Marijuana: A legal fight for an illegal drug
for those of you who dont know to much about marijuana read this paper and i think that you may be very surprised about what you find out. for those of you who drink and do not smoke, just might change your mind.
Brian Yonkoski
English 119 BA
Dr. Susan Richardson
April 29, 2003
Marijuana: A Legal Fight for an Illegal Drug
Marijuana, which is currently an illegal narcotic, should be legalized. It is a widely used, yet widely misunderstood drug. After being informed properly, there can be many up sides to the legalization of marijuana. There are also many similarities to that of alcohol use, which also endured a time of prohibition and now happens to be legal. In many cases, the side effects of marijuana use are far less harmful than that of alcohol consumption.
Of the many drugs that are in America right now, marijuana is the most commonly used and misunderstood one. I feel that if people knew more about marijuana they maybe more open to accepting its usage here in the U.S. It is classified as a schedule 1 drug, meaning that it cannot be prescribed by doctors. “Marijuana [. . . ] is a product of the hemp plant, Cannabis sativa. The main active chemical in marijuana, also present in other forms of cannabis, is THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol). Of the roughly 400 chemicals found in the cannabis plant, THC affects the brain the most.”(Partnership) (1)
Marijuana was used as far back as 2700 B.C. in a Chinese herbal which was used as an analgesic, an anesthetic, an antidepressant, an antibiotic, and a sedative. (Encyclopedia)(1) I feel that its original uses by the Chinese were the most proper and unbiased. It was first used in America by means of smoking with deep inhalations in the 19th century to get its user high. This to the best of my knowledge is where the plant may have lost some of its credibility as a medicinal drug. It is probably most identifiable by its green colors and seven fanned out leaves. However, the leaves are not what are used in the consumption of marijuana. The part that is used to produce a high “[. . . ] is a green or gray mixture of dried, shredded flowers and leaves [. . . ]” known as buds. (Partnership)(1) Marijuana can be used in a variety of ways including smoking by joints or bongs, which are loose marijuana cigarettes or water pipes, it can be eaten plainly, or it can be baked and mixed into foods such as brownies for ingestion which I feel is the safest way of inducing the drug’s effect. Marijuana can also used by boiling the buds into a mixture of tea then ingesting it by means of drinking. I feel that using this drug by means of ingestion rather than inhalation is the best way to induce its effects. My reasoning behind this is because it is the least harmful to the body through this manner. Marijuana also goes by some popular street names which will be used in this paper as well, such as weed, pot, chronic, herb, dope, ganja, reefer, and grass. (partnership)(1)
Those who oppose the legalization of marijuana, like that of the Parents for a Drug Free America use the excuse that marijuana is illegal so it is bad. My answer to this is that alcohol was also once illegal and it was thought to be a bad thing. However, now that alcohol has been legalized, it has become a widely accepted and commercialized drug that is used in religious ceremonies, at clubs and bars, or even at home. That seems to be quite an accomplishment for something that is so bad. Alcohol actually has a lot of the same sought after effects as marijuana but with more harmful side effects. Both drugs share some of the same effects as mood swings, euphoria, slowing of motor skill, and the altering of perception and time. (parents)(1) While marijuana does affect the brain, lungs, and circulatory system such as smoking cigarette would, the negative effects of alcohol are worse. Alcohol affects the liver, kidneys, heart, and brain. When used in excess to body weight, or it is over dosed on, alcohol can cause the vital systems of the body to shut down such as the respiratory systems which controls breathing and oxygen distribution. Marijuana cannot be over dosed on and that should be taken into consideration by those who oppose its legalization. A person weighing 160 pounds would have to consecutively smoke 900 joints to reach a reach level of THC. (pot)(2) The average user of marijuana, compared to the average user of alcohol is far less likely to bring harm to them selves or others. This is because marijuana users are far less active and do not undergo the same aggressive tendencies that alcohol users have when under the influence. With similar properties to alcohol and far less of the harmful side effects, marijuana should be made legal.
