Marijuana__Bad_Rep,_Bad_Policy

| ABSTRACT In 2009 there were an estimated 1,663,582 state and local arrests for drug abuse violations in the United States (ONDCP). The purpose of this research is to shed light on the pros and cons of legalizing marijuana. Both sides have relevant concerns to making this recreational drug legal. With plenty of aspects to consider, the pro legalization stance genuinely makes a strong argument. Legalizing marijuana could bring revenue to a government that has a budget deficit bigger than ever, allowing more funds to be distributed to projects more worthy than prosecuting every day citizens for growing hemp in their basement. America could see a decrease in crime, feeling safer knowing their children will not be wandering off to an alley to score some marijuana off some shady dealer. Medical professionals are continuing research on many the benefits marijuana has to offer patients with chronic illnesses. It is clear that this research shows that by legalizing this drug, the benefits definitely outweigh the risk. In 1840 President Abraham Lincoln said, "Prohibition... goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control mans' appetite through legislation and makes a crime out of things that are not even crimes... A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our Government was founded.” The most widely debated issue in America, next to abortion, is the prohibition of drugs. Although most drugs remain legal to possess and consume, marijuana, a natural growing herb, continues to be a black market item. Alcohol and tobacco, two highly addictive and life threatening substances are currently legal, so it seems that a relevant question to ask is why is marijuana illegal' The national legalization of marijuana through regulatory control would be a valuable asset to Americas’ economy. Legalizing this drug with restriction, like those set on alcohol and tobacco would increase accessibility to patients in which medicinal marijuana is necessary and decrease the tax burden associated with the current criminalization of marijuana users, essentially turning a nice profit from this already enormous cash crop. “Marijuana is a brown, gray, or green mixture of dried, shredded leaves, seeds, stems, and flowers of the hemp plant. Like any naturally growing plant, hemp needs the basic essentials like water, sunlight and air to grow. It is usually smoked, occasionally in a pipe or water pipe, but most often in loosely rolled cigarettes known as, "joints." It is commonly called by street names such as pot, weed, grass, herb, boom, Mary Jane, cannabis, reefer or chronic” (“marijuana”). Marijuana has been used as a means for achieving euphoria since ancient times; it was mentioned in a Chinese medical compendium dated as early as 2737 B.C. (Narconon). In American history documents show that: Columbus introduced the cannabis Sativa plant to America in 1492. In 1619 it was used as a trading crop between the United States and Central and South Asia. Henry Ford used hemp plastic to make the first Model T, and fueled it with ethanol made from hemp. In 1937 a marijuana tax was introduced– pay a dollar and you could legally grow and sell marijuana. The war on drugs began as early as 1937 when Harry J. Anslinger became the first commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and by 1961 marijuana became illegal across the globe (Legalize marijuana). The issue of legalizing marijuana has been one that has divided the American population for several decades. The reasons for this are certainly abundant, and both sides of the argument present strong cases sustained with even stronger feelings on the subject. The opposing view is obvious, keep marijuana illegal. It is after all called the “gateway drug.” The gateway theory alleges that the use of a soft drug like marijuana can lead a person to use hard drugs like cocaine, heroin, amphetamines, LSD, and ecstasy. The argument is collaborated with statistics that show that most people who use hard drugs have tried marijuana before. However, according to the National Institute on Drug abuse or NIDA, "Using marijuana puts children and teens in contact with people who are users and sellers of other drugs, so there is more of a risk that a marijuana user will be exposed to and urged to try more drugs" (Marijuana: Facts for Teens). Legalizing marijuana could significantly reduce this problem by making the drug more socially acceptable and readily available to those who choose to use it. By making pot as available as cigarettes and alcohol people would no longer have to wander into “bad” neighborhoods looking for a dealer to score from. Another reason people think that marijuana should stay illegal is that they think it is a highly addictive drug that has a number of health risk. Medical studies have shown that marijuana is less habit forming than caffeine and only poses a health risk to this who use it, just like alcohol or tobacco would. Marijuana is actually less toxic and contains far less chemicals then most commonly consumed items like, coffee (Legalize marijuana). The government has yet to make fast food illegal, or alcohol, or tobacco, and illnesses linked to these social addictions kill more people a year than anything else. The idea that the government should make a Big Mac illegal is preposterous yet, according to the reasons our government has kept marijuana illegal it seems slightly hypocritical. In this generation the largest concern that Americans or more so, parents, have to legalizing weed is