(no subject)
Mahini 1
Shawheen Mahini
Jan Lafleur
EN 1103 English Comp 1
March 27, 2004
Benefits of Legalizing Marijuana
Since cigarettes are legal and have remained legal for many years, marijuana should also be legalized because the health risks of smoking marijuana are comparable to the health risks of smoking cigarettes. It could be argued that marijuana should be legal because it has medicinal purposes while tobacco smoke should be made illegal because it has no medicinal purposes and is only harmful to your health without any benefits.
As everyone already knows, cigarettes are extremely harmful to people’s health. Smoking influences 17 different kinds of cancer (Slovic 23). Cigarettes have always been legal, regardless of the fact that cigarettes have been known to contain poisons since the 1800’s. Marijuana smoke, on the other hand, has had clinical studies which concluded that it is less likely to cause cancer than cigarettes. In May 2000 at John Hopkins University, a study found that there was no association between marijuana usage and head, neck, or throat cancers, although it is still possible to get lung cancer from constant abuse of marijuana. Both marijuana smoke and tobacco smoke have ingredients that can cause emphysema or lung cancer.
Marijuana is not harmless. Marijuana smoke contains four times more tar than cigarette tobacco. (“Marijuana.com”) That means for every marijuana cigarette someone smokes, he or she is smoking the equivalent to four normal cigarettes. If you take this into consideration, it can be understood that on average a marijuana smoker will not smoke more than an amount equal to one or two marijuana cigarettes on any given day. A tobacco smoker, however, will often smoke up to a pack of cigarettes a day or even more. An active marijuana smoker is most likely putting less tar into his or her lungs than a cigarette smoker would be at any time.
Given the fact that marijuana smoke contains no additives or preservatives, it seems obvious that it would be better for people than cigarettes would be for a person’s health. Even the amount of chemicals in cigarette smoke is ten times higher than the amount of chemicals in marijuana smoke. Marijuana contains about 400 chemicals, while cigarettes contain about 4,000 different chemicals, most being synthetic. (Kozlowski 65) The Bureau of Mortality Statistics for the National Institute on Drug Abuse says that there are zero annual deaths associated with marijuana each year while there are about 400,000 annual deaths from cigarette smoke. This fact proves that cigarettes are much less healthy for people than marijuana smoke.
The reason why marijuana is illegal and cigarettes are legal seems more because marijuana supposedly impairs memory and makes people “stupid”, which is false. The myth that marijuana makes you less smart is just that, a myth. Marijuana smoke has been proven to not kill brain cells. The only time marijuana impairs memory is when people are under the influence of the drug. Marijuana has been known only then to cause loss of short-term memory. (King 103) People under the influence of marijuana are sometimes lazy, and overuse of the drug can make a person lazy in general. Marijuana is also known to impair motivation as well, sometimes causing people who smoke too much to quit their jobs, miss school, or sleep more.
In general, it is a positive thing to consider marijuana use as not good for a person’s health, just as cigarettes are considered bad for a person’s body. Putting any type of smoke into your lungs will have punishing effects, and using any mind-altering substance will have a substantially negative effect as well. This fact does not mean that marijuana should be illegal. Alcohol is legal and it has been proven that alcohol kills brain cells. Alcohol also has strong mind-altering effects, arguably even more so than marijuana.
Marijuana also has medicinal benefits, while cigarettes have none. Marijuana has been known to reduce pressure on the eyes. This side effect is invaluable to a person suffering from glaucoma. In addition to being an eye remedy, marijuana smoke has been known to give chemotherapy patients their appetite, and sometimes stop their nausea. Marijuana can also be used to ease chronic pain. Cigarette smoke has no medicinal purpose; cigarettes are a poison and are a proven killer. Marijuana (as a direct cause) has never killed one person in recorded history.
