MARIJUANA
With Research
In the late sixteenth century, Great Britain started exploring North America and setting up colonies to gain more resources and power. They ended up with 13 colonies that ran down the eastern coast of North America. They left these colonies to govern themselves for a while until Britain started to have money trouble. The British government started to abuse its power by instating random taxes to gain money from the colonies. The colonies were so outraged by the unfair treatment by their government that they grouped together and demanded independence from Britain. They wrote a letter to the king of England, stating that every citizen has individual rights and freedoms, and the only reason for having a government is to make sure those rights are protected. In 1775, they went to war with Britain to gain independence. To them, freedom from an authoritative government was a cause worth dying for. After thousands of deaths, the colonies finally were given their independence. They built a country based on individual freedoms and rights to pursue those freedoms. They built a government that was there to protect its people and keep its citizens safe. They gave birth to the United States of America.
Two hundred years later, the US is back where it started. The idea of legalizing marijuana has been a growing controversy since it became illegal in the late 1930's. According to the Declaration of Independence, the letter the colonies sent to Britain, our government should be protecting our rights, not restricting them. Nowhere in the constitution does it say the government has the power to control what substances we put into our bodies. Recent research has even proved that marijuana isn't as bad as previously thought. While making a speech Abraham Lincoln once said, "Prohibition...goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded" (Carnes 712). The US outlawing marijuana is completely hypocritical and has created more problems for itself than it has solved. There are numerous reasons that marijuana should be legalized in the US.
The negative effects associated with marijuana use has slowly become a popular debate in recent years. When marijuana was first outlawed, little research had been done about the short term and long term effects it has on the user. Breathing in marijuana smoke is said to increase the chances of respiratory problems like persistent coughing, bronchitis. Recent research has even proven that poor nutrition is more harmful and deadly to the body than smoking and proper exercise will help prevent these negative effects from ever even happening. Contrary to most beliefs, marijuana is proven not to be a cause of lung cancer. There has never been a documented case of lung cancer in a marijuana-only smoker. Donald Tashkin, from the university of California, has been studying the effects of marijuana for over 30 years, trying to prove that smoking marijuana can cause cancer. "We hypothesized that there would be a positive association between marijuana use and lung cancer, and that the association would be more positive with heavier use," he said. "What we found instead was no association at all, and even a suggestion of some protective effect." (Kaufman A10). Cigarettes, on the other hand, is the cause of 90% of cancer patients ("Lung cancer" n. pag.). The worst part is that cigarettes are actually legal in the US, even though they kill thousands more people than marijuana. Marijuana is famously labeled as a "gateway drug" and could possibly lead users into more serious drugs. Outlawing pot on the basis of fearing that it can cause the user to do more serious things is just crazy. Its like outlawing skateboarding from the country because as kids get better at skating it can lead to them destroying public property by grinding businesses' rails and ledges. Besides Alcohol is just as big of a "gateway drug" as marijuana is. It is also said that smoking marijuana can cause minor brain damage. This is only proven true for long term abusers. If smoked sparingly, marijuana can actually help you grow new brain cells and increase brain activity. Recently, Xia Zhang, of the department of psychiatry at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, was conducting experiments on rats by injecting them with a version of a chemical, HU210, in marijuana. He set out to see how badly smoking pot is for the brain. What he found though, was that the rats actually started growing new brain cells in the hippocampus. This even suggests the possibility that marijuana can cure depression and anxiety ( "Marijuana May Spur.." n. pag.). These are all mild negative effects caused by pot and should not be the basis for keeping it illegal. There are many more reasons to legalize marijuana than to keep it outlawed.
