Essay/Term paper: Marijuana

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Alcohol and Drugs

Marijuana


To toke or not to toke that is the question. Whether tis nobler in the
mind to suffer the slings and arrows of society or succumb to popular opinion
and legalize Marijuana. Marijuana is a cure for anorexia as well as glaucoma.
Marijuana is even a helping factor for relieving some symptoms of A.I.D.S.
Still the government of our nation has Marijuana classified as a Division I drug.
Which means it serves no medical use and does in no way benefit society. The
studies outdated and scientifically proven to be incorrect still remain beliefs
of our government.
Supporters of the legalization of Marijuana have many scientifically
proven facts that point to the fact Marijuana should be legalized. Marijuana
legalization would prove to be beneficial in a number of areas. The first bonus
to legalizing Marijuana is its medical uses. Marijuana stimulates the immune
system and serves as a cure for glaucoma. Marijuana helps people with AIDS
retain and eat food.
Marijuana use also has intellectual benefits. Marijuana increases alpha
wave activity in the brain. The alpha waves are associated with creativity.
This creativity is potentially the foundation of literary and musical
revelation. Bob Marley was one of the most influential musical composers of all
times. Marley's music has persevered throughout the years. He openly admitted,
on many occasions, to smoking marijuana before he wrote and composed songs.
Marley's influence is global. His nickname of "the Legend" has distinguished
him from many other musicians. His global fame separates him from all other
musicians. Many people have attributed Marley's creative genius to his use of
marijuana.
Socially, marijuana is better from the standpoint of addiction.
Marijuana is less addictive than tobacco. Essentially marijuana is neither as
physically nor mentally addictive as Nicotine. Another social benefit of
marijuana is its not cancer causing when compared to legal drugs like caffeine
or Cigarettes. These are only a few of the reasons that Marijuana legal.
To really get into the legalization issue not only do you have to look
into the facts of the case but also the employment effects it would have.
Granted there are no hard facts that say marijuana needs to be legal (or
illegal). If a person tries pictures the number of jobs a single American
field of Marijuana would create, they find it's an innumerable number. The job's
cigarettes create through different aspects of preparation such as growth,
harvest, manufacturing, distributing and selling, makes it is easy to see the
widespread opportunities legalizing Marijuana would create. Marijuana if
legalized would create an infinite number of jobs. These jobs would drastically
improve the unemployment rate that is rampaging America now.
The economy will also benefit from the legalization of Marijuana. If
the government sets taxes high they can insure themselves a large profit from
the sales of marijuana. This would make marijuana a cash crop. A cash crop
used for exportation as well as internal use. The prices could be as severe as
the cigarettes' prices now are. This would cause a great boost in the economy.