Since cigarettes will remain legal, the next step in changing any law should be to legalize marijuana. If marijuana were legal, much more profound studies could be done on it. We could have a better understanding of the health risks and benefits of marijuana. This would help us educate people about the health risks and benefits better. Not everyone smokes cigarettes just because they are legal. The same could apply to marijuana. If everyone is well educated about the health risks and the drawbacks of smoking marijuana, maybe even less people will smoke it than they do now. People who smoke marijuana usually have no idea what they are doing to themselves; they just know that it makes them feel good. If marijuana was something that was legal and could be studied by everyone and anyone, we’d know exactly what negative and positive effects to expect from using the drug.
People argue that alcohol should not be illegal, even though it is extremely bad for your health and has mind-altering effects because everyone will continue to drink. Marijuana should NOT be illegal; it is obtainable in almost every climate, almost everywhere. If there are so many people smoking marijuana all the time, why not legalize it? If there is an argument to abolish a law that no one obeys, (as the laws against liquor were abolished many years ago) why not abolish marijuana laws? Bootleggers made a lot of money when alcohol was illegal for a short period of time, just as marijuana dealers make far too much money for breaking the law. They are selling a plant that can be grown anywhere and everywhere, and they are getting rich from it. If marijuana were legal and regulated, we could tax it. Instead of wasting hundreds of millions of dollars to put people through our judicial system each year on marijuana related charges, the government could actually make money from the plant. It would actually help our society as a whole. If people could buy marijuana grown by scientists from a store, they would never turn to a drug dealer, and the product they were buying would be much safer and always pure.
It makes much more sense for the government to just make marijuana legal. It’s been done in other countries without negative effects. Marijuana is a drug that is unlike any other drug. Cocaine and heroin, along with many other illegal drugs, are obviously bad for your health with no beneficial attributes. Most illegal drugs are physically addictive. Marijuana is not, which is more than anyone can say for cigarettes, or alcohol for that matter (yet both are legal). In conclusion, the government needs to clarify why marijuana is illegal and let citizens decide if its reasons are good enough. The choice to smoke or not smoke marijuana should be in the hands of individuals. People can choose whether they want to drink or smoke cigarettes. It is unreasonable to allow people to put themselves at a health risk in one way but not another. It is our freedom of choice to make decisions for ourselves, and a marijuana smoker’s choice to use the drug affects no one but the person who makes that choice.
Shawheen Mahini
Jan Lafleur
EN 1103 English Comp 1
March 27, 2004
Benefits of Legalizing Marijuana
Since cigarettes are legal and have remained legal for many years, marijuana should also be legalized because the health risks of smoking marijuana are comparable to the health risks of smoking cigarettes. It could be argued that marijuana should be legal because it has medicinal purposes while tobacco smoke should be made illegal because it has no medicinal purposes and is only harmful to your health without any benefits.
As everyone already knows, cigarettes are extremely harmful to people’s health. Smoking influences 17 different kinds of cancer (Slovic 23). Cigarettes have always been legal, regardless of the fact that cigarettes have been known to contain poisons since the 1800’s. Marijuana smoke, on the other hand, has had clinical studies which concluded that it is less likely to cause cancer than cigarettes. In May 2000 at John Hopkins University, a study found that there was no association between marijuana usage and head, neck, or throat cancers, although it is still possible to get lung cancer from constant abuse of marijuana. Both marijuana smoke and tobacco smoke have ingredients that can cause emphysema or lung cancer.
Marijuana is not harmless. Marijuana smoke contains four times more tar than cigarette tobacco. (“Marijuana.com”) That means for every marijuana cigarette someone smokes, he or she is smoking the equivalent to four normal cigarettes. If you take this into consideration, it can be understood that on average a marijuana smoker will not smoke more than an amount equal to one or two marijuana cigarettes on any given day. A tobacco smoker, however, will often smoke up to a pack of cigarettes a day or even more. An active marijuana smoker is most likely putting less tar into his or her lungs than a cigarette smoker would be at any time.
Given the fact that marijuana smoke contains no additives or preservatives, it seems obvious that it would be better for people than cigarettes would be for a person’s health. Even the amount of chemicals in cigarette smoke is ten times higher than the amount of chemicals in marijuana smoke. Marijuana contains about 400 chemicals, while cigarettes contain about 4,000 different chemicals, most being synthetic. (Kozlowski 65) The Bureau of Mortality Statistics for the National Institute on Drug Abuse says that there are zero annual deaths associated with marijuana each year while there are about 400,000 annual deaths from cigarette smoke. This fact proves that cigarettes are much less healthy for people than marijuana smoke.