Another argument that the opposition could use actually comes in two parts. The first is that marijuana should not be legal because it is a mind altering drug and the second is that it has no medicinal properties. On behalf of it not having medical properties, this is not true. Although pot is classified as a schedule 1 drug, this classification is incorrect. Schedule 1 drugs are drugs with no medicinal properties and are highly addictive. However, marijuana does have medicinal properties. (Arrest)(1) As for the second half of this argument, how can someone say marijuana should remain illegal when there are so many other legal mind and perception altering drugs out there? Some of these legalized drugs are actually more harmful than marijuana is. Such a drug would include the ingestion of Nutmeg, an inexpensive spice used in baking. When too large of an amount is ingested, the effect on the body would be similar to eating the poison arsenic. Some other drugs that are also legal would include morning glory flower seeds and the plant salvia. Morning glory seeds are used by ingestion for the chemical LSA (LSA is 50 to 100 times less potent than LSD). The plant salvia, which is dried up and smoked, will produce effects that are similar, yet stronger than that of marijuana but last a maximum of only of 30 minutes. Another legal drug that can be taken which alters perception of reality is DXM or (dextromoprhan hydrobromide) which is ingested with water as a catalyst. It can be purchased through scientific magazines or at the local drug store in bottles of cough syrup and through cough and cold pills such as the brand Coricidin Cough and Cold. I feel that all of these legal drugs are as bad as, or are worse for the body than marijuana.
There are a number of ways that I feel the legalizing marijuana can be beneficial to society. First, legalizing marijuana would create room in crowded jails due to the drug now being legal. People convicted as minor offenders would be released, while repeat offenders with an addiction that need help could be voulentarily placed into rehabilitation. With fewer offenders in prison, this would lower the amount of tax payer’s money that is spent on inmates. Former funds that would have been spent on the drug enforcement of marijuana can be combined with the funds saved from releasing inmates to help the community. Local public schools that may be failing because that are under to small of a budget to produce a quality education, could receive these new funds. Since marijuana would be legalized, it could be sold in stores and taxed heavily in the way that cigarettes now are. The money raised from the taxation of pot by commercialization could go to supporting national programs that are failing as well. Such a program would include social security which will not be around when I am older due to the population boom and shortage of funds. Perhaps with the expansion of the budget from taxes on weed, the social security program could continue for a longer duration. Another program that would be beneficial from the legalization of pot would be that of medicade. Medicade is a minimal health care program that does not provide full coverage to its policy holders. Medicade holders and citizens with no health care would receive these tax funds in the form of better health care and medical prescriptions. The marijuana that would be used for all of my propositions would be grown here on American soil. This means that financially failing farmers would now have a new cash crop to keep their farms running and their bills paid.
If marijuana where to actually become legal, I do not propose that it remains legal without limitations. I feel that the laws for marijuana use should be set up like that of laws for alcohol use or they could actually parallel them. Laws could then be in place to combat disorderly conduct. Abusers would be treated like that of alcohol violators in cases of driving while intoxicated, probation, and punishment for under age abuse by minors. Public intoxication would also be outlawed.
With these new conditions to legalize marijuana under, it would also make the drug readily available for medicinal uses which I feel is a good thing. The disease glaucoma, which is a condition of high amount of pressure being exerted on the eyeball, could now be treated with marijuana. The THC in marijuana relieves the stress placed on the eye. Marijuana could also be used in cases of patients that have severe arthritis pain. People currently under chemotherapy to help treat cancer and HIV suffer from severe loss of appetite. (marijuana)(2) After smoking marijuana, patients are much more easily able to eat and keep down foods.(Encyclopedia)(1)
Although I am only 18, I have already encountered marijuana users. When I was a freshman in high school, I had showed up to a friend’s house unannounced and witnessed his father smoking marijuana by accident. The father was not user to induce fun. He used pot as a means of calming the nausea pain induced by caner treatments. I had previously thought marijuana was a bad thing until that period of my life, but witnessing a real person, with real pain changed my mind about the drug. I have also witnessed marijuana and alcohol use at parties through my later teens years. The people who drank seemed to be far more active and mischievous than those who had smoked. The smokers seemed to be cheerful as well as be calm, lazy, and mind to them selves. I have never seen a person get sick from smoking. However, I have seen a lot of people get sick and almost have to be taken to the hospital from drinking too much. These people have given me quite a scare. This is why I think that if alcohol is now legal after prohibition of it, I think that marijuana should be made legal as well.
