Drugs Essay, Research Paper

Should Marijuana be Legalized? Arguments For and Against

Essay written by Unknown

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.