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ARRoGANT CoURiERS WiTH ESSaYS
Grade Level: Type of Work Subject/Topic is on:
[ ]6-8 [ ]Class Notes [Full Report on Pot and ]
[x]9-10 [ ]Cliff Notes [The Legalization thereof]
[ ]11-12 [x]Essay/Report [ ]
[ ]College [ ]Misc [ ]
Dizzed: 07/94 # of Words:2818 School: ? State: ?
<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>><3E><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>><3E><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>>Chop Here><3E><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>><3E><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>><3E><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>><3E><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>
Legalization of Marijuana
What Is Marijuana
Marijuana, a drug obtained from dried and crumpled parts of the
ubiquitous hemp plant Canabis sativa (or Cannabis indica). Smoked by
rolling in tobacco paper or placing in a pipe. It is also otherwise
consumed worldwide by an estimated 200,000,000 persons for pleasure, an
escape from reality, or relaxation. Marijuana is known by a variety of
names such as kif (Morocco), dagga (South Africa), and bhang (India).
Common in the United States, marijuana is called pot, grass, weed, Mary
Jane, bones, etc.
The main active principle of cannabis is tetrahydrocannabinol. The
potency of its various forms ranges from a weak drink consumed in India to
the highly potent hashish. The following consists of pure cannabis resin.
Marijuana is not a narcotic and is not mentally or physically
addicting drug. One can use mild cannabis preparations such as marijuana
in small amounts for years without physical or mental deterioration.
Marijuana serves to diminish inhibitions and acts as an euphoriant. Only
once in a while will it produce actual hallucinations. More potent
preparations of cannabis such as hashish can induce psychedelic
experiences identical to those observed after ingestion of potent
hallucinogens such as LSD.
Some who smoke marijuana feel no effects; others feel relaxed and
sociable, tend to laugh a great deal, and have a profound loss of the sense
of time. Characteristically, those under the influence of marijuana show
incoordination and impaired ability to perform skilled acts. Still others
experience a wide range of emotions including feelings of perception, fear,
insanity, happiness, love and anger. Although marijuana is not addicting,
it may be habituating. The individual may become psychologically rather
than physically dependent on the drug.
Legalization Of Marijuana
Those who urge the legalization of marijuana maintain the drug is
entirely safe. The available data suggested, this is not so, Marijuana
occasionally produces acute panic reactions or even transient psychoses.
Furthermore, a person driving under the influence of marijuana is a danger
to themselves and others. If smoked heavily and a great deal of
consistency, its use has been clearly associated with mental breakdown. In
many persons who smoke chronically, the drug reinforces passivity and
reduces goal-directed, constructive activity. The chronic use of pure resin
(hashish) has been associated both with mental deterioration and
criminality.
One of the major complications of marijuana use is the tendency on the
part of some users to progress to more dangerous drugs. Users in
economically deprived areas usually go on to heroin, whereas more affluent
individuals tend to move from marijuana to more potent hallucinogens such
as LSD.
There is no established medical use for marijuana or any other
cannabis preparation. In the United States, its use is a crime and the
laws governing marijuana are similar to those regulating heroin. Many
authorities now urge that the laws be modified to mitigate the penalties
relating to conviction on marijuana possession charges.
The Case For Legalizing Marijuana Use
The United States stands apart from many nations in its deep respect
for the individual. The strong belief in personal freedom appears early in
the nation's history.
The Declaration of Independence speaks of every citizen's right to
"life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." The Constitution and Bill
of Rights go further, making specific guarantees. They forbid the
government to make unwarranted entry into dwelling places. They forbid
seizure of personal property, except when very clear reasons are approved
by the courts. They allow every citizen to remain silent in court when
accused of a crime. Legal decisions have extended these rights, so that
every citizen may feel safe, secure, and sheltered from public view in the
privacy of his or her home.
The Right To Privacy
In recent years, Americans have referred to privacy as one of the
basic human rights, something to be claimed by anyone, anywhere. United
States citizens feel strongly about this and often tell other countries
that they must honor their people's claims to privacy and personal freedom.
Foreign leaders often disagree. They resent what they deem arrogant
meddling by the United States. Leaders of the Soviet Union, for example,
regard individual privacy as trivial when compared to the needs of the
state.
If the United States is to be persuasive in promoting freedom in other
parts of the world, it must respect the privacy of its own citizens.
Sometimes it is hard to do this because what goes on in people's private
lives may seem offensive. But, according to U.S. traditions, there is a
strong case to be made against legislating the private behavior of adults,
so long as that behavior does not in turn violate the rights of others.
Some people feel that this reasoning should hold also for marijuana.
