Drug Decriminalization Thesis
Drug Decriminalization With An Emphasis on Marijuana “Herb is the healing of a nation, alcohol is the destruction” - Bob Marley. Almost 50% of America views marijuana as a unspeakable substance. Most of those 50% who disagree have never actually used it.. Those biased opinions contribute to why marijuana is illegal today. However, America is slowly coming to realize that there simply is nothing wrong with marijuana. According to Aviva Shen, author of “California Attorney General: Legalizing Marijuana Would Save Hundreds of Millions of Dollars a Year,” California may soon become the third state to legalize and decriminalize marijuana. She also explains that drug offenders make up 31% of inmates in the state, and each inmate costs taxpayers about $47,000 per year. There are plenty of other reasons why the government should overturn its decision to legalize marijuana, like the fact that marijuana is healthier than smoking cigarettes, it 's legalization would simplify the development of cannabis as a valuable and diverse agricultural crop in the United States, including its development as a new bio-fuel to reduce Carbon emissions, and the fact that marijuana is not a lethal drug and is safer than alcohol. Marijuana needs
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to be legalized because in reality, it is wrong to criminalize a plant that naturally grows to help people. The first major proposition that could help legalize marijuana is that it is healthier than smoking cigarettes. Dan Schneider, an author at the website Dollars&Sense, says there are about 7.6 million frequent marijuana smokers in the United States. Also, according to the 2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health Report, “nearly 23.9 million Americans use the drug semi-regularly.” It informs that very heavy, long-term marijuana users who had smoked more than 22,000 joints over a lifetime seemed to have no greater health risk than infrequent marijuana users or nonusers. The report also claims that between 10 to 30% of regular users will develop dependency, while nly about 9% will have a serious addiction. The findings surprised the study’s researchers who expected to see an increase in cancer or health related problems among people who smoked marijuana regularly in their youth since two-pack-a-day or more cigarette smokers are found to have a 20-fold increase in lung cancer risk. Though, there seems to be no elevation in risk that is seen for even the very heaviest marijuana smokers. In the article “Marijuana smoke not as damaging to lungs as cigarette smoke,” Stefan Kertesz, a M.D. and senior author UAB Division of Preventive Medicine, is quoted as saying "Occasional marijuana use was associated with increases in lung air flow rates and increases in lung capacity”. He also states that while those increases were not large, but they were statistically significant. The data showed that even up to moderately high use levels of one joint a day for seven years, that there is no evidence of decreased air-flow rates or lung volumes. Futhermore, marijuana does not cause lung cancer. However, the more tobacco a person smokes, the greater their risk of developing lung cancer and other cancers of the head and neck. Thus, people who smoke more marijuana are not at increased risk for cancer compared with people who smoke less and people who did it smoke at all. Moreover, Many physicians prescribe marijuana to relieve stress, depression, back problems, and so many other physical and mental needs. There is no such thing as an overdose on marijuana and it would be an impossible task for one to try. . The most harm marijuana can do for its user is alter his or her state of mind. People every year die from lung cancer, and with legalization of marijuana that can be prevented if people realize that the dangers of these two substances do not equally compare. Marijuana 's legalization would also make it easier to develop hemp it as a new bio-fuel which would reduce carbon emissions and for many other uses as well. The word "hemp" is English for a number of varieties of the cannabis plant, particularly the varieties like "industrial hemp" that were bred over time for industrial uses such as fuel, fiber, paper, seed, food, oil, etc. Grant Banks, an author and editor at GizMag, states research has found that the use of hemp has “properties that make it attractive as a raw material for biofuel, such as the hemp stalks as a fuel source which will not increase demand and prices of food such as corn.” Marijuana 's legalization will greatly simplify the regulatory burden on a prospective hemp cultivation in the U.S. And cross-pollination between hemp plants and marijuana plants would significantly reduce the potency of the marijuana plant (Banks). Growing marijuana, would also enter in a new way for people to live off of growing it and make it easier for those who need it for medicinal purposes to smoke it. If the country can greatly benefit from a substance like marijuana then it should definitely be legalized. The government should take time to realize what they too can benefit from it such as the boost it will bring to the economy. Futhermore, Melissa McNamara, an editor at The Washington Post, explains that 135,323 marijuana plants seized in 2005 were estimated to be worth $270 million. Imagine if marijuana did not have to be smuggled into America or kept under