Use Marijuana Turn To The Drug example essay topic

Take Two Puffs and Call Me in the Morning For decades the marijuana prohibition has been violating individual's rights, but scientific research has proven that marijuana has therapeutic uses and is harmless compared to other drugs. Therefore, marijuana should not be considered a dangerous drug and should be legalized. The prohibition of marijuana did not end with crime; nonetheless, it is responsible for the imprisonment of thousands of its users. The government's campaign against marijuana has also created cultural factors that make the use of marijuana socially unacceptable. However, it should be up to each individual to decide if he / she wants to use marijuana whether it is for pleasure. The legalization of marijuana has been strongly debated since the 1920's and 1930's, when it was first recognized as a dangerous drug, and tabloid newspapers popularized exaggerated stories of violent crimes allegedly committed by immigrants intoxicated by marijuana (Article 28).

In 1937, the Marihuana Tax Act was signed to prohibit the use of marijuana because marijuana supposedly caused violent crimes, "sexual excess", addiction, and led to the use of harder drugs (Article 1). In the 1970's, the government created the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) to study the effects of marijuana (Article 27). The NIDA published many claims concerning marijuana use but they did not have evidence to support their claims (Article 27). This misinformation and the government's campaign against marijuana made the legalization of marijuana impossible. Marijuana is not an addictive drug. National epidemiological surveys show that the large majority of people who experience marijuana do not become regular users, and the regular users consume marijuana in a way that does not interfere with their other life activities (Article 32).

The idea that marijuana use results in the use of "harder" drugs is not true because over time there has not been any consistent relationship between the use patterns of various drugs "NORML Report on Marijuana"). It is true that users of heroin, LSD, and cocaine have used marijuana, but research has shown that most marijuana users never use another illegal drug. Research shows that marijuana use increased in the 1960's and 1970's, while heroin use decreased. In the 1980's when marijuana use decreased, heroin use remained stable (Article 32). There are many claims that marijuana is an addictive drug but without scientific evidence one cannot believe these claims. It has always been believed that marijuana use causes brain damage which is false.

Marijuana is psychoactive because it stimulates certain brain receptors, but it does not produce the toxins that kill them, and it does not wear them out as other drugs do (Article 27). There is no evidence of anyone dying of a marijuana overdose ("NORML Report on Marijuana"). There is a great deal of misinformation about marijuana which has led people to believe that marijuana is a dangerous and harmful drug but scientific research has proven all those beliefs wrong and shown that marijuana is harmless. The legalization of marijuana will not only help terminally ill patients, but also those suffering from physical pain. Millions will benefit from the legalization of marijuana, especially because many of the drugs that are available have the ability to kill rather than help. Aspirin is used to cure moderate pain, but every year it kills more than seven thousand people (Article 9).

Marijuana, unlike aspirin, provides a better quality of pain relief, and it elevates the patient's spirit (Article 27). There is evidence that marijuana improves the appetite and helps AIDS patients gain weight. Thousands of AIDS patients who have a weight loss condition, called wasting, would live longer if they could smoke marijuana. Also, smoking marijuana is effective in lowering the pressure inside the eyeballs of glaucoma patients.

Studies have proven that short-term marijuana use helps relieve chemotherapy-induced nausea for cancer patients who do not respond well to other medications (Article 60). Marijuana also helps patients with multiple sclerosis, paraplegia, epilepsy, and quadriplegia (Article 27). Marijuana will also be useful for diseases and disorders that are not deadly. People with certain physical pains such as headaches and arthritis can relieve their pain with marijuana.

Marijuana can also help relax or calm down a person who is upset or depressed. Many of the current medications available for depression have negative side effects, which marijuana does not have (Article 28). The medical uses of marijuana are many and with more research scientists are likely to find more. Marijuana as a therapeutic drug will help individuals who are terminally ill or suffer from physical pain.

It should be an individual's decision to use marijuana for therapeutic or recreational reasons but because of cultural factors marijuana has not been legalized. Smoking marijuana should not be socially unacceptable, but the problem is that marijuana use has always been associated with pleasure. The majority of alcohol users do not consume alcohol with the intention of becoming intoxicated. Alcohol has a social value as a relaxant and, in some instances, as a therapeutic. Marijuana has not been recognized as having therapeutic uses, but is used mostly as a way of intoxicating oneself. Alcohol is usually consumed with meals and on social occasions and the purpose is not necessarily to get drunk.

