Legal Drug Alcohol example essay topic

What should we do about marijuana? This proposal argues that at least fifty billion dollars a year of taxpayer's money is spent on a never ending war that we are losing. The war I am referring to is the war on drugs. The war on drugs is mainly directed at marijuana a less dangerous drug than common legal drugs such as alcohol and tobacco. Not only is marijuana a less dangerous drug than alcohol and tobacco but also has many medical uses. I propose we stop wasting billions of taxpayer dollars on its futile attempt to stamp out pot-puffing, an effort that is following the doomed trajectory of Prohibition's attempt to erase alcohol.

Why should we throw thousands of Americans in jail for using a substance that is less hurtful than legal substances? Think of all the beds in all the prisons that are filled with non-violent marijuana offenders, we could use that space to lock up real criminals. Marijuana, when we first hear this word we think of it being illegal and the drug prohibition. Well, that's not how it should be. In fact many wise men are against prohibition and I quote, "A Prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded", Abraham Lincoln, 1840. Also Albert Einstein who Time declared Man of the Century said this about prohibition, "For nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced".

I believe we should legalize marijuana because of the simple facts Solomon 2 alcohol is proven much worse but still legal, the money that the government would be making instead of spending, and having many important medical uses. One reason that marijuana should be a legal controlled substance would be for its medical effects. Fourteen percent of all blindness is a result from glaucoma, which is a progressive, lost of vision. Cannabis smoking would benefit ninety percent of glaucoma patients and is two to three times as effective as any current medicines. Furthermore, cannabis use has no toxic side effects to the liver and kidneys, nor is there any danger of the occasional sudden death syndromes associated with legal pharmaceutical glaucoma drugs. Also lung cancer can be helped by cannabis use.

Marijuana smoke effectively dilates the airways of the lungs; the bronchi, and opens them to allow more oxygen into the lungs. Accordingly it is the best natural dilator for the airways of the lungs; the bronchial tubes, making cannabis the best overall bronchial dilator for eighty percent of the population. These are two of the many helpful medical effects of marijuana use. Independent studies have shown that marijuana relieves the pain and suffering of patients with serious illnesses such as cancer, AIDS, HIV, and glaucoma. Components of the marijuana plant reduce patient suffering by relieving nausea and enhancing appetite. Since marijuana has medical benefits, physicians should be able to legally recommend, and patients should be able to legally use, marijuana for medical purposes.

But the reason why we can not just make it legal for medical purposes is because it would just cause more problems in society. For an example, in states like California where marijuana is legal for medical purposes there is no quality control or testing standards for marijuana, and no control over strength, dosage, or frequency of use, such as those required for other Solomon 3 medicinal drugs. In addition California's amendment does not provide a precise description of what qualifies as a serious illness, anyone with chronic or severe pain may be immune from prosecution for marijuana possession and use. The workload of state law enforcement officials will increase because they will be required to check the state registry every time an individual is arrested for marijuana possession or use. A second reason to legalize marijuana is that the government can benefit in more ways then just saving taxpayers money. America is currently in $6,460,674,090,486.67 of debt and continues to put us in greater debt by wasting billions on a war that hasn't even improved the situation let alone solve any problems.

What the government should do is legalize marijuana and have corporations produce it and sell it. Then the government could force the corporations into needing Food and Drug Administration approval, which the government could then tax as they do tobacco and alcohol. Besides, with the Food and Drug Administration supervising production it would guarantee that you are smoking one hundred percent marijuana where as buying it off John Doe on the street corner with who knows what all could be in it. Furthermore think of all of the thousands of our young people that end up dead or locked up in our ever expanding prison system. As Dr. Ethan A. Nadel mann, an assistant professor at Princeton University said, "The nation's war on drugs has been a costly exercise in futility, filling the nation's prisons with low level criminals while keeping drug costs and profits high".

In short, America spends billions of taxpayer's money per year arresting, prosecuting and imprisoning marijuana offenders not counting the ridiculous "truth" commercials instead of making billions off taxation. Solomon 4 Equally important is the fact that marijuana is less damaging then the legal drug alcohol. Alcohol is not only damaging to the person who abuses it, but it hurts people they do not even know by driving drunk, and even worse of all their families and friends. Abusing alcohol leads to many digestive-system disorders such as ulcers, inflammation of the pancreas and cirrhosis of the liver. It also causes psychological and interpersonal problems, including impaired thinking and judgment, changes in mood and behavior, marital problems, child abuse, impaired social relationships, scholastic problems, job problems, legal problems, and financial problems. Moreover it can cause damage to unborn children including birth defects, mental retardation, learning problems and fetal alcohol syndrome even from just moderate drinking.

