Legalizing MarijuanaEssay Preview: Legalizing MarijuanaReport this essayLegalizing MarijuanaThere are several issues; we as society are facing daily. Marijuana is one. I dont advocate using it as it basically makes you lose most aspiration what I have seen and I would still consider it an intoxicant so far as driving and operating machinery but as to Medical Marijuana, I have used marijuana before for that purpose and it was the only thing that would help my pain at the time. Regulating it would make it safer, cheaper, would provide revenue to the states and would severely decrease criminal activity. There wouldnt be more on the street as many fear. Actually there would be less as it would be sold like alcohol and as difficult as alcohol for minors to purchase. This would mean that some would still get it but probably no more then already do.
The Marijuana Act of 1971 (H.R.5287) was the first piece of legislation that legalized medical marijuana and the law was signed a year before the Great Depression. It would have limited to medical use, allowing the possession of the drug from children up to 15, and providing doctors with the opportunity to recommend alternative forms of treatment for the condition. The state of Minnesota used to run a drug clinic called the Minnesota Adult Medical Center and this facility was shut down when a group of doctors attempted to administer marijuana to patients. This did not stop Dr. Peter Schauer from dispensing marijuana. Dr. Peter Schauer is a medical marijuana advocate who worked for the Minnesota Drug Control Agency for 30 years. He wrote the article that inspired this piece.
This is why the marijuana issue does not come from the “health” angle, there are other issues of our time that are different now. I am referring to the medical side, a very important issue to people looking more to health. What you are getting here with a medical marijuana that does so much more than the drug, is what you get with the medical marijuana that is also known as medical marijuana or MMJ. I do not advocate using the drug in a medical sense on these grounds. It is an absolute violation whether one thinks that using it for treatment of symptoms, pain or other indications is something that is actually safe and desirable.
So when I said I didn’t advocate it I said that it was a violation where you are trying things that might be very bad but which you can do anyway if you take it.
When I was growing up a kid in Colorado I got a good deal on stuff that I liked. If one saw me on a school bus I told them I liked everything I had in life. It was easy to get everything you wanted and I got to work for it. However I never learned how to make money. My parents got to keep most of the school for as little as they could afford and I learned to make friends. I was never at the mercy of my parents, my parents did some really hard times. My teachers were terrible at teaching little kids how not to use their money. My teacher was a lot more strict than my mom, not nice. She was mean in a major way. This is just my story.
The kids here I started getting into were very good at mathematics. I spent some time at the school before going to college. They were all trying to learn to be better, so when I was finally high school they were great. My dad went to the gym and I went to high school. These are the kids I grew up listening to. What I learned from my parents was that they cared about other people’s needs. We talked about how bad it was that drugs were being used like this at the grocery store. Some kids would get their money and I would buy them a bag of dried herbs for their ears. So if it takes you many years to learn an animal language and you get out of that, you know that something wrong will happen to your next child, so you better take care of yourself.
So what happened to my dad growing up? He is no longer with me. I have no access to this. The reason why I am writing this article is because I was told by my mother that my dad had died in a drunken fit with
Marijuana is what the federal government call a gateway drug in that users often advance to more dangerous drugs. Part of the reason for that is the supplier sells the more dangerous drugs and the legal risk of purchase is roughly the same. If youre already breaking the law by purchasing marijuana from a pusher then its a small step to purchase something stronger form the same person. If marijuana was legal then its effect as a gateway to worse drugs would also be reduced. In the legal case youre not breaking a law so going to the harder substance is a bigger step, the supplier is an honest merchant and they presumably are not selling harder substances nor encouraging you to buy them. So another benefit of legalizing marijuana is that it will significantly reduce more dangerous drug usage as well.
The idea of controlled legalization of narcotics is an issue that many people in the United States have been thinking about recently. Enormous amount of important people in this country have been formulating their opinions about this topic. One might wonder why important figures are occupying their time with such a proposal. The answer is that since it is becoming an important matter to a growing number of Americans every day, they have no choice but to express their ideas on the subject. Now that everyone is talking about the possibility of legalizing marijuana and other drugs, two opposing groups have sprung up, the group that want it legalized and the group that do not want it legalized. Of course neither group feels that the government should completely abandon the idea of drug regulation, but that is where the similarities in the opinions end. The two factions each have their reasons as to why they feel the way they do and it is difficult to say that either one is completely wrong. I personally, wanted marijuana legalized to help people in need for medical purposes.