that it may distort the idea that we have driven in our children’s minds that drugs are bad. Agreed, drugs are bad. Dangerous drugs like Cocaine and heroin are bad. No studies made on the short-term or long-term effects that people have from marijuana use have shown it as a dangerous drug. In 1997, before the U.S. House of Representatives, Professor Lester Grinspoon, M.D., Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School gave testimony that: “Cannabis is remarkably safe. Although not harmless, it is surely less toxic than most of the conventional medicines it could replace if it were legally available, despite its use by millions of people over thousands of years, cannabis has never caused an overdose death" (rollitup). Educating our children on the difference between soft and hard drugs and the dangers of addiction and dependency is the best head-on solution for this issue. Programs like DARE, Drug Abuse Resistance Education should continue to focus on hard drugs like cocaine and the dangers of substance abuse. “The drug war is responsible for hundreds of billions of wasted tax dollars and misallocated resources, as well as devastating human costs that far outweigh the damage caused by drugs alone” (drug policy). Any smart economist could easily relay that the benefits of legalizing marijuana greatly outweigh the risk. By far the biggest reason to make marijuana legal is simply the cost. Marijuana is the most widely used drug in the United States and the government spends billions and billions of dollars every year on the war on drugs. Making weed legal would save our country enormous amounts of money. The money it takes to hunt ordinary, taxpaying citizens down just because they like to get high in the comfort of their own home is a complete waste of taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars. That’s just the beginning, once arrested, more tax dollars are wasted on paying for these, “criminals” meals, quarters, health care, legal fees, court costs, and copious amounts of miscellaneous expenses, including welfare for family members left behind to fend for themselves, and foster homes for their children. It is extremely expensive to lock these people up. “There were an estimated 1,663,582 state and local arrests for drug abuse violations in the United States during 2009” (ONDCP). The “country as a whole spends nearly $68 billion a year on its prisoners, one-third of which are imprisoned for nonviolent drug crimes. About half of these criminals are marijuana offenders, which means one-sixth of our country’s prisoners, are in jail for marijuana-related charges. Legalizing the drug would mean spending $11.3 billion less a year on prisons” (Wolff). One-third of prisoners are behind bars, away from their families, for non-violent drug crimes, which could mean they are simply locked up for having a small amount of marijuana in their possession. Legalizing marijuana would free many non-violent citizens and make room for actual criminals like murderers, rapists, and child molesters. In addition to saving our country billions of dollars every year, if the government were to take over, regulate, and tax the product it could gain enough revenue to fund thousands of more important programs, like the fight against AIDS and breast cancer. “Legalizing marijuana can reduce health care costs by reducing the probability of overdoses and accidental ingestion of an unintended drug through standardization of drug purity by state-sponsored production and sale” (Legalize marijuana). To regulate production the government can control how much marijuana is consumed by increasing or decreasing the taxes on the product just like for alcohol and tobacco. The plant is easy to grow and cheap to produce, making it easy to make a small fortune on people who already use it anyway. Government production would also stimulate the economy by creating thousands of needed jobs and increase revenue to smaller business willing to keep their shelves stocked with marijuana. While saving considerable amounts of money and potentially making heaps more, government regulation of this recreational drug could also cut crime rates down significantly. Besides being busted for possession and growth, thousands of people are arrested for the sale of marijuana. Anyone that stands on the corner selling for their dealer is at risk for a drug deal gone bad. The government can eliminate this situation completely by making the product easily accessible to all patrons willing to participate. Regulation and free sale also eliminates the need for smuggling and drug trafficking across the borders. According to Steven B. Blake, a Yale law professor and author, users commit crimes to cover the cost of drugs and the cost of marijuana on the black market is more likely one hundred times what it could be in the free market. Cutting the cost of the product would correlate with decreasing burglary and robbery offenses as most criminals steal money to buy drugs. Murder and assaults also account for an ever increasing amount as drug lords feel the need to use violence to protect their “turf” and guarantee they are the only ones turning a profit in any specific area. Gun violence would decrease for the same reason, as guns are often the weapon of choice when settling “misunderstandings” between the handler and their customers and dealers and the people they trust with selling their products. Another just as obvious reason to legalize marijuana is that there really is not any solid reason for it not to be. Personal liberties