The legalization of Marijuana would also help save the environment.
People could stop cutting down trees in search of paper and rope because hemp,
the stem or trunk of a marijuana plant is the best maker of paper in the world.
Not to mention the fact that Hemp rope is close to the strongest natural rope in
the entire world. This would enable paper and rope companies to invest money
into the growth of marijuana for industrial use.
The last facet of this debate on legalizing Marijuana comes when one
looks at the widespread use of Marijuana in our society. Marijuana is one of
the most widely used illegal substances in the world. In a recent survey
performed in a suburban high school over 80% of the graduating class admitted to
smoking pot. While over 80% may be a remarkable high statistic the survey also
concluded that the under class students were also smoking their fair share of
marijuana. The survey showed an increasing percentage of pot smokers (tokers)
as they advanced through school.
The facts about Marijuana are simple. If examined, the facts about
Marijuana's potential beneficial possibilities to American society become
apparent. The social, intellectual, economical, commercial, medical, and
environmental benefits it would create if legalized are enormous and potentially
a great help to our country. The supporters of the legalization of
marijuana can not fathom how or why America as a country is denying our citizens
the benefits of this helpful drug.. Supporters believe that the government is
giving a drug that has NEVER killed anyone a bad reputation. The facts that the
supporters of Marijuana use are indisputable and unmistakably correct. These
facts that they portray are driving America into legalizing Marijuana. The
legalization of marijuana in Arizona for medical purposes was only a small
step forward yet it pleased marijuana activists. Marijuana activists feel it
was the first step to total legalization of Marijuana.
Regardless of the marijuana activist's case, the American public has to
realize that Marijuana is a drug. Marijuana damages your body and your mind.
The laws in America are simple in accordance to marijuana. Marijuana is an
illegal substance that which you cannot have possession of regardless of age.
The scientists and politicians refer to many aspects of Marijuana in determining
their basis for it being illegal. The scientists stand by six main points when
referring to sustaining Marijuana as an illegal substance.
The first point is that Marijuana causes brain damage. There have been
many studies done on the cause of Marijuana on the brain. The most prolific
however was the experiment by Dr. Robert Heath, who in the 1970's tested
Marijuana on laboratory monkeys. Dr. Heath concluded that Marijuana caused
brain damage to those who smoke pot. This is a cherished point by Marijuana
protesters. They cling to this point as scientific reason Marijuana should
remain illegal.
Another reason is that Marijuana has been proven by Dr. Gabriel Nahas to
be detrimental to the reproductive system. Dr. Nahas has isolated different
tissues and cells of various animals in determining marijuana's harm through
laboratory testing. Dr. Nahas injected these cells with near lethal amounts of
cannabinoids. The excess of cannabinoids reasoned to be the cause of the
study's being rejected by the scientific community but yet many people hold them
to fact.
A major fight against Marijuana is that is a "gateway" drug. This means
that the scientists and the other head honcho's of our society believe
legalizing Marijuana would cause for more hard drug use. This is a statistic
that is unverifiable but yet still holds its claims. By looking at the
statistics you would see that many of the cocaine users as well as the crack
users and heroin addicts started off by smoking marijuana. This is a true and
verifiably scary statistic. This point is a major setback for the Marijuana
activists. The government spends millions of dollars on agencies like the Drug
Enforcement Agency to stop the hard and soft drug dealers. The legalization of
Marijuana would cause such a varied effect on such agencies. The
legalization of marijuana would cause an instant stop to marijuana offenses,
but yet potentially skyrocket the hard drug crimes. This is a frightful thought
for the government to comprehend. The government believes that there is no
reason to give har d drugs an opening through which they could take over
society.
The government believes that the legalization of marijuana would cause
even more death and destruction on the highways. Alcohol is a major cause for
accidents on the streets and if marijuana becomes legal it would just cause for
an increase of destruction on roads. Marijuana brings people into a hypnotic
state where the reaction time slows and likelihood of falling asleep is raised.
The government links marijuana to almost as many accidents as alcohol. This
again is a scary statistic in which so many human lives are potentially in
danger by the legalization of Marijuana. Those who are against the
legalization of marijuana believe that there is no reason that they should allow
more dangerous drivers on the road.
The fifth point that antagonists of Marijuana bring on is that Marijuana
impairs short term memory. This impairment of memory is a sin in this time of
education and computers. The government strives to educate its young citizens.
Why would the government listen to any reason to why it should make a law that
could potentially make the American society forgetful? The government supports
education and will not hinder its success. The forgetfulness that Marijuana
would cause is potentially a social slam. The tendency for a pot head to forget
names, schedules, thoughts, ideas and numbers are so high that many people
believe it socially dangerous to legalize.
Finally, when inhaled, marijuana brings in thousands of chemicals that
cause cancer and other disease's. The thought of putting over one thousand
different potentially life threatening chemicals into you body is reason enough
to keep Marijuana illegal. The American society is beginning to realize that
there are more chemicals in marijuana than there are in coffee and cigarettes.
This statistic regarding the number of possibly harmful chemicals found in
marijuana show with graphic nature the possible effects that marijuana posse.
Through the previously stated facts, statistics, and theories of
marijuana's potential effects on society is what keep's marijuana illegal.
These worries about impairment of memory, thousands of different chemicals in
marijuana, carnage on the highways, marijuana causing brain damage, marijuana
damages the reproductive system, and marijuana being a gateway drug, is the
cornerstones for the argument against of the legalization of marijuana. The
government stands by these points and does not see it fit to jeopardize the
American society with the troubles that a drug as marijuana potentially can
cause. The government is cracking down on cigarettes along with other drugs and
is hardly in the frame of mind to let what they believe to be a potentially more
harmful drug than cigarettes become legal.
Regarding the government's argument, it is still obvious that the
illegality of marijuana stems to old conservative morals and ideas long since
proven to be wrong by scientific study. The cornerstones in the anti-
marijuana activist's argument against the legalization of marijuana are full of
loop holes and word tricks. The activists manage to hide the truth by playing
with words. The truth is that marijuana is less harmless and causes fewer
permanent dangers than cigarettes, alcohol and caffeine. The activists have
twisted the scientists words into a positive argument for their benefit. The
major argument's state, Marijuana causes brain damage and Marijuana damages the
reproductive system. These arguments are invalid. When the individual doctors
did the study, they did not do it on humans. When the tests were done on humans,
the tests showed no signs of brain damage or reproduction system damage.
The fear that Marijuana's potential legalization would cause widespread
use of hard drugs is questionable as well. A person can make a comparison
between the Netherlands and the United States although the two countries have
an entirely different society. When the Netherlands passed the legalization of
Marijuana act, the hard drug use as well as crimes related with hard drugs
decreased.
The anti-marijuana activists really twisted the statistics when they
reported on the damage high drivers would have on the highway. They failed to
point out that eighty-five percent of the people in a marijuana related
accidents were legally drunk. The counter argument for the marijuana activists
does not say that when you are high you are able to drive. The argument simply
states that you are eighty-five percent more likely to get in an accident when
drunk and high than when you are solely high. Regardless of the percentages
the Marijuana activists discourage driving high.
The fifth argument portrayed by the government is that Marijuana impairs
short term memory. This is true but misleading. When the certain individual
who suffered the memory loss stops smoking marijuana the memory loss goes away.
The condition of short-term memory loss is not in any way permanent as the anti-
marijuana activists want you to believe. This means that smoking marijuana has
no permanent side affects in terms of mind or bodily functions, but yet the
government says that it still harms you when you smoke it. The government
refers to the thousands of chemicals in marijuana you still do inhale when you
smoke it. The government fails to mention that every cup of coffee has eight
hundred volatile chemicals. After testing a mere twenty-one of the chemicals
in coffee studies found that sixteen of them were cancerous. However, coffee
considered fairly safe is legal.
Investigating each fact of the two cases dealing with marijuana it
seems that marijuana should be legal The legalization activists seem to have
the answer to almost every fact presented by the anti-marijuana activists. The
American public needs to look on these facts as they formulate their personal
opinion. This debate is too important to let uneducated people decide the fate
of others. America needs to get rid of the old stereotypes of marijuana and
formulate their opinion on facts not fancy.

Bibliography Page

Hager Paul. Marajuana Myths. Not published, :ICLU Drug Task Force

Wallace J.M.. "Peripheral Blood Lymphocyte Subpopulations and Mitogen
Responsiveness in Tobacco and Marijuana Smokers" Journal of Psychoactive
Drugs.:(1988)