For and Against Cannabis Decriminalization in the UK - Essay Example

?In the UK and throughout the world, there have been raging debates about the decriminalization of cannabis. Decriminalization this drug would effectively touch different areas in the social, economic and cultural affairs of the country. The UK government is currently in talks with its Members of Parliament who are in favor of decriminalizing cannabis, with some of the MPs suggesting that the country should emulate other countries like Portugal, which has already decriminalized cannabis. The UK is considering the reputation of the cannabis user, for example when they are found and arrested with cannabis, furthermore they are also looking at the amount of money to be spent by the Government on enforcing the laws regarding the use of the drug (Single et al 2000). Cannabis is a plant known to be available in most parts of the world and first originated from the Asian region (Emmett and Nice, 2009). Cannabis is known by many names including marijuana, Grass, weed, herb, blow, Ganja, dagga, hemp, pot and hay. It can be extracted in a simple way; the leaves of the plant are cut in small pieces and dried. Emmett and Nice (2009) explain that one has to consider the leaves of the cannabis plant which is almost maturing. From a study conducted by Johns (2001), it has been concluded that this drug has some side effects on the victim. Most of the users tend to consume the drug by smoking, which affects their lungs just the way cigarette smoking affects a person. Cannabis use has been debated much in most countries; this paper will review the need to decriminalize and also the impacts if the drug is decriminalized in the UK. From varied research, it is indicated that cannabis decriminalization should be considered based on the economic point of view; a lot of money is spent by the Government finding drug dealers and abusers. Money is also spent on the prosecution of the drug offenders, the recruitment of judges to deal with cases, the need for physicians to do the testing of drugs and high-tech laboratories, which all presses the government to spend more money which could have been put elsewhere to improve the economy. In addition, the government has spent a lot of money in enforcing laws governing the use of such drugs. In the case of the UK, the money spent on the investigation and prosecution of drug barons and users can be channeled into other parts of the economy. The decriminalization of cannabis use in the country would give the government more money to spend in other parts of the economy. In addition the government could generate revenue from the cannabis traders instead of spending taxes chasing after them. The health issue is also another case which has to be considered. Proponents of the legalization of cannabis have been arguing that the drug can help patients overcome the difficulties they are undergoing. For example, patients are usually advised by some doctors to take small amounts of cannabis by smoking to reduce the pain caused by the diseases they are undergoing (Grant et al, 2012). Furthermore, Grant et al (2012) show that the use of cannabis by patients who have undergone neurosurgery reduces the pain, hence increasing the patients’ hope of fast recovery. Cancer patients side effect could be reduced by advising them to smoke cannabis, which reduces side effects caused by cancer drugs, including nausea and vomiting. HIV/AIDs Patient who on Anti-retroviral drugs could also benefit from the use of cannabis to curb the side effects such lack of appetite, which could help them prevent other issues which like weight loss. Patients can then prolong their life and eat just like any other people. From the research it was also found that short sighted people could benefit from the use of cannabis which reduces the side effects they have when they are on drugs to reduce the effects of short-sightedness. Hall et al (2001) also found that cannabis can be used to curb epilepsy, tetanus or rabies (Hall et al 2001). From this, the UK government should consider decriminalizing cannabis for the benefit of ailing and quick recovery of patients. The social welfare of the society is another case which should be considered, in this case the users of the drugs and their family and other relatives. Single (2000) indicates that the highest number of cannabis consumers is the young generation who mostly end up being arrested. This shows that number of young people regarded as criminal offenders at a young age is very high, and later in life, they find it hard to cope with the society since they are already criminals. In addition, jail congestions could be avoided because there will be a small number of criminal offenders. Furthermore cases of drug addicts who go to jail and come back as hard criminals will be avoided. The UK government can legalize it and control the use of cannabis hence drawing a good picture in the society, in addition, stigmatization and loss of jobs by the drug users could be avoided if cannabis is decriminalized. However, opponents of this argument state that the decriminalization of cannabis should not occur in the UK, or the government should consider the reasons discussed in the following paragraph before taking a step to decriminalize the use of cannabis. Decriminalizing means that the health of an individual will be affected. Cannabis consumption is just like tobacco smoking, since it affects the lungs. It can be evidenced by the fact that smoking affects the work of pulmonary system making it hard to breath. In addition, it may lead to growth of cancerous cells which might cause cancer to the individual smoking cannabis. It has also been concluded from the research that patients who have heart problems tend to be at high risk levels if they consume cannabis because the drug increases the heartbeat of the victim, which makes the victim