wraps. That could have been millions of dollars into the U.S. Economy. Since Marijuana could be such a positive aspect to life in general, there should be no second thoughts to make it legal everywhere in America. Another reason to decriminalize marijuana is that it is much safer than alcohol. The health-related costs associated with alcohol use far exceed those for marijuana use. Health-related costs for alcohol consumers are eight times greater than those for marijuana consumers, says Paul Armentano who is the director of the National Orginization for the Reform of Marijuana.This should not come as a surprise given the vast amount of research that shows alcohol poses far more and more significant health problems than marijuana. Alcohol use also damages the brain, while marijuana use does not. Despite the myths people have heard throughout their lives about marijuana killing brain cells, it turns out that a growing number of studies seem to indicate that marijuana actually has neuroprotective properties. This means that it works to protect brain cells from harm. For example, one recent study in the article “Marijuana vs. Alcohol,” expresses that teens who used marijuana as well as alcohol suffered significantly less damage to the white matter in their brains. Of course, what is beyond question is that alcohol is more harmful to the brain. Alcohol use also contributes to aggressive and violent behavior because it gives those under the influence what is known as “liquid courage,” while marijuana use does not because it for the most part mellows out the user (Marijuana vs. Alcohol). The same article reported that alcohol is by far the drug that has the most evidence supporting a direct intoxication-violence relationship, whereas cannabis reduces the likelihood of violence during intoxication. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism estimates that between 25% and 30% of violent crimes in the United States are linked to the use of alcohol which translates to about 5,000,000 alcohol-related violent crimes per year (Marijuana vs Alcohol). By contrast, the government has barely began to track violent acts specifically related to marijuana use because as the use of marijuana has rarely been associated with violence. Safety always comes first, so if people wanted to choose the safer route, they would choose Marijuana. If a deadly substance is allowed and legal, why not make something so natural legal too? Although there are numerous positive effects of marijuana, there are still those in favor or decriminalizing marijuana. In the article “Section 2: Views of Marijuana- Legalization, Decriminalization, and Concerns,” which was published by the Pew Research Center, “54% of those surveyed said that if marijuana were to be legalized that it would lead to more underage people trying it.” Though, this statistic is misleading because of how the info was presented by the Pew Research Center. Just because over half of those they surveyed believe it will lead to young people trying it does not neccesarily mean it is a bad thing to do. Some of those who oppose marijuana to be legalized also think that it should only be legal for medicinal purposes, which in that case it can only be given with consent from a physician, “6 in 10 say that they would be bothered by the public use of marijuana; mainly from the smell that it gives off” (Pew Research Center). However, this is not an good argument because there are many people bothered by the smell of tobacco which has no health benefits at all but if people actually began to not fear marijuana they could get over their irritation fear of it and the way it smells. Moreover, in another article entitled “The Harmful Effects of Marijuana,” it states that marijuana remains in the body longer than alcohol and also points out that years of heavy marijuana may can cause brain abnormalities. Many argue that it gives users delayed reactions, can tamper with how one operates a vehicle, and any other dangerous equipment as well. Though, this may be true it is still nothing compared to what alcohol does to people when someone is driving. When one is high they can still control themselves, but when someone is very drunk then they tend to act out and have lots of different emotions and reactions which are far worse than marijuana. The people who are against marijuana being legalized seem to be the people that have not had hands on encounters with the substance in the first place and are simply criticizing that they know nothing about. Opponents of marijuana also bring to attention that could possibly changes the structure of sperm cells which deforms them, thus making it seem as though even small amounts of marijuana can cause temporary sterility in men (The Harmful Effects of Marijuana). Those against it also say that users who become pregnant and continue to smoke marijuana throughout their pregnancy give birth to babies with abnormalities, or come out premature and smaller than normal. While this may be true, it really has no place for discussion because many people already knows that smoking anything at all while pregnant could hurt the baby. The idea of legalization of marijuana should not be a topic to discuss at all, it needs to happen already so that everyone can stop becoming scared of nothing. Marijuana is seen by many as natures herb of life and the fact that Marijuana still has not been legalized makes no sense whatsoever.
