NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote
Essay three: Legalization of Marijuana The legalization of marijuana has been one of the most heated debates to ever occur in the United States. There are two sides that feel equally strongly about this topic. There is the side that is for the legalization and the side that is against it. I found very plausible reasoning on why this drug should or should not be legalized. Marijuana's use as a medicine has been around for thousands of years, in countries worldwide. The use of marijuana can be dated as far back as 2700 B.
C. through ancient Chinese writings. Marijuana has been associated with bringing relief to sick people suffering from AIDS, cancer, anorexia, epilepsy, arthritis, migraines, and glaucoma. Most doctors dont recommend that you smoke marijuana to relieve yourself from the ailments associated with these sicknesses. The doctors are recommending the patients take a synthetic form of marijuana such as Marinol.
Most patients feel like Marinol is an ineffective substitute because of the side effects. Patients complain that the feeling of being too sleepy and or the feeling of being too stoned is far too great. Now if the patients can smoke a joint they can be the judge for themselves on how much they need to get the desired effect. Forty million Americans use marijuana more frequently than all of the other illegal drugs combined. I found that static to be staggering. Marijuana has also been proven to not be a physically addictive drug.
If marijuana was legal it would allow the regulation of the drug. For instance, cigarettes have warnings of the affects of smoking them right on the box, alcohol is clearly marked with the percentage of alcohol on the bottle, and legal drugs have a listing of all active and inactive ingredients in them. If marijuana was sold legally it could also be sold with ingredients, purity levels, and the warnings of smoking it to your health clearly marked. In the year 2000 there where 1, 147, 591 pounds of marijuana seized by the United Stated Coast Guard. The average price of marijuana goes for around 1, 500 dollars per pound. Now if marijuana was legal it would be priced at 1, 721, 386, 580 dollars.
The GPN (Gross National Product) for the year 2000 was projected at an estimated seventeen billion dollars. Now if marijuana was a taxed good at the normal going rate of five percent that would have raised the price up to 1, 807, 455, 825 dollars. Thats a price increase of a stunning one hundred million dollars. I think that if marijuana was legalized it would create more jobs for America who is already struggling with unemployment issues. If marijuana was sold legally, it would most likely be sold in small businesses, stores, or through the pharmacies.
Small businesses employ three out of four Americans; if marijuana was legal to sell we would have more employment which in turn will tremendously help out with making a better America. I also think that it would help out our national deficit. I can understand where these people come from. America is struggling to get back on our feet.
I think if we do not do something about the problems with unemployment there is going to be even more people on welfare and that is a problem for the taxpayer (you and I) of America. So why not make marijuana legal? Ive found many plausible reasons why many people think it shouldnt become a legal substance. One of the reasons the people argue this is when illicit drugs are legalized, drug use increased. It becomes easily accessible virtually on every street corner. I found that nearly all of the heroin users where at first marijuana smokers.
The National Institute of Drug Abuse survey has found that people whom smoke marijuana are a stunning thirty times more likely to use the drug cocaine than people whom have never touched marijuana in there lives. It is logical to think that if drugs where easier to buy, it would become less expensive, socially acceptable, enticing to young children, and much more people would start to use it. Many people feel that there has been little or no progress in the war on drugs. This statement could not be farther from the truth.
In fact the current drug use in America has fallen by half in the last fifteen years. That shows that the youth of America and their parents are choosing to be a drug free society, which in turn will lower crime rates, and murder rates. People also argue that marijuana has some serious side effects and health risks. Marijuana can affect your concentration, it damages your motor functions temporarily, it affects your short term memory, damages your lungs, and it can also affect your reproductive and immune systems. Smoking a marijuana joint is proven to be four more times carcinogenic than smoking a cigarette. Marijuana also stays in the body for weeks at a time even though you cannot feel the affects any longer.
Marijuana as also has been found to be psychologically addictive. There has been a study of the international drug policy and law enforcement and its effects on countries with lesser drug enforcement policies. The studies have shown that there has been an increase of drug addiction and crime. In Amsterdam their murder and crime rates are almost doubled of what the United States murder and crime rates are.
I think this fact right here is one of the main reasons of why people in America are against the legalization. I found that there are many physicians against the legalization of marijuana. In my research I found that not one of the American Health Organizations acknowledges marijuana for medicinal purposes. They recommend the synthetic drugs so you do not inhale harmful carcinogens.
They say that people with an already weak state of health could do more damage than good because smoking marijuana weakens your immune system and people with an weak immune system is taking a risk that is far too great. When it comes to how I feel about the legalization of marijuana I am completely stuck in the middle of the road. I can see how legalizing it would help out the economy. I understand that some sick people benefit from the affects of smoking it. I do agree that if marijuana was legal that it would create hundreds of thousands of jobs. On the other hand the risk of making it so easily accessible to young America is nerve racking to me.
I couldnt picture my son at age ten or eleven lighting up a joint. If America made it legal this could very much so become the truth. I dont think it should become normality to want to get high. I think that the government should just let the issues stand as it is. People are going to sell and buy marijuana regardless of what the laws are. I think that there are more important needs to deal with in America like poverty, crime, and the war in Iraq.
I think that things have been just fine with the laws that we have now, tampering with those laws are going to upset one side or the other. America is already divided enough. Our law makers dont need to add fuel to the raging fire.
Free research essays on topics related to: easily accessible, side effects, crime rates, legalization of marijuana, smoke marijuana
Research essay sample on Legalization Of Marijuana Smoke Marijuana
