, chronic cancer patients cannot get relief from pain with the help of normal pain relieving medicines. On the other hand, marijuana can help such patients not only in relieving pain, but also in curing diseases like cancer, AIDS etc. According to a scientific study conducted by Leo E. Hollister which is published in Journal Of Cannabis Therapeutics; A pure preparation of the major active component, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), Marinol or dronabinol, is available for treating nausea and vomiting associated with cancer chemotherapy and as an adjunct to weight loss in patients with wasting syndrome associated with AIDS. Although such approval currently applies only to orally administered THC, for practical purposes smoked marijuana should also be expected to be equally effective (Holister, p.5) It should be noted that subjects like mercy killing or physician assisted suicide is getting prominence in America at present. In other words, if mercy killing or physician assisted suicide is permissible, there is no point in arguing against the usage of marijuana as a medicine. Prohibition of marijuana use helps only the substitute product marketers. For example, Spice, a herbal smoking mixture, is sold on the internet and in some shops in America labeled as legal and nicotine-free smoke. Americans who have no access to marijuana suppliers are using this substitute product immensely. Professor Leslie Iversen, chairman of the technical committee of the Advisory Council, said: “It is a very clever product, sold as a herbal smoking mixture from China, but containing chemicals which can be a lot more potent than cannabis” (Ford). According to a shop owner, “the demand for spice has doubled each month, and its sales now represent a third of his revenue. On some Fridays, his two District stores can bring in $10,000 from the sale of spice alone” (Savage). Spice is getting more popularity in America at present and the prohibition of marijuana use is a blessing to this Chinese product. Most of the Americans believe that spice is less harmful; however “According to police reports cited in news accounts, one person in Texas suffered seizures after smoking two types of spice together. In Iowa, an 18-year-old suffered a panic attack and committed suicide after smoking spice with friends last month, police said. "Were getting extreme anxiety in many patients, agitation, heightened heart rate and blood pressure," said Anthony Scalzo, medical director of the Missouri Poison Center. "Ive done emergency medicine for 28 years and toxicology for 22, and I dont see that kind of effect generally from a patient who comes in having taken marijuana" (Savage). In short, prohibition of marijuana results in the spreading of more harmful substitute products like spice in American markets. In 2005 June, American Supreme Court ruled against medical use of marijuana; however the court never ruled out the possibility of using marijuana as a pain reliever. In other words, even judiciary is not sure about whether to allow or prohibit the usage of marijuana in America. In any case, one thing is sure; marijuana has immense potential in relieving pain, agony and stress. The stress level of current population is growing day by day because of the failure in fulfilling their commitments. Many Americans spend sleepless nights in this era. For such people, marijuana is a blessing. Lack of sleep will develop mental problems. Controlled marijuana use can help people to sleep well and to avoid psychological problems. To conclude, marijuana use should be legalized in America, considering its immense benefits over drawbacks. Much of the declared drawbacks of marijuana are based on myths rather than facts. No scientific study yet proved the negative effects of marijuana use. However, many scientific studies have proved that controlled marijuana use can contribute many advantages to some patients. Marijuana is a perfect pain reliever and a stress reliever. No other product can substitute it in this category. If alcohol and tobacco use are allowable, there is no point in prohibiting marijuana. Prohibition of marijuana use will force the public to use other more harmful products such as Spice. Moreover, legalization of marijuana use will bring immense revenue to the government. Neither the medical science and administration, nor the judiciary has any evidences to prove the negative effects of marijuana. Subjects like physician assisted suicide or mercy killing are considering seriously by the administrations at present. Under such circumstances, it is illogical to prohibit the less harmful marijuana use. In short, considering the arguments in favor and against marijuana use, I strongly believe that legalization of marijuana use is essential in America. Works Cited 1. Cockerham WC and Alster JM. “A Comparison of Marijuana Use Among Mexican- American and Anglo Rural Youth Utilizing a Matched-set analysis”. 1983. Web. 26 July 2011. 2. Conant, Eve and Maloney, Katie. “Pot And The Gop”. 2010. Newsweek, 00289604, 11/1/2010, Vol. 156, Issue 18 Database: Academic Search Premier 3. Ford, Richard. “Spice’ Ban as Tests Show Legal Herbal Drug is as Potent as Cannabis”. 2009. The Times. April 12, 2009. 4. Hollister, Leo E. “Marijuana (Cannabis) as Medicine”.2001. Journal of Cannabis Therapeutics Volume 1 Number 1 2001. Web. 29 July 2011. 5. Joffe, Alain MD, MPH, and Yancy, Samuel MD, “Legalization of Marijuana: Potential Impact on Youth”. 2004. American Academy Of Pediatrics Technical Report PEDIATRICS Vol. 113 No. 6 June 2004 6. Khatapoush, Shereen and Hallfors, Denise. “Sending The Wrong Message": Did Medical Marijuana Legalization In California Change Attitudes About And Use Of Marijuana?”. 2004. Journal of Drug Issues, 2004. 00220426, 20040901, Vol. 34, Issue 4.Database: SPORTDiscus 7. “Legalizing Marijuana”. Web. 29 July 2011. http://www.uri.edu/personal/atro6990/ 8. Nielsen, Amie. “Americans’ Attitudes Toward Drug-related Issues From 1975–2006: The Roles of Period And Cohort Effects” 2010 The journal of drug issues 0022-0426/10/02 461-494 9. Roth, Rebecca. “Medical Marijuana”. 2008. Web. 26 July 2011. 10. Savage, Michael W. “The Growing Buzz on Spice -- The Marijuana Alternative. 2010. Washington Post. Web. 26 July 2011 11. Armentano, Paul. “Working to reform Marijuana Laws”.2011. Web. 29 July 2011 http://norml.org/ Read More