insecure because of changes in cardiac speed. According to Johns (2001), cannabis consumption also has mental effects; it is found that the use of cannabis makes a person to go for hard drugs, and contributes to fatigue, slow memory and euphoria. It is also shown that the use of cannabis for a longer period contributes to underperformance and lowers the alertness of the user, which can also be said to affect the cognition functionality or the work of the brain. This can be explained by the fact that cannabis is able to penetrate to the brain, which explains the cause of tiredness and passiveness of the user (Johns, 2001). Johns (2001) also indicates that the use of cannabis is the main cause of schizophrenia and psychosis whereby the victim sees or hears things which a normal person cannot see or hear. The user can also be controlled by drugs and acts without his or her knowledge and can harm other people; hence cannabis is one of the main causes of psychiatric ailment (Johns, 2001). The study also shows that the use of cannabis hinders fertilization, which is this due to the fact that the existence of the THC in either one sperm or ovum will affect fertilization hence hindering pregnancy (Diplock et al 2006). In addition, cannabis smokers, especially pregnant women expose their unborn child to brain defects, which is because cannabis THC is able to penetrate to the unborn child through the placenta. The other reason why the decriminalization of cannabis is opposed is that use by adolescents can disrupt their education, which can be clearly explained by the fact that the outcome of the use of cannabis includes fatigue and euphoria. These two factors work together to hinder performance, in addition adolescent can engage on other hard drugs which will have long time effects on their life in the future (Johns, 2001) Cannabis use is also the main contributor to road accidents and any other accidents which requires an individual to pay more attention to the work he or she is doing. This can be explained by the fact that cannabis tends to affect the brain and makes it slower to respond to different situations. This is because cannabis use impairs the brain and reduces normal cognitive action and judgment, which can cause accidents in any working place (Johns, 2001). Cannabis use has also been big issues in society, since; in a society people regard the use as a bad picture portrayed to them, which will make some people to avoid others mostly the users of cannabis. Furthermore, workplace relationships are affected if the cannabis user are among the workers of the company, and it will end up discouraging teamwork which is one of the main contributors of high prosperity of the company. Decriminalization of cannabis is a gateway to increase its use by people in a society inclusive of the younger generation, which will lead to more school dropouts based on the fact that most of them will be performing poorly in school. In addition, job performance in any company or organization will be poor due to the effects of cannabis such as tiredness, which will lead to lower output and end up lowering the economy of the country due to non-performing workers in the society (Diplock et al 2006). From the study by the Diplock et al (2006), it can be concluded that the use of cannabis affects the immune system based on the fact that THC is able to penetrate into the cells of the body which plays a role of immunity making them slow in response to diseases causing agents. From debate above, it is seen that the proponents are divided on the case that cannabis could be of help or could be a risk to the user or the society. There are major changes that would occur if decriminalization of cannabis occurs in the UK government, for example, the reduction of spending by the Government is significant and money would be channeled elsewhere. Additionally, jail congestions would significantly drop and stigmatization of the users of cannabis will go down making them relate well with other people in the society. Additionally, in health related matters, it has been shown that cannabis is vital to ailing patient mostly those with cancers and HIV AIDs since it could help them prolong their life. Conversely, the decriminalization of cannabis does have negative effects to the consumers, society and the economy of the concern country; it is based mostly on the health of an individual. It has been seen that cannabis affects the health of a consumer making him or her passive to the society and the country for example, the person might fail to report to a job due the effects, it can also affect the one close to the users of cannabis such as unborn child, this can cause long term effect. In addition it can also affect the economy because of causes such as road accidents which reduce the working population. From this, the UK Government should first consider the positive results and negative before taking steps to either decriminalize or stop decriminalization. References Andrew Johns, “Psychiatric effects of cannabis” [2001] The British Journal of Psychiatry, 178:116-122. Diplock, J., Cohen, I. & Plecas, D. “A Review of the Research on the Risks and Harms Associated to the Use of Marijuana” [2006] The Journal of Global Drug Poucy and Practice. Emmett, D. & Nice, G. (2009), What You Need to Know About Cannabis: Understanding the Facts. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Pg 9-10 Grant, I, Atkinson J. H., Gouaux, B. & Wilsey, B. “Medical Marijuana: Clearing Away the Smoke” [2012] The Open Neurology Journal, 2012, 6, 18-25 Hall, W., Degenhardt, L. & Lynskey, M .“The health and psychological effects of cannabis use” [2001]Monograph Series No. 44, 2nd Edition Single, E., Christie, P. & Ali, R. “The impact of cannabis decriminalisation in Australia and the United States” [2000] Journal of Public Health Policy, 21,2 (Summer, 2000): 157-186. Read More