Legalizing Marijuanna Essay, Research Paper

Legalizing Marijuana

The purpose of this paper is to discuss marijuana and compare both sides of the issue of legalizing marijuana. We have two opposite opinions fighting each other, those who are pro marijuana and those who are anti-marijuana. These two sides have been fighting on this issue for years. Pro marijuana legalization groups such as the Physician’s Association for AIDS Care 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 illnesses. Glaucoma sufferers who have used marijuana said it has prevented them from going blind, and for cancer patients it has helped to relieve severe nausea that often is a side-effect of chemotherapy and sometimes makes lifesaving treatment impossible. 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 ” legitement medical use.” 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 it will become much easier for people who do not need the drug to acquire it. Then people will raise the question why is 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 there is no hard core evidence that proves that marijuana is an 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 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.