Since the beginning of time, people have been afraid of things they dont understand. Marijuana is an example. Marijuana is the dried leaves and flowering tops of the pistillate hemp plant that yield THC and are smoked in cigarettes for their intoxicating effect. Why must such a harmless plant be prohibited?” What I have said here reflects the opinion of a great many people across the country, especially young, sick and those who suffer from chronic pain. It is true that marijuana has not yet been proven to be as harmful as many of the other narcotics on the streets today. Heroin, cocaine, amphetamines, and steroids all have many known negative effects that are worse than the common known negative effects of marijuana. On the other hand there are others, some extremely bad uncommon negative effects of marijuana as well as the possibility that there are negative effects that have not been discovered yet. These negative effects are or could be worse than the ones of the aforementioned drugs. The negative effect of Marijuana consists of:
Where there is smoke, there is harm. Scientists have studied both, marijuana and cigarette smoke and cannot determine which one is worse; on the other hand, marijuana joints deliver at least four times the tar to the lungs than conventional cigarettes. The joint of marijuana would contain more tar because it has no filter as cigarettes do. When people smoke marijuana, they tend to hold the smoke in longer before exhaling, for a longer period of time than when smoking cigarettes.
Recommended by clinical studies that people who smoke marijuana are most likely to develop some type of respiratory failure.Marijuana smoker performed worse on lung functional test.Habitual smoking will damage the lining of the bronchial airways and cause bronchitis.Study shows, people who use marijuana are most likely to engage in unprotected sex, which is causing a higher number of HIV among marijuana users.Change of eye color, physical signs of a person who is high includes change in eye color, dilated pupils, rapid beating heart, dry mouth and coughing. Their vision is impaired from driving or operating machinery or heavy tools for up to 10 hours, depending on the amount of marijuana consumed (Frances & Franklin, 1994).
For the most part, however, scientists believe that the casual user of marijuana is at less risk than the users of heroin, cocaine and other drugs of that nature (Mack & Joy, p. 38-43).
Marijuana in particular is associated with a significant number of deaths from suicide, vehicular accidents, other accidents, and homicide. Unfortunately, the extent to which marijuana is involved is not well documented because autopsy reports typically do not identify marijuana as a contributor in cases of violent or uncertain deaths, any more than they would mention traces of nicotine in such cases (Westermeyer, 1992, p. 59).
Furthermore, the people that feel that marijuana should remain illegal also have a strong argument. There is a substantial list of reasons why they feel this way: 1) marijuana smoke has been proven to be as much as five times more toxic to the lungs as cigarette smoke; 2) marijuana smoking can result in damage to chromosomes in male sperm cells which may lead to birth defects; 3) marijuana causes changes in the users perception of their surroundings, thereby making activities such as driving an automobile quite dangerous; 4) Tetra hydro cannabinol (THC) is the most active chemical in marijuana but as many as 400 other chemicals can be produced while or immediately after smoking marijuana, and scientists havent even begun to study the reactions of the body to these substances. As can be seen, there are many dangers to smoking marijuana.
• “But why does marijuana cause a disease like cancer? For some, it’s because marijuana makes people more sick. For others, it’s due to the chemical imbalance or exposure to an unregulated chemical that could cause dangerous drug use, which has not been investigated properly. Yet, it becomes more apparent that marijuana also has a dangerous neuro-chemical effect, which isn’t readily understood when looking at how marijuana interacts with other drugs.
• “The biggest issue surrounding marijuana is the medical use of the drug,” says Dr. Eric Davenport, a psychologist at Stanford University, who is leading a study to find a mechanism for the brain to be working in the way of “a cannabinoid complex that is more similar to a dopamine receptor.” This complex makes a complex of compounds called endocannabinoids, which are known to be involved in some of the health benefits of marijuana. These endocannabinoids can help to increase the levels of norepinephrine and dopamine in the brain. THC has also long been used as an anti-inflammatory and anti-depressant, and other molecules can help with stress and anxiety for depression and other disorders.
• “For many people, these things take on a very different shape than the substances themselves that are used to treat them, which is why some may feel that marijuana is causing such medical problems,” says Dr. E. Heng-Yeon Lee, a gerontologist at Harvard and a member of the NIH’s Endocrinology and Metabolism Section. “However, all of this research shows this is not true.” For this reason, they worry that the amount of research conducted concerning marijuana on conditions ranging from mild to severe and to other illnesses have become too limited, so a major effort is required to make certain that research is carried out with all appropriate research equipment. One study (named “Tetra” in honor of its medicinal value) found that tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) affects the brain, the endocrine system, the gastrointestinal system and the endocrine system, which is involved in the nervous system and cardiovascular responses and thus can be thought of as the primary immune system. In addition to the effects of THC, the researchers also found CBD, a compound in the cannabis plant of the same name, that appears to reduce inflammation and have analgesics and anti-inflammatory properties.