People who use alcohol affect people they do not know by driving drunk which roughly 1.3 million people are arrested for each year. As a result of the drunk drivers, twenty-five thousands deaths occur each year. More sixteen to twenty-four year olds are killed as a result of drunk driving or are involved in accidents where someone is driving drunk than any other age group in the nation. Similarly studies show that in all the assaults, rapes, and murders thirty to sixty percent of these cases involved alcohol.

Alcohol has the most affect on the family. Many alcoholics do not believe this because they think what they do has no affect on their family and friends. But often times the amount of stress put on the spouse, children, parents, and friends of an alcoholic can be worse than what the alcoholic thinks. New research has begun to show, that if someone's parent or grandparent is an alcoholic they have a greater chance of becoming one also. Children who have had alcoholic parents often act impulsively, lie, and seek approval and attention from others. These children Solomon 5 often have a hard time finding what is normal and what is not because of the unpredictable environment they were raised in.

Marijuana on the other hand has never been a cause of death and there has never been an overdose problem. But that is not to say that the use of marijuana is inherently good for you either. Short term effects include increased heart rate / pulse, reduces short term memory, alters sense of time, reduces ability to concentrate, and lengthens reaction time. Although there is short term effects the casual smoker upon quitting will "return to normal" so to speak once the THC (chemical in marijuana) has left the body. The long term effects consist of mouth cancer, throat cancer (all of which you can get from tobacco), increased heart rate, increased blood pressure, and damages the nerve cells in the part of the brain where memories are formed. Above all I have yet to learn of any reason why a responsible adult after giving the facts could not choose for himself.

Especially if under Food and Drug Administration supervision where they could study marijuana and make it less harmful as done with tobacco. In conclusion, there is no good reason to keep marijuana illegal. The reasons for legalizing the drug are many. Legalization would provide government with control instead of drug cartels. Marijuana is less harmful and less addictive than other already legal drugs such as alcohol.

The war on drugs is a war the United States is still loosing. The current policies that keep marijuana illegal must be changed so that the United States can take control of the existing marijuana problems. It is obvious that the current system for controlling the use of marijuana is not effective. Many people believe that new legislation would increase the drugs use as well as its availability to addicts.

Legalization Solomon 6 should not be taken to mean a lawless free-for-all with no restraint on the supply or use of the drug. Done properly it would allow government to take control of the distribution and quality of the substance away from criminals. Supply would be regulated by a system of government licenses analogous to those already in force for tobacco and alcohol, which would serve, among other things, to keep drugs out of the hands of children, backed by strict policing and heavy penalties. Accordingly no one has ever died from a marijuana overdose. So is it completely harmless? No, but a regulated market would minimize any harms that do occur.

Legalization would bring laws concerning the appropriate use of marijuana. We have tried prohibition once already; it leads to a criminal underworld, unsafe products and disrespect for the law. Was prohibition repealed because alcohol was found harmless? No, it was repealed because its use was found less corrosive to society than its prohibition.

Marijuana's greatest harm to an individual is the penalties that come with its illegal status. The decision to use it should fall under the realm of personal choice and responsibility. It's past time to reevaluate the outdated policies and extreme monetary waste that goes into criminalizing a plant and its users. Colorado General Assembly. "Medical Use of Marijuana". 1998. web March 15, 2003.

Cote, Sandra. "Legalize Marijuana". January 12, 2003. web mail tribune / petition /4947/view. March 21, 2003. Dawson, James. "War Stories". web bin / Zope. cgi / jeffandtracy /warstories / warstories /jamesdawsonhtml.

March 15, 2003. "Drug Policy Reform Proposals". 2002. web March 15, 2003. Gazette, Charleston.

"Legalize Pot". Time 8 Nov. 2002 11-14. Gie ringer, Dale. "Economics of Cannabis Legalization". October 1993. web March 21, 2003. "Questions and Soundbites". web March 21, 2003.

"Questions for Our Leaders". 1998. web March 22, 2003. SAMHSA's National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information. "Alcohol and Marijuana: A Point by Point Comparison". web March 15, 2003. Stein, Joel. "The New Politics of Pot".

Time 4 Nov. 2002 4-12.