Argument Of Marijuana As A Gateway Drug example essay topic

While the majority of American citizens believe that the drug policies in this country need to be changed, the politicians of America refuse to recognize the necessity for change. The war on drugs has clearly been lost and while Americans are for the most part ready to admit this defeat, their elected leaders are unfortunately unwilling to do so. This difference of opinions, more so than with any other political issue, marks politician's greatest inconsistency with the desires of the people. The technology being analyzed here is the laws humans, particularly American politicians, have created that make the possession and use of marijuana illegal. These laws are in many ways quite detrimental to society and the objective of this paper is to explain the problematic aspects of these laws. The advantages of the legalization of marijuana, the obvious solution to the problems, will also be discussed.

Despite the great deal of negative attention that marijuana receives as a drug, the beneficial affects are often times overlooked. Most people are ignorant to the positive aspects of marijuana simply because their misconceptions about the use of the drug lead them to be scared of it. For example, there are countless patients throughout the country that would benefit from the legalization of marijuana. While there are in fact changes taking place already that is making marijuana legal for medicinal use, only a small portion of the country is benefiting from these new laws. Modern research suggests that marijuana is a valuable aid in the treatment of a wide range of clinical applications.

These applications include pain relief, particularly pain from nerve damage, nausea, spasticity, glaucoma, and movement disorders. Marijuana is also an excellent appetite stimulant, particularly for patients suffering from HIV, the AIDS wasting syndrome, or dementia. Promising new research also suggests that marijuana's medicinal properties might even protect the body against some forms of malignant tumors. It is unlikely that any progress will be made utilizing the medical capabilities of marijuana until the government recognizes the potential of the substance and changes their classification of it.

In 1970, the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act (CSA) set up the classifications of drugs in medicine, referred to as schedules. They were established in order to set up a plan that would regulate and control drugs according to certain criteria. The Attorney General decides under which schedules drugs should be placed based on scientific evidence of the drug's pharmacological effects. In this system, a Schedule 1 drug has a high potential for abuse, no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, and lacks accepted safety for use under medical supervision. Despite the potentially positive effects that marijuana can have on terminally ill patients, the drug has been placed under this Schedule 1 classification. Also placed under Schedule 1 are some of the most dangerous drugs on the streets.

The placement of marijuana among the other drugs as Schedule 1 is absolutely outrageous because there is no evidence that labels marijuana as having any of the described qualities. This inappropriate classification is a perfect example of the lack of understanding the government has of the potentially useful drug. This ignorance, paired with the stubborn ways of the majority of America's politicians, leads to the absence of progress within the country's drug policies. The effects the laws have on America's economy and prisons are other detrimental aspects of the laws prohibiting marijuana possession and use. Not only does enforcing marijuana prohibition cost taxpayers an estimated $10 billion annually, it also results in the arrest of more than 734,000 individuals every year. This figure is much greater than the total number arrested for all violent crimes combined, including: murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault.

This ridiculous policy is clearly a tremendous waste of national and state criminal justice resources that should be focused on combating serious and violent crime. Also, the government is unnecessarily allowed into the private lives of the people, and senselessly damages the lives and careers of otherwise law-abiding citizens. The war on drugs has clearly been lost and the by refusing to swallow their pride and admit defeat, the government is simply making a fool out itself. Nearly 80 million Americans have used marijuana, making it the third most popular recreational drug in the US, behind only alcohol and tobacco. According to government surveys, some 20 million Americans have smoked marijuana in the past year while more than 11 million do so regularly despite harsh laws against its use.

Public policies should be a reflection of these realities and not a denial of it. Marijuana is far substantially less dangerous than tobacco or alcohol. Around 50,000 people die each year from alcohol poisoning while 400,000 deaths each year are attributed to tobacco smoking. By comparison, marijuana is nontoxic and cannot cause death by overdose. Marijuana should be legalized and controlled not unlike the regulation of alcohol and tobacco products. As with alcohol consumption, marijuana smoking should never be considered an excuse for inappropriate behavior.

For example, driving or operating heavy equipment while under the influence of marijuana should be strictly prohibited. Moreover, marijuana smoking is for adults only, and is therefore inappropriate for children. While the government might argue that the legalization of the drug would send the wrong message to America's youth, they neglect to consider the risks to children of other adult only activities. There are many such activities in our society that are permissible for adults, but forbidden for children, such as motorcycle riding, skydiving, signing contracts, getting married, drinking alcohol or smoking tobacco.

