legalization of marijuana term paper
Excerpt from Term Conventional paper:
Legalization of Marijuana
Marijuana is among the most well-liked recreational prescription drugs in the United States, surpassed in acceptance by only alcohol and tobacco. New research reveals that “more than 70 million People in the usa have smoked marijuana at some point in their lives, and that 18-20 million possess smoked over the last year (NORML, 1999). inch
According to R. Keith Stroup, Esq., the business director of National Corporation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML, 1999), “Like the majority of Americans, the majority of these an incredible number of marijuana cigarette smokers are or else law-abiding citizens who knuckle down, raise households and play a role in their neighborhoods… ” A national survey revealed that 32% of voting adults in the U. H. have recognized having smoked cigarettes marijuana sooner or later in their lives.
The legalization of cannabis has been a topic of controversy for several years. Various proponents of the drug believe marijuana should be legalized pertaining to both as well as recreational make use of. Others admit it should for least always be decriminalized, meaning that the penalty for developing or own marijuana will be a simple excellent, rather than incarceration.
This daily news aims to analyze the debatable aspects of legalizing marijuana, in an effort to present a very good argument in favor of legalizing the drug. The paper will show six valid reasons for legalizing the medication, as well as background statements to aid these fights.
Reasons for Legalizing Marijuana
There are plenty of reasons that could be listed in support of legalizing marijuana. This can be a common belief that cannabis is not really a dangerous medicine and many persons use it responsibly. Responsible utilization of marijuana, based on the NORML Board of Company directors (NORML, 1999), means that: just adults use it; users do not drive under the influence; users resist abuse; and that the rights more are well known. Still, inspite of these factors, many citizens have already been arrested and penalized to get possession of cannabis.
According to William Farrenheit. Buckley, “In 1967, every drug busts came to 121, 000. Of such, hit weed arrests had been one-half, sixty one, 000. 20 years ago, all medication arrests were 1 million, marijuana 285, 000 (Turnpike. net, 1999)” Although pot is more risky of a medicine than tobacco, it is also utilized much less than tobacco (University of Michigan-Dearbourne, 1999). The standard tobacco person smokes regarding one packs of cigarettes every day, which is about twenty cigarettes, while the normal marijuana cigarette smoker smokes regarding two bones a day. Greg Norris, the author of the dissertation “The Problems at Hand: Legalization of Weed, ” says (University of Michigan-Dearbourne, 1999):
Thus, pot contains more of the dangerous cancers causing chemical substances than smoking cigarettes does. Although this would constitute marijuana as being more “dangerous, ” in the contemporary society we stay in today as well as the amount of tobacco that tobacco-users consume, this belief is on the other hand. Due to the smaller frequency utilization of product simply by marijuana-users, cigarette has definitely been proven the “killer” in the current society. inch (www.umd.umich.edu)
When compared to alcohol, marijuana is the lesser detriment. inches (University of Michigan-Dearbourne, 1999) When browsing the situation with this light, marijuana is no even more a dangerous medication than both tobacco or alcohol, and should be legalized for this reason.
Additionally , marijuana supplies a variety of medical benefits to people affected by illness, damage or disease. Legalizing weed to treat terminally ill sufferers is simply the ideal thing to do. The drug allows AIDS subjects by revitalizing their appetites so they can overcome deadly emaciation. In addition , glaucoma sufferers who have used weed have stated that the medication has eliminated them coming from going blind, and cancers patients admit it alleviates the extreme nausea that results from chemotherapy.
From the original years of the AIDS epidemic, opponents of medicinal usage of marijuana have got argued that it can be harmful to individuals with AIDS because of the adverse effects within the immune system. This stemmed from unconfirmed reports in the early 70’s that weed weakened the body’s response to disease. Several researchers have as been unable to discover supporting proof that cannabinoids harm or perhaps reduce the quantity of T-cells in your body. Still, irrespective of these fights, in 1992, the Food and Drug Government officially accepted the use of synthetic THC (Marinol), marijuana’s major active ingredient, inside the treatment of SUPPORTS wasting symptoms. This demonstrates that the benefits of marijuana happen to be greater than disadvantages, particularly for medical purposes, so that it should be legalized.
If marijuana were legalized, people who use it for medicinal reasons would be less mired by the potential consequences of getting caught by the authorities owning the medicine. For instance, Cheryl Miller, a 51-year-old woman, was identified as having multiple sclerosis in 1971 and relied on standard prescription drugs for her state for years (MPP, 1998). Due to several damaging side effects, she was forced to stop a little of these prescription drugs. In 1992, Cheryl’s specialist prescribed Marinol. She identified that the tablet helped although discovered that eating marijuana was better. Mainly because Cheryl is not able to move her arms, her husband Jim fed her the cannabis in her doctor’s office. Jim was subsequently imprisoned for helping Cheryl.
Situations like this present that marijuana should be legalized. Patients like Cheryl appreciate many benefits via marijuana and have every right to be happy of their suffering (MPP, 1998). Cheryl feeds on marijuana to prevent the injury that weed smoke could cause in the respiratory system. Unlike the THC supplement, marijuana includes 60 other active chemical substances, called cannabinoids, several of which were shown to be effective at treating pain and spasticity. However , the punitive laws and regulations make Cheryl, and other medicinal marijuana users, afraid to work with it.
During the 1960’s, Humbolt County, is at a state of recession (Rosenthal and Kubby, 2003). The county’s primary form of market, which was working, was diminishing, and the state faced depression. However , within twenty years, Humbolt’s economy blossomed, as the effect of a rise in marijuana developing.
After the government began cracking down on drug enforcement in the area, the county reentered its condition of depressive disorder (Rosenthal and Kubby, 2003). This case demonstrates that while the legalization of cannabis may incorporate some adverse influences on the economic climate, the benefits of legalization far surpass the downsides.
The legalization of cannabis could help the U. S i9000. economy simply by opening up fresh jobs. Even though the government will make a lot of money in taxes, product sales and circulation costs, legalization would likewise cause the price tag on the drug to decrease, meaning more people could manage it. In respect to estimations, if cannabis were legalized, and prices were cut by 50 %, marijuana product sales could low anywhere from $50-$53 billion dollars (Rosenthal and Kubby, 2003). This funds would without a doubt stimulate the U. H. economy and create new jobs. These kinds of jobs could lower lack of employment rates in the area, and open more possibilities for job in hemp and glassware industries.
A final reason for legalizing marijuana supports the end of organized criminal offense. Currently, the war on drugs distorts industry forces such that a cheap and easily grown bud is literally well worth its weight in gold (Sharpe, 2003). Instead of continuing to subsidize prepared crime and put neighborhoods at risk of crime, U. S. policymakers should legalize the medication. According to Canadian Senator Pierre Claude Nolin, “Scientific evidence extremely indicates that cannabis is definitely substantially much less harmful than alcohol and should be remedied not as a criminal issue but as a social and public health issue. “
Distancing the hard and soft medication markets is very important. As long as weed distribution continues to be in the hands of arranged crime, consumers will still come into contact with addicting drugs, such as cocaine and crack. For this reason, marijuana must be legalized.
Summary
In conclusion, the above six causes provide a stable argument for the legalization of cannabis. One last reason why the us government should legalize marijuana happens because the bad associated with