In conclusion, I believe that marijuana needs to be legalized. The legalization of weed would be beneficial to almost everyone, whether it be medical patients, people with no or little health care for their families and them selves. It would also benefit people such as my self, who have had money taken out of their paychecks in the form of taxes every week supporting a national program like social security, that will not be around to support me when I am older unless something is done to change that. With other drugs that are legalized and available such as alcohol and salvia, I feel that there is no harm in allowing a drug that is already widely used and that would benefit everyone in some small way like marijuana.
Demmer, Byron “Arrests suffering, not medical marijuana patients” the humanist V. 61 no6 ( Nov,Dec, 2001) p.35-36 Full-Text Wilson Select Plus Online Macomb Community College Library, Clinton Twp, Mi 1 Apr. 2003
Encyclopedia Britannica Library “Marijuana” (Jan, 2003) p. 1-2 Britannica 2003 Ultimate Reference Suite CD-Rom 1 Apr.2003
Cloud, John “Is pot good for you?” Time V. 160 no19 (Nov. 4 2002) P.62-66 Full-Text Wilson Select Plus Macomb Community College Library, Clinton Twp, Mi 1 Apr. 2003
Fackelmann, Kathy “Marijuana: useful medicine or dangerous drug?” Consumers Research magazine V. 80 (May 1997) p. 15-18 Full-Text Wilson Select Plus Macomb Community College Library, Clinton Twp, Mi 1 Apr. 2003
Clark, Andrew “Medicinal Weed” Macleans v. 112 n042 (Oct. 18 1999) P.85 Wilson Select Plus Macomb Community College Library, Clinton Twp, Mi 1 Apr. 2003
Stein, Joel “The new politics of pot” Time v. 160 no19 ( nov. 4, 2002) p. 56-61 Wilson Select Plus Macomb Community College Library, Clinton Twp, Mi 1 Apr. 2003
Nation Institute on Drug Abuse (Jan, 2003) p.1-8 online Infofax Macomb Community College Library, Clinton Twp, Mi 1 Apr. 2003
www.drugabuse.gov/infofax/marijuana.html
Parents. The Anti Drug “ Marijuana” (March, 2001) p. 1-2 online 3, March 2003
Desimone, Jeff; Farrelly, Mathew C. “Price and enforcement effects on cocaine and marijuana demand” Economic inquiry v. 41 no1 (jan 2003) p.98-115 Wilson Select Plus Macomb Community College Library, Clinton Twp, Mi 1 Apr. 2003 weainternational.org
Brian Yonkoski
English 119 BA
Dr. Susan Richardson
April 29, 2003
Marijuana: A Legal Fight for an Illegal Drug
Marijuana, which is currently an illegal narcotic, should be legalized. It is a widely used, yet widely misunderstood drug. After being informed properly, there can be many up sides to the legalization of marijuana. There are also many similarities to that of alcohol use, which also endured a time of prohibition and now happens to be legal. In many cases, the side effects of marijuana use are far less harmful than that of alcohol consumption.
Of the many drugs that are in America right now, marijuana is the most commonly used and misunderstood one. I feel that if people knew more about marijuana they maybe more open to accepting its usage here in the U.S. It is classified as a schedule 1 drug, meaning that it cannot be prescribed by doctors. “Marijuana [. . . ] is a product of the hemp plant, Cannabis sativa. The main active chemical in marijuana, also present in other forms of cannabis, is THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol). Of the roughly 400 chemicals found in the cannabis plant, THC affects the brain the most.”(Partnership) (1)
Marijuana was used as far back as 2700 B.C. in a Chinese herbal which was used as an analgesic, an anesthetic, an antidepressant, an antibiotic, and a sedative. (Encyclopedia)(1) I feel that its original uses by the Chinese were the most proper and unbiased. It was first used in America by means of smoking with deep inhalations in the 19th century to get its user high. This to the best of my knowledge is where the plant may have lost some of its credibility as a medicinal drug. It is probably most identifiable by its green colors and seven fanned out leaves. However, the leaves are not what are used in the consumption of marijuana. The part that is used to produce a high “[. . . ] is a green or gray mixture of dried, shredded flowers and leaves [. . . ]” known as buds. (Partnership)(1) Marijuana can be used in a variety of ways including smoking by joints or bongs, which are loose marijuana cigarettes or water pipes, it can be eaten plainly, or it can be baked and mixed into foods such as brownies for ingestion which I feel is the safest way of inducing the drug’s effect. Marijuana can also used by boiling the buds into a mixture of tea then ingesting it by means of drinking. I feel that using this drug by means of ingestion rather than inhalation is the best way to induce its effects. My reasoning behind this is because it is the least harmful to the body through this manner. Marijuana also goes by some popular street names which will be used in this paper as well, such as weed, pot, chronic, herb, dope, ganja, reefer, and grass. (partnership)(1)