Marijuana is not associated with any purpose other than to get high, and people believe that individuals who use marijuana turn to the drug to avoid finding solutions to their problems. Society needs to understand that the legalization of marijuana will have many benefits and people need to start associating marijuana with therapeutic uses, and not just pleasure so that it can be legalized in the future. The prohibition of marijuana violates the civil rights of marijuana users because they should be able to smoke the recreational drug of their choice, but instead they are imprisoned and labeled as criminals when they use marijuana. The prohibition against marijuana is responsible for the arrests of hundreds of thousands of mostly young people and law-abiding citizens who work hard, raise families, and contribute to their communities ("NORML Report on Marijuana").

The Federal Bureau of Narcotics has publicly stated that it is not concerned with the prosecution of the student or occasional user, but only the dealer or heavy user ("NORML Report on Marijuana"). This is not true because state laws against marijuana do not take into account the age of the user or whether the user is a good citizen. Many times penalties are imposed upon marijuana users that are out of proportion with the crime; also, longer sentences are given than those to offenders in more violent crimes ("NORML Report on Marijuana"). The results are that users serve senseless prison time that is cruel and ineffective because genuinely good citizens are filling up scarce jail space.

One does not have to serve prison time to be labeled a criminal because marijuana users are labeled as participating in a criminal activity. The prohibition costs taxpayers seven and a half billion dollars a year, but the loss of credibility suffered by the law and criminal justice system is an even greater loss (Article 27). Even those individuals who avoid incarceration are subject to additional punishments, including the loss of someone's driver's license, the loss of one's occupational license, the loss of child custody, the loss of federal benefits, and removal from public housing (Article 27). Also, informers and entrapment's, mandatory urine tests, and unwarranted searches and seizure make it clear that our society cannot be drug-free and free at the same time ("NORML Report on Marijuana"). Responsible marijuana users are not a threat to society and there is no reason to treat them like criminals; therefore, marijuana should be legalized to end the needless arrest of marijuana users. Many people do not agree with the legalization of marijuana because they firmly believe that marijuana is dangerous for the individual and society, but that belief has no justification, especially when one considers how the legalization of marijuana is regulated.

In Marihuana Reconsidered, Lester Grin spoon suggests that the government could control the distribution of marijuana by limiting it to 1.5-percent of tetrahydrocannabinol potency. This would insure the continued use of the milder form through smoking instead of ingesting more powerful forms such as hashish. This regulation would be successful because liquor of limited potency is readily available, and people who consume liquor do not look for pure ethanol. People who smoke marijuana in the same way as liquor is consumed would probably use the regulated form instead of looking for hashish. Another advantage of regulating marijuana is that the consumer would be sure that he / she is getting untouched marijuana.

Marijuana is not a harmful drug, but if it is mixed with other chemicals it can become very dangerous. People would no longer buy from drug dealers because one would know not to trust those individuals who are only looking to make money. One cannot say that the legalization of marijuana will end with drug dealing because drug dealers sell other drugs than just marijuana. There would be an age restriction for marijuana use like alcohol and tobacco, if it were legalized.

The legalization of marijuana would not be a threat to society as long as the government regulates its potency and informs the people of the truth, so that they would no longer fear marijuana use. Every fifty-two seconds in America, according to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) statistics, one marijuana smoker is arrested because the misinformation of marijuana has led many people to believe that marijuana is a dangerous drug even though it is harmless and has medical uses ("NORML Report on Marijuana"). Over ten million people use marijuana regularly even though it is illegal, which clearly shows that the government's anti-marijuana campaign has been useless ("NORML Report on Marijuana"). The government should stop spending scarce federal funds on the campaign against marijuana, and use that money to conduct more research so that the food and drug administration can approve the legalization of marijuana (Article 28). No amount of research is likely to show that marijuana is as dangerous as tobacco and alcohol because marijuana is a harmless drug. If marijuana had official medical uses, then people would be more likely to accept it.

Also, the legalization of marijuana would be regulated so it would not be a threat to society and its users. There are many people who need the legalization of marijuana for medical reasons, but people who use it for fun also have a right to use it without fearing to be arrested. Marijuana should be legalized for all citizens in the United States, and it should be up to each individual to decide if he / she wants to use marijuana, not the government.