• “Some other interesting results show that marijuana is a beneficial neuroprotective and neuro-protection agent,” Lee says. “This may be due to a natural mechanism of action that has never been scientifically investigated until now. For example, THC has been shown to block the binding of specific receptors on the tyrosine kinase (AR) of the insulin-like growth factor 5 (IGF-5) gene and has been found to reduce the amount of blood oxygenated in the body that is being produced by the central nervous system in obese adults. These effects may not only be accompanied by increased levels of cortisol, the important hormone that regulates stress responses, but may also result from the involvement of CB1 receptors and the adrenal/endocrine system.” An analysis by the Japanese National Agency for Health Research found that the THC-like compounds produced in marijuana are similar to those found in tobacco smoke and other tobacco products, as can be seen in the results of previous studies by researchers at Nanyang Technological University in Nan
The FDA is not entirely sure of this, but a spokesman for the agency says “we continue to evaluate the safety and potential health effects of the product and its products for use on children, adolescents and adults in a continuing and coordinated manner, with appropriate regulatory measures and testing, to identify risks that can result from the effects of the product or the product’s use on the host community.” This is not surprising considering that there have been a number of studies that show little or no impact on children or the wider global population for at least the past 70 years, many of which have failed. Despite the obvious risks associated with the use of marijuana, they simply couldn’t do much about it until there were more studies and studies that showed that smoking marijuana actually would be less harmful, especially to children. That is when the tobacco control bill was unveiled, which gave the FDA the power to define and regulate substances that are considered unhealthy in the eyes of the U.S. government. Even today, children and adolescents are not told whether children, especially those with tobacco habits, would benefit from it, or whether they would have their children smoke pot. A recent Harvard study in Pediatrics concluded that children and adults, regardless of their marijuana use, would not benefit from smoking pot as a result of their exposures for three different reasons: 1) the smoking of marijuana causes their lungs to burn and 2) they would smoke more, which means they have a higher chance of lung cancer. (It’s likely that children younger than 2 years younger who smoke more have a greater chance of developing lung cancer.) This type of health effect is seen in a variety of different situations, including when parents and other residents in their community have smoked marijuana for medical purposes. (The same study did find that children younger than 2 year olds who had tried alcohol found that they actually made up for the increased risk of developing lung cancer.) To put any number of possible reasons in perspective, there’s no solid scientific evidence to back it up. The fact that children and adolescents are now exposed to all the risks and benefits mentioned above should set a precedent for other governments to follow suit, especially through the legalization of recreational marijuana.
The FDA is not entirely sure of this, but a spokesman for the agency says “we continue to evaluate the safety and potential health effects of the product and its products for use on children, adolescents and adults in a continuing and coordinated manner, with appropriate regulatory measures and testing, to identify risks that can result from the effects of the product or the product’s use on the host community.” This is not surprising considering that there have been a number of studies that show little or no impact on children or the wider global population for at least the past 70 years, many of which have failed. Despite the obvious risks associated with the use of marijuana, they simply couldn’t do much about it until there were more studies and studies that showed that smoking marijuana actually would be less harmful, especially to children. That is when the tobacco control bill was unveiled, which gave the FDA the power to define and regulate substances that are considered unhealthy in the eyes of the U.S. government. Even today, children and adolescents are not told whether children, especially those with tobacco habits, would benefit from it, or whether they would have their children smoke pot. A recent Harvard study in Pediatrics concluded that children and adults, regardless of their marijuana use, would not benefit from smoking pot as a result of their exposures for three different reasons: 1) the smoking of marijuana causes their lungs to burn and 2) they would smoke more, which means they have a higher chance of lung cancer. (It’s likely that children younger than 2 years younger who smoke more have a greater chance of developing lung cancer.) This type of health effect is seen in a variety of different situations, including when parents and other residents in their community have smoked marijuana for medical purposes. (The same study did find that children younger than 2 year olds who had tried alcohol found that they actually made up for the increased risk of developing lung cancer.) To put any number of possible reasons in perspective, there’s no solid scientific evidence to back it up. The fact that children and adolescents are now exposed to all the risks and benefits mentioned above should set a precedent for other governments to follow suit, especially through the legalization of recreational marijuana.
The isolated legalization of marijuana has different consequences than the controlled legalization of all drugs. If marijuana were to be governmentally regulated, then quite a few beneficial situations could possibly come into being.