Although there are reasons to oppose marijuana, there are so many positive known factors as to why it should be made legal. Not only does it help to fight certain defects and diseases, it helps the agriculture/economy, and is less deadly than anything other drug These facts are reason enough to make it a legalized product which individuals and busnisses can prosper from. It is a substance which the media and internet make sound as if it were life threatning, though is the except opposite. It can only be described as a natural plant made by the Earth to serve good use to everyone in America and around the
world.
Works Cited
Banks, Grant. "Hemp Biofuel Blazes Competition."Hemp Biofuel Blazes Competition. Gizmag, n.d. Web. 05 May 2014. .
Schneider, Dan. "Pot Economics: What 's the Future of the American Marijuana Market?"Truthout. Dollar and Sense News Analysis, n.d. Web. 05 May 2014.
Shen, Aviva. "California Attorney General: Legalizing Marijuana Would Save Hundreds Of Millions Of Dollars A Year." ThinkProgress.com. Think Progress, 29 Dec. 2013. Web. 05 May 2014.
Armentano, Paul. "Health and Societal Costs of Marijuana vs. Alcohol and Tobacco: Prohibitionists ' Concerns Answered and Refuted."Alternet.org. AlterNet, 30 Mar. 2012. Web. 04 May 2014.
"Marijuana vs. Alcohol." Saferchoice.org. Safer, n.d. Web. 03 May 2014.
"Section 2: Views of Marijuana – Legalization, Decriminalization, Concerns."People-press.org. Pew Research Center, 2 Apr. 2014. Web. 03 May 2014.
"The Harmful Effects of Marijuana." Drugfreeworld.org. The Foundation for a Drug Free World, n.d. Web. 04 May 2014.
McNamara, Melissa. "Wash. Marijuana Harvest Sets Record." Cbsnews.com. CBS Interactive, 17 Feb. 2006. Web. 06 May 2014.
"2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health Report." Samhsa.gov. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services., 2012. Web. 05 May 2014.
to be legalized because in reality, it is wrong to criminalize a plant that naturally grows to help people. The first major proposition that could help legalize marijuana is that it is healthier than smoking cigarettes. Dan Schneider, an author at the website Dollars&Sense, says there are about 7.6 million frequent marijuana smokers in the United States. Also, according to the 2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health Report, “nearly 23.9 million Americans use the drug semi-regularly.” It informs that very heavy, long-term marijuana users who had smoked more than 22,000 joints over a lifetime seemed to have no greater health risk than infrequent marijuana users or nonusers. The report also claims that between 10 to 30% of regular users will develop dependency, while nly about 9% will have a serious addiction. The findings surprised the study’s researchers who expected to see an increase in cancer or health related problems among people who smoked marijuana regularly in their youth since two-pack-a-day or more cigarette smokers are found to have a 20-fold increase in lung cancer risk. Though, there seems to be no elevation in risk that is seen for even the very heaviest marijuana smokers. In the article “Marijuana smoke not as damaging to lungs as cigarette smoke,” Stefan Kertesz, a M.D. and senior author UAB Division of Preventive Medicine, is quoted as saying "Occasional marijuana use was associated with increases in lung air flow rates and increases in lung capacity”. He also states that while those increases were not large, but they were statistically significant. The data showed that even up to moderately high use levels of one joint a day for seven years, that there is no evidence of decreased air-flow rates or lung volumes. Futhermore, marijuana does not cause lung cancer. However, the more tobacco a person smokes, the greater their risk of developing lung cancer and other cancers of the head and neck. Thus, people who smoke more marijuana are not at increased risk for cancer compared with people who smoke less and people who did it smoke at all. Moreover, Many physicians prescribe marijuana to relieve stress, depression, back problems, and so many other physical and mental needs. There is no such thing as an overdose on marijuana and it would be an impossible task for one to try. . The most harm marijuana can do for its user is alter his or her state of mind. People every year die from lung cancer, and with legalization of marijuana that can be prevented if people realize that the dangers of these