Those who oppose the legalization of marijuana, like that of the Parents for a Drug Free America use the excuse that marijuana is illegal so it is bad. My answer to this is that alcohol was also once illegal and it was thought to be a bad thing. However, now that alcohol has been legalized, it has become a widely accepted and commercialized drug that is used in religious ceremonies, at clubs and bars, or even at home. That seems to be quite an accomplishment for something that is so bad. Alcohol actually has a lot of the same sought after effects as marijuana but with more harmful side effects. Both drugs share some of the same effects as mood swings, euphoria, slowing of motor skill, and the altering of perception and time. (parents)(1) While marijuana does affect the brain, lungs, and circulatory system such as smoking cigarette would, the negative effects of alcohol are worse. Alcohol affects the liver, kidneys, heart, and brain. When used in excess to body weight, or it is over dosed on, alcohol can cause the vital systems of the body to shut down such as the respiratory systems which controls breathing and oxygen distribution. Marijuana cannot be over dosed on and that should be taken into consideration by those who oppose its legalization. A person weighing 160 pounds would have to consecutively smoke 900 joints to reach a reach level of THC. (pot)(2) The average user of marijuana, compared to the average user of alcohol is far less likely to bring harm to them selves or others. This is because marijuana users are far less active and do not undergo the same aggressive tendencies that alcohol users have when under the influence. With similar properties to alcohol and far less of the harmful side effects, marijuana should be made legal.
Another argument that the opposition could use actually comes in two parts. The first is that marijuana should not be legal because it is a mind altering drug and the second is that it has no medicinal properties. On behalf of it not having medical properties, this is not true. Although pot is classified as a schedule 1 drug, this classification is incorrect. Schedule 1 drugs are drugs with no medicinal properties and are highly addictive. However, marijuana does have medicinal properties. (Arrest)(1) As for the second half of this argument, how can someone say marijuana should remain illegal when there are so many other legal mind and perception altering drugs out there? Some of these legalized drugs are actually more harmful than marijuana is. Such a drug would include the ingestion of Nutmeg, an inexpensive spice used in baking. When too large of an amount is ingested, the effect on the body would be similar to eating the poison arsenic. Some other drugs that are also legal would include morning glory flower seeds and the plant salvia. Morning glory seeds are used by ingestion for the chemical LSA (LSA is 50 to 100 times less potent than LSD). The plant salvia, which is dried up and smoked, will produce effects that are similar, yet stronger than that of marijuana but last a maximum of only of 30 minutes. Another legal drug that can be taken which alters perception of reality is DXM or (dextromoprhan hydrobromide) which is ingested with water as a catalyst. It can be purchased through scientific magazines or at the local drug store in bottles of cough syrup and through cough and cold pills such as the brand Coricidin Cough and Cold. I feel that all of these legal drugs are as bad as, or are worse for the body than marijuana.
There are a number of ways that I feel the legalizing marijuana can be beneficial to society. First, legalizing marijuana would create room in crowded jails due to the drug now being legal. People convicted as minor offenders would be released, while repeat offenders with an addiction that need help could be voulentarily placed into rehabilitation. With fewer offenders in prison, this would lower the amount of tax payer’s money that is spent on inmates. Former funds that would have been spent on the drug enforcement of marijuana can be combined with the funds saved from releasing inmates to help the community. Local public schools that may be failing because that are under to small of a budget to produce a quality education, could receive these new funds. Since marijuana would be legalized, it could be sold in stores and taxed heavily in the way that cigarettes now are. The money raised from the taxation of pot by commercialization could go to supporting national programs that are failing as well. Such a program would include social security which will not be around when I am older due to the population boom and shortage of funds. Perhaps with the expansion of the budget from taxes on weed, the social security program could continue for a longer duration. Another program that would be beneficial from the legalization of pot would be that of medicade. Medicade is a minimal health care program that does not provide full coverage to its policy holders. Medicade holders and citizens with no health care would receive these tax funds in the form of better health care and medical prescriptions. The marijuana that would be used for all of my propositions would be grown here on American soil. This means that financially failing farmers would now have a new cash crop to keep their farms running and their bills paid.
