Should Marijuana
be Legalized? Arguments For and Against
The purpose of this paper is to discuss marijuana and compare both sides
of the issue of legalizing marijuana. We have two factions fighting each
other ; one those who are pro marijuana and those who are anti marijuana.
These two factions have been fighting on this issue on the halls of justice
for years.
Pro marijuana legalization groups such as the Physician’s Association
for AIDS Care, 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 have used marijuana
said it has prevented them from going blind, and cancer patients for whom
it alleviates the severe nausea that is 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. Also many advocates who are
pro marijuana complain that morphine and cocaine are legal and are very
dangerous drugs, that brings up the question why not legalize marijuana
as medical drug which is proven to be less dangerous than cocaine and morphine.
Lobbying groups in a San Diego, California , council committee 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 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 Drug Enforcement Agency
and police departments argue that marijuana shouldn’t be legalized. These
agencies believe that marijuana shouldn’t be legalized because if marijuana
is to become legal then thousands more patients using marijuana. Then people
will raise the question why marijuana illegal at all if its a medicine.
The main reason why the Drug Enforcement Agency doesn’t want marijuana
to be legal is because their is no hard core evidence that proves that
marijuana is a effective drug as a medicine. In twenty years of research
have produced no reliable scientific proof that marijuana has medical value.
The American Cancer Society , American Glaucoma Society,the National Multiple
Sclerosis, the American Academy of Ophthalmology , or 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 knew findings show that marijuana is acutely harmful to AIDS, Cancer
patients because the active ingredient in marijuana acutely 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 increase
of pot users which will eventually become addicts and will still or kill
in order to get their drugs.
These are the main points and reasons why the Drug named marijuana shouldn’t
be legalized in the United States of America.
Seeing booth sides of the issue I come to a conclusion that marijuana
should be legalized in order to help people suffering from terminal diseases
such as AIDS, Cancer and Glaucoma. Prohibition of marijuana over the past
decades hasn’t deminshed the demand of the drug in the United States. The
use of marijuana has acutely went up due to the mass attention given to
marijuana by rappers such as Cypress Hill 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.
Marijuana will become legal due to the knew administration which is
liberal and who’s leader , president Bill Clinton who had acutely used
marijuana during the nineteen sixties. Due to all these factors marijuana
will become more widely accepted by the American people who will pressure
congress to rewrite the laws on the drug marijuana. Now its only a matter
of time before lobbying groups pressure the legislature to legalize it.
Due to legalization many states will be able to grow marijuana as a cash
crop, and the United States government will be able to tax marijuana and
make revenue off it. The revenue made from marijuana will be in the millions
which can be used for drug rehabs and anti drug programs targeted at elementary
children. Still by seeing both sides of the issue I’m still one hundred
percent pro marijuana because I use it socially and I believe its less
harmful than beer or liquor because with marijuana you can’t overdose.