are an important foundation on which our country was born. Having them is what makes our country different from others. People deserve the right to choose what they do with their own body as long as it shows no harm to others. Women have the right to abort their own baby and anyone of age has the right to use tobacco and drink alcohol and all can be harmful to others, yet continue to be legal without any regard to third parties. The federal government is exceeding its constitutional limits by keeping marijuana criminalized. The government’s authority exists because the people delegate power to it to protect the nation. All power given to the government must be power already rightfully held by individuals, and that power is only within one’s rights when its use does not infringe on others’ natural rights (the right to life, liberty, and property). Forbidding personal use of marijuana is blatantly unconstitutional because individuals do not have that power (Smith). Besides stomping on our personal liberties keeping marijuana illegal just makes it more desirable. It is the “forbidden fruit” theory that almost anyone with ears has heard about. Parents often wonder how there 15-year-old managed to stash a joint in their sock drawer and then question them profusely to discover how and where and from whom they got it. The answer is simple really, marijuana is available, and it is not going to be unavailable, at least not anytime in the near future. There is no legal limitation to how old a person needs to be to purchase marijuana and there are no guidelines on who can buy it, or how and where it is sold. Dealers and sellers do not care how old the kids they are selling to are, all they care about is how much cash their buyer has in their pockets. Simply put, prohibition does not work. It seems easier for kids to get access to marijuana than it is to get a hold of a six pack. The government tried prohibition with alcohol and it failed miserably. It seems more logical that educating our youth about the risks of drug use and leave it up to them to decide if they want to try it. As reported by the office of national drug control policy, “15.7% of eighth graders, 32.3% of tenth graders, and 42.0% of twelfth graders reported lifetime use of marijuana” so chances are, kids will try it regardless of whether it is illegal or not (Marijuana Facts). Admittedly marijuana, over decades of injustice, has gained a terrible reputation, however, over recent years the medical community has really shone a light on the medicinal properties that marijuana can provide chronic patients. Substantial amounts of documentation indicating that marijuana may be an effective treatment for a number of medical conditions have become available. “Marijuana has been touted as ameliorating chemotherapy-induced nausea, wasting and anorexia associated with AIDS, intraocular pressure in glaucoma, and muscle spasticity arising from such conditions as multiple sclerosis” (pediatrics). Marijuana is known to stimulate appetite so it also can be prescribed to patients battling eating disorders like anorexia. Canada has shown remarkable progress in the legalization of marijuana as being the first country to offer medical marijuana to those in need. The use of medical marijuana as a pain management can be a lot more manageable than the commonly prescribed narcotic painkiller like OxyContin, Vicodin, Fentanyl, and Percocet. These medicines are listed under the ten most addictive and most dangerous prescribed drugs. All are prescribed to patients to help treat chronic pain, something medical professional are saying that marijuana can do with smaller risk to patients from dependency and overdosing. So, if medical professionals agree that by prescribing a little reefer will make someone’s Grandmothers last few months more comfortable or a family member’s cancer treatment more bearable, why is our government so hesitant to allow it' Currently only 16 states have passed laws that will allow doctors to prescribe medical marijuana to patients with illnesses that fit the guidelines. Alaska was the first state to pass the law in 1998 and Delaware is the latest state to add their name to the list, other states include, Washington State, Washington DC, and Nevada (pro con). Millions of Americans hide out in their homes every day, secretly smoking their joints, seeking relaxation from a hard day at work. When people think about drugs they think about gangsters and hard criminals but in fact most marijuana users are average citizens. Even movie stars like Jennifer Aniston have admitted to smoking pot along with several Presidents, including President Obama, who was quoted, “"When I was a kid I inhaled frequently. That was the point” (EasySmoke). Marijuana, being an illegal substance, does not change the fact that people will continue using marijuana even with all the current risk involved. If the government were to research and develop safe procedures to grow and produce this crop by the masses not only would our country be rich again, but millions of Americans would no longer need to be afraid to do what they are already doing. If the government took over the marijuana project the drug would be safer, the streets would be safer, our prisons would not be as congested and taxpayer’s money could go to better, more important issues like funding public schools and curing diseases. It would take time to work out all the kinks but with a little patience and sufficient support marijuana can be the answer to endless amounts of Americas’ prayers.