If marijuana where to actually become legal, I do not propose that it remains legal without limitations. I feel that the laws for marijuana use should be set up like that of laws for alcohol use or they could actually parallel them. Laws could then be in place to combat disorderly conduct. Abusers would be treated like that of alcohol violators in cases of driving while intoxicated, probation, and punishment for under age abuse by minors. Public intoxication would also be outlawed.
With these new conditions to legalize marijuana under, it would also make the drug readily available for medicinal uses which I feel is a good thing. The disease glaucoma, which is a condition of high amount of pressure being exerted on the eyeball, could now be treated with marijuana. The THC in marijuana relieves the stress placed on the eye. Marijuana could also be used in cases of patients that have severe arthritis pain. People currently under chemotherapy to help treat cancer and HIV suffer from severe loss of appetite. (marijuana)(2) After smoking marijuana, patients are much more easily able to eat and keep down foods.(Encyclopedia)(1)
Although I am only 18, I have already encountered marijuana users. When I was a freshman in high school, I had showed up to a friend’s house unannounced and witnessed his father smoking marijuana by accident. The father was not user to induce fun. He used pot as a means of calming the nausea pain induced by caner treatments. I had previously thought marijuana was a bad thing until that period of my life, but witnessing a real person, with real pain changed my mind about the drug. I have also witnessed marijuana and alcohol use at parties through my later teens years. The people who drank seemed to be far more active and mischievous than those who had smoked. The smokers seemed to be cheerful as well as be calm, lazy, and mind to them selves. I have never seen a person get sick from smoking. However, I have seen a lot of people get sick and almost have to be taken to the hospital from drinking too much. These people have given me quite a scare. This is why I think that if alcohol is now legal after prohibition of it, I think that marijuana should be made legal as well.
In conclusion, I believe that marijuana needs to be legalized. The legalization of weed would be beneficial to almost everyone, whether it be medical patients, people with no or little health care for their families and them selves. It would also benefit people such as my self, who have had money taken out of their paychecks in the form of taxes every week supporting a national program like social security, that will not be around to support me when I am older unless something is done to change that. With other drugs that are legalized and available such as alcohol and salvia, I feel that there is no harm in allowing a drug that is already widely used and that would benefit everyone in some small way like marijuana.
Demmer, Byron “Arrests suffering, not medical marijuana patients” the humanist V. 61 no6 ( Nov,Dec, 2001) p.35-36 Full-Text Wilson Select Plus Online Macomb Community College Library, Clinton Twp, Mi 1 Apr. 2003
Encyclopedia Britannica Library “Marijuana” (Jan, 2003) p. 1-2 Britannica 2003 Ultimate Reference Suite CD-Rom 1 Apr.2003
Cloud, John “Is pot good for you?” Time V. 160 no19 (Nov. 4 2002) P.62-66 Full-Text Wilson Select Plus Macomb Community College Library, Clinton Twp, Mi 1 Apr. 2003
Fackelmann, Kathy “Marijuana: useful medicine or dangerous drug?” Consumers Research magazine V. 80 (May 1997) p. 15-18 Full-Text Wilson Select Plus Macomb Community College Library, Clinton Twp, Mi 1 Apr. 2003
Clark, Andrew “Medicinal Weed” Macleans v. 112 n042 (Oct. 18 1999) P.85 Wilson Select Plus Macomb Community College Library, Clinton Twp, Mi 1 Apr. 2003
Stein, Joel “The new politics of pot” Time v. 160 no19 ( nov. 4, 2002) p. 56-61 Wilson Select Plus Macomb Community College Library, Clinton Twp, Mi 1 Apr. 2003
Nation Institute on Drug Abuse (Jan, 2003) p.1-8 online Infofax Macomb Community College Library, Clinton Twp, Mi 1 Apr. 2003
www.drugabuse.gov/infofax/marijuana.html
Parents. The Anti Drug “ Marijuana” (March, 2001) p. 1-2 online 3, March 2003
Desimone, Jeff; Farrelly, Mathew C. “Price and enforcement effects on cocaine and marijuana demand” Economic inquiry v. 41 no1 (jan 2003) p.98-115 Wilson Select Plus Macomb Community College Library, Clinton Twp, Mi 1 Apr. 2003 weainternational.org