A major reason for legalizing pot is the enormous amount of money our government spends a year trying to fight marijuana use. In 2004, our government spent approximately 4 billion dollars towards drug prevention. That’s twice the amount they spent towards more important issues, like medical research for trying to cure AIDS and cancer. That’s not including the money for putting people in jail either. It's another $25,000 a year for each person locked up. The worst part is, all this money is coming right out of the tax payer's wallets. Our government only spends 2.4 billion dollars a year to fight cancer, while 150 people are diagnosed with cancer each hour. Almost everyone in America knows at least one person who has died from or currently has cancer. And the number of people with aids is rising greatly too. How do you feel that our government is more worried about fighting a pretty much harmless plant than they are about finding a cure that could save your friend or relatives life? Dr. Jeffrey Miron, a professor from Harvard, claims that prohibition of marijuana is "economic insanity and inherently immoral." He found that the government would save up to 14 billion dollars by legalizing pot (Blumner 10A). If pot was legal, it wouldn't only save the government their money to spend on more important issues, but they could even use the plant to make money. They could put a tax on the sale of marijuana, like they did in 1937, and make a profit by legalizing pot.
Another reason to legalize marijuana is that it will decrease the crime in the US. Just like the prohibition of alcohol, making marijuana illegal just increased the criminal activity surrounding the drug. As a result of illegalizing pot, there is a gigantic underground subculture of marijuana related activity. People are growing, selling, and smuggling pot into the country everyday. Since it’s a job that contains money and a risk of getting arrested, it creates more crime surrounding the drug. Six percent of the homicides in the US are drug related. If pot was legal it would not just cut down on the number of people convicted of pot possession, but it would cut down on murders, assaults, and even some gang activity. The worst part is the people who are just standing up for their rights are being looked at as criminals and drug addicts. Paul McCartney once said, "I support decriminalization. People are smoking pot anyway and to make them a criminal is wrong" ("Paul McCartney." n. pag.). Having marijuana illegal isn't stopping people from using it, it's just putting good people on the same page as murderers and rapists.
Another reason to legalize marijuana is that it provides a safer alternative to the use of alcohol. Alcohol is a poison. Drinking too much can cause vomiting, passing out, and even death. Over 1400 college students die every year from alcohol poisoning. Marijuana, on the other hand is almost completely non-toxic. To overdose from smoking you would have to smoke over forty two milligrams of pot for every kilogram you weigh. Which is practically impossible. Alcohol is also a physically and psychologically addicting substance. A user can become dependent on alcohol and need to drink every day. Marijuana is not physically addicting and there is a low chance of becoming psychologically addicted. (New research even says caffeine is more addictive and has a greater chance for a user to experience withdrawal symptoms ("Drug-Danger.." 5 )). Since alcohol is a poison, it can cause liver disease, brain damage, heart disease, strokes, hypertension and cancer. Pot causes respiratory diseases and loss of memory, only to the people that don't exercise and smoke everyday. A person under the influence of alcohol is also more vulnerable to attacks and injuries. Alcohol impairs its users' voluntary motor skill and decision making, making them completely helpless if trouble occurs. Alcohol abuse is also associated with domestic violence, sexual assaults, aggressive behavior, and violent crimes. Among spouse victims, 3 out of 4 incidents are reported to have involved a victim who had been drinking alcohol ("Safer Colorado" n. pag.). While marijuana is said to reduce likely hood of violence. Does it really make sense that our government allows its citizens to drink a highly addictive poison and restricts them from smoking pot?
Another reason to legalize marijuana is because of its medical uses. Marijuana is known to decrease eye pressure, stop muscle spasms, stop convulsions, suppress nausea, increase appetite, and even eliminate menstrual pain. All of these effects can help with a large variety of problems and diseases. Marijuana is used to help patients with cancer and AIDS because of its ability to suppress nausea and increase appetite. Marijuana is also used for patients with glaucoma, epilepsy, and multiple scleroses. Marijuana can be used to sedate patients and relieve pain as well.
The use of marijuana should be based personal opinion. It is each person's individual right to put what they want into their bodies. The government is not there to restrict our rights and should not be trying to control this issue. Places like Denver and Massachusetts are already proving that legalizing pot is something the majority of US citizens want. Why can't our government realize that?
take that biches.....
