Discussion of Marijuana Legalization
Uploaded by tyson_626 (4562) on Jun 12, 2004 |
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Legalization of Marijuana
The purpose of this paper is to discuss marijuana and compare the issue of legalizing it from both sides. We have two factions fighting each other, those who are pro-marijuana and those who are anti-marijuana. These two factions have been fighting on this issue in the halls of justice for years. Pro marijuana legalization groups such as the Physician's Association for AIDS Care and the National Lymphoma Foundation argue that Marijuana should be legalized in order to treat terminally ill patients. Among them are AIDS victims who find that marijuana stimulates their appetites so they can fight off dangerous emaciation, glaucoma sufferers who said it has prevented them from going blind, and cancer patients for whom it alleviates the severe nausea that often accompanies chemotherapy and sometimes makes lifesaving treatment impossible.
Due to all these, lobbying groups which show substantial evidence that marijuana can be used as a prescribed drug. Many advocates who are pro marijuana complain that morphine and cocaine are legal and very dangerous drugs, which brings up the question "why not legalize marijuana as a medical drug" when it is proven safer than cocaine and morphine. Lobbying groups in San Diego, California, unanimously voted to urge president Bill Clinton and congress to end federal restrictions against the use of marijuana for " legitiment medical use". City council women Christine Kehoe said she wanted the city of San Diego "to go on the record we support the medical use of marijuana. Marijuana can be a drug of necessity in the treatment of AIDS, glaucoma, cancer and multiple sclerosis".
Many agencies, which are anti marijuana such as, the Drug Enforcement Agency and police departments argue that marijuana shouldn't be legalized. These agencies believe that if marijuana is to become legal, then there will be thousands of more patients using marijuana. Then people will raise the question of "why is marijuana even illegal at all, if its a medicine". The main reason why the Drug Enforcement Agency doesn't want marijuana to be legalized is because their is no hard core evidence that proves marijuana is an effective drug as a medicine. In twenty years of research, there has been no reliable scientific proof that marijuana has any medical value. The American Cancer Society , American Glaucoma Society, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the American Academy of Ophthalmology, and the American Medical Association , say that their is no evidence that marijuana is a medicine.
The agencies also argues that no other drug prescribed is smoked and that new findings show that marijuana is acutally harmful to AIDS and Cancer patients because the active ingredient in marijuana reduces the the bodies white blood cells which fight off infection. The Drug Enforcement Agency, along with police departments all over the United States believe with the legalization of drugs, crime will increase due to a higher rate of pot users which will eventually become addicts and will steal or kill in order to get their drugs. But fortunatelly, all of this is just opinion, and cant be proved. Besides that, none of the agencies ever tell you that marijuana has the lowest addiction rate in comparison to all drugs. And that there has never been a death related to marijuana(as far as health is concerned) recorded in the history of medical science.
Seeing both sides of the issue, I came to a conclusion that marijuana should be legalized in order to help people suffering from terminal diseases such as AIDS, Cancer and Glaucoma. And that the prohibition of marijuana over the past decades hasn't deminshed the demand of the drug in the United States. The use of marijuana has dramatically went up due to the mass publicity given to the drug by rappers, television, and movies, who promote the use of marijuana as a social drug. But I believe that marijuana is here to stay in our society and is only going through the stages that alcohol had during the prohibition era. |
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