A person who smokes at home is not doing injury. The marijuana user is
indulging in a minor pleasure over which that government should have no
jurisdiction. It is quite clear from survey data that most people do not
become physically dependent on marijuana. The majority use it as others
use alcohol - to relax occasionally and to indulge a festive mood. How can
a mild intoxicant, taken less than once a day by most users, be seen as a
public threat?
Even those who are "hooked", or psychologically dependent upon their
habit, should not be penalized by the law. Some people find any compulsive
and unproductive behavior disgusting. But that is not a reason for
outlawing it. Consider eating, many people develop compulsive habits about
food. They talk about it frequently. They spend many of their waking
hours anticipating, planning, obtaining, and consuming food. This may be
unattractive. It certainly is not productive and it can be harmful if the
"food addict" is over weight. But there are no laws to prevent food
addiction. If Congress tried to forbid the eating of ice cream sundaes or
cotton candy, many people would be outraged, others would simply laugh.
The same sort of argument is raised by some people with respect to
marijuana. Even compulsive marijuana smoking by an adult is not so
offensive that it injured neighbors or requires government intervention.
The attempt to use the law to tell people what they may and may not consume
at home is an arrogant invasion of personal privacy.
Protecting the Drug User's Physical Health
Sometimes it is said that the law must protect the drug user from
himself. The argument takes two forms. One has to do with the damage a
drug may do to a person's health and the other with the individual's power
of self-control or freedom. First consider the health effects.
By any reasonable standard, marijuana is a mild drug and as for
overdosing, there is no scientifically valid evidence of anyone dying of an
overdose of marijuana smoke. Of course, it is possible to commit suicide by
consuming large amounts of marijuana. But it is possible to die by eating
too much salt. Salt is not illegal. Aspirin kills by overdose and that's
legal. Many people die by drinking too much alcohol, an addictive drug.
It too is legal. Why is marijuana considered more dangerous?
Protecting Society from Marijuana
One argument made against the legalization of marijuana is that it
damages not only the user but innocent bystanders. This argument, like the
one about protecting the user, has two parts. The first deals with
physical injury and the second with spiritual health.
The main physical threat to society is that users under the influence
of a drug with crash a car or airplane, or lose control in some way and do
harm. People who have recently smoked marijuana do show signs of
clumsiness and disorientation. They should not operate machinery in this
condition. One study estimates that alcohol plays a part in 55% of all
fatal highway crashes. Marijuana may present similar risks, but at present
there are no reliable data on its importance in accidents.
According to John Stuart Mill's writings, the government should try to
control only the aspects of drug use that injure society. In this vein, it
makes sense to have laws against driving under the influence of marijuana
similar to those governing driving under the influence of alcohol. In
other words, driving while on marijuana should be outlawed by not the use
of marijuana itself.
Some people believe that marijuana threatens society in a more
insidious way. They argue that it drains workers' energy and makes them
less productive. This in turn lowers the vitality of the economy,
depressing the overall quality of life. In addition, drug use- including
marijuana smoking- is seen as a plague on society that must be isolated.
This disease theory holds that legalizing marijuana would make it more
widely available and that this would tend to increase its use as well as
the use of all kinds of drugs. One of the detriments of tolerating drug
use, according to this theory, is that is encourages the use of more and
different drugs.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse;s 1984 report to Congress cited
no evidence to support the idea that drug use is hurting economic
productivity. It said: "The fact is, very little is known about the
complex relationship which undoubtedly exists between drug abuse, worker
performance, and productivity, or the lack thereof.... Simply put, the
number of unanswered questions currently far outnumbers the available
answers."
Nor is there any strong evidence that legalizing marijuana would
increase use of the drug. In fact, there is some evidence suggesting that
drug use under a relaxed legal system might not increase at all. Many
states have removed the penalties for marijuana possession that were on the
books in the 1950s and 1960s. The change occurred during a reform movement
that swept the nation in the mid 1970s. Yet in spite of the less stringent
laws, studies show that the use of marijuana in the affected states has,
after an initial increase, declined. Although marijuana became easier to
use (from a legal standpoint), it also became less popular.
The Failure of Prohibition
Examining the U.S. policy on marijuana on the basis of performance,
one must judge it a miserable failure. The number of people who have
smoked the drug at least once has grown from an uncounted few in the 1950s,
when some of the strictest antimarijuana laws were imposed, to nearly 50
million today. During this period the federal government has made steadily
increasing efforts to stop its production and importation, and seizures of
marijuana in the ports has grown steadily. Elaborate and costly
international police campaigns have been launched, and the number of drug
arrests in the United States has increased. The federal budget for drug
enforcement reflected in several agencies has gone above $1 billion a year.
And yet the illegal trade in marijuana continues. Supplies are so
plentiful that the price has actually come down.