However, we do not condone arresting adults who responsibly engage in these activities in order to dissuade our children from doing so. Therefore, we cannot justify arresting adult marijuana smokers on the grounds of sending a message to children. The expectation and hope for America's youth has always been, and remains to be, that they grow up to be responsible adults. Policy makers act as if that they are doing their best to be in command of drug trafficking, when in fact they are giving up what could be complete control by outlawing substances such as marijuana. If the government were to legalize marijuana, they could regulate the production, distribution, and consumption of the drug.

This would allow the tobacco companies to mass-produce and distribute marijuana in a far more efficient and safe manner than the black market. The entire process would be very similar to the practice for tobacco in a number of ways. As a result of such efficiency, the drug could be produced at a small fraction of what it is currently sold for on the black market and then the government could place taxes on the product until the price reached a level just short of what drug dealers can afford to distribute at. This way, the government would maximize tax revenue while allowing users to buy a safer product from a more reliable source at a lower rate. Consequently, the majority of drug dealers would be put out of business. Only the drug lords that deal with more dangerous and less common drugs would be left for the government to take care of.

Also, the government would have the aforementioned $10 billion annually, as well as the new marijuana tax revenue, to devote to bringing the real drug dealers to justice. All of society would benefit from such a transformation since marijuana smokers would get a better product at a cheaper price while the government would have an exorbitant amount of funds to bring to justice the handful of drug dealers left. If the war on drugs was really about drugs, tobacco and alcohol would be the primary targets because they are the most commonly used and abused in America. They unquestionably cause more harm to the citizens of America than marijuana ever could; yet neither is illegal.

America once attempted prohibition of alcohol, but soon realized that the crime and violence associated with prohibition was more damaging to society than the evil sought to be prohibited. The government has learned over the last twenty years that education is the most effective way to discourage use of tobacco products. Although the criminal justice system has not issued a single arrest, administered any drug tests, seized any property, sentenced anybody to jail, Americans smoke less cigarettes today than in the past. Still, the stubborn policy makers fail to apply the lessons learned toward an effective and rational marijuana policy. Instead, they continue to support and enforce a failed, 60-year old policy at the expense of rational discourse, billions in misappropriated funds and resources, and many of the founding principles and freedoms that America was built upon. The war on drugs has become largely a war on marijuana smokers, and the casualties of this war are the wrecked lives and the destroyed families of the half a million otherwise law-abiding citizens who are arrested each year on marijuana charges.

Also punished by such an ignorant policy are the tax payers who's hard earned money goes towards the pursuit, arrest, and trial of the hundreds of thousands of "criminals" connected with the generally harmless drug. The argument that marijuana is a gateway drug to harder and more dangerous drugs is a poor one at best. Being the most Marijuana is the most popular illegal drug in the United States today. Therefore, people who have used the far less popular drugs, such as heroin, cocaine, or LSD, are likely to have also used marijuana.

Most users of marijuana never even use any other illegal drugs. For the large majority of people, marijuana is in fact an end of the line rather than a gateway to harder drugs. This argument of marijuana as a gateway drug is illogical and little effort is required to prove its inadequacy. Marijuana has been shown to be effective in reducing nausea induced by cancer chemotherapy, stimulating appetite in AIDS patients, and reducing intraocular pressure in people with glaucoma. It has thusly been proven that the technology of laws prohibiting the use of marijuana is illogical and foolish. By refusing to admit defeat in the war on drugs, the government, ironically, is giving up what could be total control of the production, distribution, and regulation of the drug.

The irony is that the stubbornness of the power hungry policy makers is exactly what keeps them from achieving total control of the situation. By simply legalizing this simple natural substance the government could rake in incomprehensible amounts of tax revenue while saving the money they would have spent on prosecuting and incarcerating petty marijuana dealers. It's such a widely used drug that legalizing it would make it safer, more economically efficient, and more controlled than continuing to have it in our country illegally. The drug would not only be safer for the consumer's bodies, but it would also make our streets safer to live on by taking a source huge of revenue away from drug dealers.

Another significant advantage to the legalization of marijuana is all of the pain and suffering that would be eased for the country's terminally ill. Until a cure is discovered which has no adverse affects, for cancer or any other terminal disease is discovered, no patient should be denied the right to use marijuana for medicinal purposes. The idea of denying cancer patients of their chemotherapy treatments seems absolutely absurd and denying them of pain relief and comfort fro marijuana is equally unacceptable. As soon as the stubborn politicians decide to act on the behalf of the people, the legalization of marijuana will mark progress in our society and the benefits of this progress will be abundant.

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