two substances do not equally compare. Marijuana 's legalization would also make it easier to develop hemp it as a new bio-fuel which would reduce carbon emissions and for many other uses as well. The word "hemp" is English for a number of varieties of the cannabis plant, particularly the varieties like "industrial hemp" that were bred over time for industrial uses such as fuel, fiber, paper, seed, food, oil, etc. Grant Banks, an author and editor at GizMag, states research has found that the use of hemp has “properties that make it attractive as a raw material for biofuel, such as the hemp stalks as a fuel source which will not increase demand and prices of food such as corn.” Marijuana 's legalization will greatly simplify the regulatory burden on a prospective hemp cultivation in the U.S. And cross-pollination between hemp plants and marijuana plants would significantly reduce the potency of the marijuana plant (Banks). Growing marijuana, would also enter in a new way for people to live off of growing it and make it easier for those who need it for medicinal purposes to smoke it. If the country can greatly benefit from a substance like marijuana then it should definitely be legalized. The government should take time to realize what they too can benefit from it such as the boost it will bring to the economy. Futhermore, Melissa McNamara, an editor at The Washington Post, explains that 135,323 marijuana plants seized in 2005 were estimated to be worth $270 million. Imagine if marijuana did not have to be smuggled into America or kept under wraps. That could have been millions of dollars into the U.S. Economy. Since Marijuana could be such a positive aspect to life in general, there should be no second thoughts to make it legal everywhere in America. Another reason to decriminalize marijuana is that it is much safer than alcohol. The health-related costs associated with alcohol use far exceed those for marijuana use. Health-related costs for alcohol consumers are eight times greater than those for marijuana consumers, says Paul Armentano who is the director of the National Orginization for the Reform of Marijuana.This should not come as a surprise given the vast amount of research that shows alcohol poses far more and more significant health problems than marijuana. Alcohol use also damages the brain, while marijuana use does not. Despite the myths people have heard throughout their lives about marijuana killing brain cells, it turns out that a growing number of studies seem to indicate that marijuana actually has neuroprotective properties. This means that it works to protect brain cells from harm. For example, one recent study in the article “Marijuana vs. Alcohol,” expresses that teens who used marijuana as well as alcohol suffered significantly less damage to the white matter in their brains. Of course, what is beyond question is that alcohol is more harmful to the brain. Alcohol use also contributes to aggressive and violent behavior because it gives those under the influence what is known as “liquid courage,” while marijuana use does not because it for the most part mellows out the user (Marijuana vs. Alcohol). The same article reported that alcohol is by far the drug that has the most evidence supporting a direct intoxication-violence relationship, whereas cannabis reduces the likelihood of violence during intoxication. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism estimates that between 25% and 30% of violent crimes in the United States are linked to the use of alcohol which translates to about 5,000,000 alcohol-related violent crimes per year (Marijuana vs Alcohol). By contrast, the government has barely began to track violent acts specifically related to marijuana use because as the use of marijuana has rarely been associated with violence. Safety always comes first, so if people wanted to choose the safer route, they would choose Marijuana. If a deadly substance is allowed and legal, why not make something so natural legal too? Although there are numerous positive effects of marijuana, there are still those in favor or decriminalizing marijuana. In the article “Section 2: Views of Marijuana- Legalization, Decriminalization, and Concerns,” which was published by the Pew Research Center, “54% of those surveyed said that if marijuana were to be legalized that it would lead to more underage people trying it.” Though, this statistic is misleading because of how