The reason why marijuana is illegal and cigarettes are legal seems more because marijuana supposedly impairs memory and makes people “stupid”, which is false. The myth that marijuana makes you less smart is just that, a myth. Marijuana smoke has been proven to not kill brain cells. The only time marijuana impairs memory is when people are under the influence of the drug. Marijuana has been known only then to cause loss of short-term memory. (King 103) People under the influence of marijuana are sometimes lazy, and overuse of the drug can make a person lazy in general. Marijuana is also known to impair motivation as well, sometimes causing people who smoke too much to quit their jobs, miss school, or sleep more.
In general, it is a positive thing to consider marijuana use as not good for a person’s health, just as cigarettes are considered bad for a person’s body. Putting any type of smoke into your lungs will have punishing effects, and using any mind-altering substance will have a substantially negative effect as well. This fact does not mean that marijuana should be illegal. Alcohol is legal and it has been proven that alcohol kills brain cells. Alcohol also has strong mind-altering effects, arguably even more so than marijuana.
Marijuana also has medicinal benefits, while cigarettes have none. Marijuana has been known to reduce pressure on the eyes. This side effect is invaluable to a person suffering from glaucoma. In addition to being an eye remedy, marijuana smoke has been known to give chemotherapy patients their appetite, and sometimes stop their nausea. Marijuana can also be used to ease chronic pain. Cigarette smoke has no medicinal purpose; cigarettes are a poison and are a proven killer. Marijuana (as a direct cause) has never killed one person in recorded history.
Since cigarettes will remain legal, the next step in changing any law should be to legalize marijuana. If marijuana were legal, much more profound studies could be done on it. We could have a better understanding of the health risks and benefits of marijuana. This would help us educate people about the health risks and benefits better. Not everyone smokes cigarettes just because they are legal. The same could apply to marijuana. If everyone is well educated about the health risks and the drawbacks of smoking marijuana, maybe even less people will smoke it than they do now. People who smoke marijuana usually have no idea what they are doing to themselves; they just know that it makes them feel good. If marijuana was something that was legal and could be studied by everyone and anyone, we’d know exactly what negative and positive effects to expect from using the drug.
People argue that alcohol should not be illegal, even though it is extremely bad for your health and has mind-altering effects because everyone will continue to drink. Marijuana should NOT be illegal; it is obtainable in almost every climate, almost everywhere. If there are so many people smoking marijuana all the time, why not legalize it? If there is an argument to abolish a law that no one obeys, (as the laws against liquor were abolished many years ago) why not abolish marijuana laws? Bootleggers made a lot of money when alcohol was illegal for a short period of time, just as marijuana dealers make far too much money for breaking the law. They are selling a plant that can be grown anywhere and everywhere, and they are getting rich from it. If marijuana were legal and regulated, we could tax it. Instead of wasting hundreds of millions of dollars to put people through our judicial system each year on marijuana related charges, the government could actually make money from the plant. It would actually help our society as a whole. If people could buy marijuana grown by scientists from a store, they would never turn to a drug dealer, and the product they were buying would be much safer and always pure.
It makes much more sense for the government to just make marijuana legal. It’s been done in other countries without negative effects. Marijuana is a drug that is unlike any other drug. Cocaine and heroin, along with many other illegal drugs, are obviously bad for your health with no beneficial attributes. Most illegal drugs are physically addictive. Marijuana is not, which is more than anyone can say for cigarettes, or alcohol for that matter (yet both are legal). In conclusion, the government needs to clarify why marijuana is illegal and let citizens decide if its reasons are good enough. The choice to smoke or not smoke marijuana should be in the hands of individuals. People can choose whether they want to drink or smoke cigarettes. It is unreasonable to allow people to put themselves at a health risk in one way but not another. It is our freedom of choice to make decisions for ourselves, and a marijuana smoker’s choice to use the drug affects no one but the person who makes that choice.