The Legalization of Marijuana Essay
The legalization of marijuana is one of the most controversial issues that evoke the heat public debate in the US. On the one hand, there are many proponents, who believe that marijuana should be legalized because the legalization of marijuana will not cause any harm and will not lead to the fast growth of the number of drug addicts. On the contrary, the legalization may bring many positive effects, including the breakthrough in the development of medicine due to the unique properties of marijuana. On the other hand, there are many opponents of the legalization of marijuana, who believe that the legalization of marijuana will make the drug available to the mass consumption that will trigger the outburst of drug addiction as the threat to the public health of the US in terms of the nation. In this regard, both parties have their arguments to enhance their standpoint, but the position of proponents of the legalization of marijuana nationwide in the US is stronger because benefits of legalization of marijuana will outweigh its costs and negative effects. To put it more precisely, marijuana should be legalized nationwide because it is safer to consume than alcohol, it will increase the US economy’s revenue, and most importantly, its unbelievable medical and health benefits may help many people to cope with serious health problems and open the way for new discoveries in the field of pharmacology and health care.The Legalization of Marijuana Essay
Marijuana is a drug which is legally banned. However, today, marijuana can be used for medical purposes in the treatment of patients. Therefore, the legalization of medical marijuana becomes an important issue. However, the problem of the legalization of medical marijuana is a persistent problem because the legalization of medical marijuana may have both positive and negative effects. Therefore, marijuana is a drug that naturally leads to the development of addiction in case of a long-run consumption of the drug on the regular basis. At the same time, marijuana is traditionally classified as light drug, while some researchers (Nestler & Malenka 81) argue that the dependence on smoking cigarettes may be stronger than addiction to marijuana. Moreover, tobacco and alcohol have the same mechanism of the development of addiction, but they are legalized and are sold openly and freely with some limitations, which though may be applied to marijuana as well.
The major benefit from the legalization of marijuana is the potential medical use of marijuana and medical studies that may use marijuana to find its full potential in the treatment of serious health problems. The legalization of medical marijuana will provide health care services to patients with such health problems, such as Alzheimer disease and other health problems. The use of medical marijuana may be helpful in treatment of many serious conditions in patients. Health care professionals (Nestler and Malenka, 81) insist that the legalization of medical marijuana is essential for the improvement of the quality of health care services and treatment of patients.The Legalization of Marijuana Essay
The legalization of medical marijuana can prevent patients and health care professionals using medical marijuana from legal liability. Today, marijuana, including medical marijuana is illegal. Therefore, health care professionals cannot use medical marijuana in their practice. Otherwise, they become liable to the legal prosecution for the use of medical marijuana. The legalization of medical marijuana will tackle this problem and health care professionals will have the legal ground for using medical marijuana for the treatment of patients. Some researchers (Mcdonough, 53) point out that medical marijuana can have a positive impact on the treatment of patients with serious health problems.
Along with the legalization of marijuana for the medical use, the legalization of marijuana many also bring economic benefits. The production of marijuana may become a profitable industry that will also bring considerable revenues to the federal and state budgets. At the moment, marijuana brings considerable benefits to criminals, who cultivate and sell marijuana illegally. They pay no taxes and all the money earned on the production and sale of marijuana remain untaxed at the moment. The legalization of marijuana will also stimulate the legalization of the production and sale of marijuana. The new industry that does exist at the moment illegally will appear and start operating legally. The legalization of the marijuana production industry will bring new taxes and increase revenues of the federal and state budgets. These funds may be used for social programs, including programs that aim at the prevention of drug addiction and helping drug addicts to cope with their problems. In addition, the new industry will bring new jobs since people working in the industry will be officially employed. The growth of the industry will create new jobs and contribute to the growth of business activities because the invention of new medicines will stimulate the growth of the pharmaceutical industry and related industries. Therefore, the legalization of marijuana is likely to bring positive economic effects to the US.