The response has been to redouble police efforts and hope that things
will change. The result is that more money is spent on a failed policy,
creating an ever-growing army of drug enforcers dedicated to keeping the
policy alive. The illegal market for marijuana grows even faster than the
police force, however, because the drug users are willing to pay more to
get what they want than taxpayers are willing to pay to stop it. The drug
police enjoy their work and are not going to quit. And why should they as
long as their salaries are paid? The admission that the marijuana laws
have failed will have to come from someone else- not from the police.
Marijuana is a common weed, easier to produce than the bathtub gin of
the Prohibition years. It is not surprising that thousands of "dealers"
have been drawn into the marijuana business. Despite the great risks they
face, including bullying by other dealers and the threat of arrest, they
are attracted by the profits. The law cannot change the economics of this
market because it operates outside the law. All the police can do is to
make it risky to get into the marijuana business. This is supposed to
drive out the less courageous dealers, reduce the amount of marijuana
available, and inflate prices. But even by this measure, the police effort
has failed. As mentioned earlier, the price of marijuana is declining.
There are several ways in which the policy on marijuana imposed a
burden on society. The obvious one is the cost of supporting the federal
enforcement effort. Aside from this, there is a hard-to-measure but
significant impact on society because the law creates a huge criminal
class. It includes not just dealers who are out for profit but a much
larger group of users. Consider three major penalties for having such a
large criminal class.
Some Benefits of Legalizing Marijuana
By lifting the ban on marijuana use and treating it like other drugs
such as tobacco and alcohol, the nation would gain immediate and long-term
benefits. This change in the law would greatly improve the quality of life
for many people. Victims of glaucoma and those needing antinausea
treatment, for example, would find marijuana easily available. If the
medical advantages that are claimed for marijuana are real, many more
patients would benefit. Research, which has been slowed in the past by the
government's reluctance to frant exemptions to the marijuana laws, would be
easier to conduct. The cloud of suspicion would disappear, and doctors
could get on with investigating marijuana's medical uses with out fear of
controversy. It might become possible to discuss the dangers of marijuana
use without getting caught up in a policy debate.
Meanwhile, the black market would disappear overnight. Some
arrangement would be made to license the production of marijuana
cigarettes. Thousands of dealers would be put out of business, and a
secret part of the economy would come into the open. It is difficult to
say whether this change would reduce crime because criminals would probably
continue to sell other drugs. But it would have an impact on the amount of
money flowing through criminal channels, and this might weaken organized
crime.
Lastly, the federal budget would benefit in two ways, Federal revenues
would increase, because marijuana cigarettes would be taxed at the point of
sale. The companies that make the cigarettes would also pay income taxes,
adding to the federal coffers. Seconds, there would be a reduction in the
amount spent on law enforcement efforts to apprehend and prosecute users
and sellers of marijuana. The drug enforcement authorities might reduce
their budget requests, or, more likely, focus more intensely on hard drugs
and violent crimes. The courts would be relieved of hearing some drug
cases, as well.
The most important gain would be in the quality of government. The
sorts of temptations and opportunities that lead to corruption would be
significantly minimized. The illogical pattern of law enforcement, which
now treats marijuana as more dangerous than alcohol, would end. It would
set more achievable goals for law enforcement, and this would lend strength
and credibility to the government.
Alcohol vs. Marijuana
1: Over 100 thousand deaths annually are directly linked to
acute alcohol poisoning.
2: In 4,000 years of recorded history, no one has ever died
from a pot overdose.
3: Alcohol causes Server physical and psychology dependence.
4: Alcohol is reported to cause temporary and permanent
damage to all major organs of the body.
5: Cannabis is a much less violent provoking substance then alcohol.
* With over 60 million people using cannabis in the U.S. Today our laws and
law makers should view it under the same light. As they do alcohol.
Marijuana Status
1970: 11% of high school seniors said they were using
marijuana every day.
1975: About 27% said they had used marijuana sometime in the
previous month.
1978: The monthly users grew up to 37% then in 1986 dropped to 23%.
1979: 12 to 17 year olds reported using it within the last month has
dropped from a high point of 17% and in 1987 dropped to 12%.
Bibliography
1. Adams, Leon; "Marihuana". Encyclopedia International. Vol 11.
p365-347. LEXICON PUBLICATIONS. Philippines, 1979
2. Lorimer, Lawrence; "Marijuana" Encyclopedia Year Book 1993. p214-215.
GROLIER INCORPORATED. Canada, 1993
3. Snyder, Solomon. The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Drugs. Series 2.
LEGALIZATION: A DEBATE. CHELSEA HOUSE PUBLISHERS. New York, 1988