the info was presented by the Pew Research Center. Just because over half of those they surveyed believe it will lead to young people trying it does not neccesarily mean it is a bad thing to do. Some of those who oppose marijuana to be legalized also think that it should only be legal for medicinal purposes, which in that case it can only be given with consent from a physician, “6 in 10 say that they would be bothered by the public use of marijuana; mainly from the smell that it gives off” (Pew Research Center). However, this is not an good argument because there are many people bothered by the smell of tobacco which has no health benefits at all but if people actually began to not fear marijuana they could get over their irritation fear of it and the way it smells. Moreover, in another article entitled “The Harmful Effects of Marijuana,” it states that marijuana remains in the body longer than alcohol and also points out that years of heavy marijuana may can cause brain abnormalities. Many argue that it gives users delayed reactions, can tamper with how one operates a vehicle, and any other dangerous equipment as well. Though, this may be true it is still nothing compared to what alcohol does to people when someone is driving. When one is high they can still control themselves, but when someone is very drunk then they tend to act out and have lots of different emotions and reactions which are far worse than marijuana. The people who are against marijuana being legalized seem to be the people that have not had hands on encounters with the substance in the first place and are simply criticizing that they know nothing about. Opponents of marijuana also bring to attention that could possibly changes the structure of sperm cells which deforms them, thus making it seem as though even small amounts of marijuana can cause temporary sterility in men (The Harmful Effects of Marijuana). Those against it also say that users who become pregnant and continue to smoke marijuana throughout their pregnancy give birth to babies with abnormalities, or come out premature and smaller than normal. While this may be true, it really has no place for discussion because many people already knows that smoking anything at all while pregnant could hurt the baby. The idea of legalization of marijuana should not be a topic to discuss at all, it needs to happen already so that everyone can stop becoming scared of nothing. Marijuana is seen by many as natures herb of life and the fact that Marijuana still has not been legalized makes no sense whatsoever.
Although there are reasons to oppose marijuana, there are so many positive known factors as to why it should be made legal. Not only does it help to fight certain defects and diseases, it helps the agriculture/economy, and is less deadly than anything other drug These facts are reason enough to make it a legalized product which individuals and busnisses can prosper from. It is a substance which the media and internet make sound as if it were life threatning, though is the except opposite. It can only be described as a natural plant made by the Earth to serve good use to everyone in America and around the
world.
Works Cited
Banks, Grant. "Hemp Biofuel Blazes Competition."Hemp Biofuel Blazes Competition. Gizmag, n.d. Web. 05 May 2014. .
Schneider, Dan. "Pot Economics: What 's the Future of the American Marijuana Market?"Truthout. Dollar and Sense News Analysis, n.d. Web. 05 May 2014.
Shen, Aviva. "California Attorney General: Legalizing Marijuana Would Save Hundreds Of Millions Of Dollars A Year." ThinkProgress.com. Think Progress, 29 Dec. 2013. Web. 05 May 2014.
Armentano, Paul. "Health and Societal Costs of Marijuana vs. Alcohol and Tobacco: Prohibitionists ' Concerns Answered and Refuted."Alternet.org. AlterNet, 30 Mar. 2012. Web. 04 May 2014.
"Marijuana vs. Alcohol." Saferchoice.org. Safer, n.d. Web. 03 May 2014.
"Section 2: Views of Marijuana – Legalization, Decriminalization, Concerns."People-press.org. Pew Research Center, 2 Apr. 2014. Web. 03 May 2014.
"The Harmful Effects of Marijuana." Drugfreeworld.org. The Foundation for a Drug Free World, n.d. Web. 04 May 2014.
McNamara, Melissa. "Wash. Marijuana Harvest Sets Record." Cbsnews.com. CBS Interactive, 17 Feb. 2006. Web. 06 May 2014.
"2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health Report." Samhsa.gov. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services., 2012. Web. 05 May 2014.