Furthermore, the consumption of marijuana is, in a way, safer than the consumption of alcohol or tobacco. Some researchers (Mcdonough 27) argue that the period of the development of addiction from marijuana is longer than the period of the development of addiction to tobacco or alcohol. Tobacco and alcohol also have a negative impact on human health and their impact may be even more dangerous than the impact of marijuana. Moreover, in case of alcohol, it may has a negative impact on the social environment of the individual consuming alcohol. People consuming marijuana are less likely to become as socially dangerous as people consuming alcohol. For example, some studies (Hickenlooper 246) show that driving under the impact of alcohol is more dangerous than driving under the impact of marijuana. This is why marijuana is even less dangerous compared to legal substances like alcohol and tobacco which are legalized but have more negative effects on consumers and also trigger the development of addiction in a long-run perspective.The Legalization of Marijuana Essay
On the other hand, the legalization of medical marijuana raises a bunch of problems. For instance, the availability of medical marijuana after legalization raises the problem of misuse of marijuana and aggravation of the problem of drug addiction. Medical marijuana may be used as a drug because law enforcement agencies cannot always control the use medical marijuana. The risk of misuse of medical marijuana is high and law enforcement agencies oppose to the legalization of medical marijuana (Wolf, 150). The legalization of medical marijuana raises the problem of the control over the spread of marijuana and its cultivation. The legalization of medical marijuana can lead to using medical marijuana as a pretext for the cultivation of marijuana, while marijuana may be used as drug sold to drug addicts. Law enforcement agencies may face difficulties with the prosecution of individuals growing medical marijuana as well as health care professionals, who misuse medical marijuana.
Furthermore, there is always a risk of overdose or the excessive use of medical marijuana by patients in the course of the treatment of their health problem. For instance, patients can use more medical marijuana than their doctor recommends. Moreover, in a long-run perspective, patients using medical marijuana may develop drug addiction. They can slip from medical marijuana to illegal marijuana and other drugs.The Legalization of Marijuana Essay
In addition, the legalization of marijuana may provoke a considerable rise of drug addiction because the number of drug addicts will increase after the legalization of medical marijuana. Marijuana may become available to drug addicts. Drug addicts may get access to marijuana and receive prescription of medical marijuana from health care professionals. However, such assumption emerges from conventional biases and stereotypes concerning marijuana rather than from real facts. The development of the addiction to marijuana takes quite a long time. Moreover, researchers (Walsh 439) argue that about a third of adult Americans have once tried marijuana and, at the moment, marijuana is ranked third as the recreational drug after alcohol and tobacco. Nevertheless, the third of Americans, who have consumed marijuana, has not become drug addicts. Naturally, there are certain risks, but the majority of consumers use marijuana as recreational drug and they consume it irregularly. In such a situation, the risk of the development of drug addiction is extremely low.
At the same time, opponents of the legalization of marijuana argue that this step will have a negative impact on the US economy because the development of the drug addiction and the growth of the number of drug addicts will decrease the productivity of Americans and increase costs spent on the treatment and prevention of the development of drug addiction to marijuana. However, this argument is also inconsistent in legal terms. At the moment, the US spends millions of US dollars on the struggle against the illegal marijuana. Law enforcement agencies spend huge financial resources to struggle against the production and illegal sales of marijuana, but the legalization of marijuana would allow law enforcement agencies to concentrate their efforts on more serious problems and more serious drugs, drug traffic and related issues, instead of struggling against marijuana production and sales. Today, costs of the struggle against illegal marijuana outweigh costs of the legalization of marijuana, while the legalization will also bring positive effects to the economic development of the US in a long-run perspective. Moreover, successful scientific discoveries in medicine based on the use of marijuana can put American companies on leading positions in the world market.The Legalization of Marijuana Essay
Thus, taking into account all above mentioned, it is important to place emphasis on the fact that the legalization of marijuana nationwide raises both arguments for and against the legalization. The legalization of marijuana can bring positive effects for the treatment of patients, who need marijuana as medication, for example. Also the legalization of marijuana nationwide will have a positive impact on the US economy, it will create new jobs and give rise to the large and potentially profitable industry. On the other hand, the legalization of marijuana can increase drug addiction and have other negative effects but such negative effects are inconsistent compared to benefits of the legalization of marijuana because, at the moment, the consumption of marijuana as recreational drug is high, but no one pays taxes for the production and sale of marijuana. This is why the legalization of marijuana is a reasonable step to increase revenues from the marijuana industry nationwide, to create new jobs, and to make new discoveries to treat serious health problems.
Works Cited:
Hickenlooper, G.J.W. “Experimenting with Pot: The State of Colorado’s Legalization of Marijuana”. Milbank Quarterly. 92 (2), 2014, 243–249
Mcdonough, J.R. “Marijuana on the Ballot.” Policy Review, 2000, 1-55.
Nestler, E. and Malenka, R. “The Addicted Brain”. Scientific American, Mar. 2004, 78-83.
Walsh, C. “Drugs and human rights: private palliatives, sacramental freedoms and cognitive liberty”, The International Journal of Human Rights, 14 (3), 2010, 425–441
Wolf, M.. “Addiction: Making the Connection Between Behavioral Changes and Neuronal Plasticity,” in Specific Pathways Molecular Interventions, 2, 2002, 146-157.The Legalization of Marijuana Essay