Intro
This plant has called been the Devil’s lettuce, Mary Jane, dope, hemp, weed, or simply pot. These are the many aliases to one of the most infamous plants in the western world. To the common citizen, the plant is named Marijuana or Cannabis. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), behind alcohol and tobacco, marijuana is considered as the third most popular recreational substance not only in the United States, but also in many parts of the world. The idea that segregates marijuana from the other two is its legality. This proposal will draw the most focal arguments about marijuana that justifies the reason for making it legal for recreational use. In the past decades, marijuana was frowned upon by the society because of the myths that surrounds its use. However, several debates have shown the light to the issue because of the rising awareness about marijuana's questionable reputation. More and more people are now accepting the idea of legalizing marijuana because of the factors that constitutes a valid argument of its legality. Recently, marijuana legalization is no longer an abstract notion. In the United States, there ten states that have legalized the substance for recreational use, including California. While marijuana has been viewed as dangerously addictive, the legalization for recreational use of marijuana can greatly benefit the public when under regulation. The areas of concern whether law officials have the strong grounds to approve the recreational use of marijuana due to health benefits, economic value, environmental factors, and sociophysiological significance will be explored in order to make a strong stand to support its legalization.
History
Cannabis is a very prominent and controversial topic in modern society. Although many negative claims have been made about cannabis in recent report, a change in perception has been rippling throughout the nation. Unfortunately, the truths are under heavy criticism due to the stereotypical view of what people view as the typical “pot head”. This skewed perception of a lazy couch potato is the result of over seventy years of American propaganda and misinformation spread by officials with hidden agenda who needed cannabis illegal for their own personal gains. Western medicine embraced marijuana’s medical properties during the mid-1800s, and by the beginning of the 20th century, physicians had published numerous papers in the Western medical literature recommending its use for a variety of disorders. These medical conditions include pain relief, nausea, glaucoma, and neurological disorders. It is also used as a powerful appetite stimulant which helps patients that had cancer patients going through chemotherapy. Today, thousands of patients are able to use marijuana as an effective method of treatment for their ailments. This was possible because state governments across the country have acknowledged cannabis’ effective healing properties and legalized its consumption for medicinal purposes with the consent of a licensed physician. However, these patients are at the mercy of the federal government and their laws.
Alternatives Uses and Impact
One of the biggest positive impacts that the legalization of marijuana would produce is reintroduction of production of hemp plants into our agriculture, and more importantly in current times, our economy. Hemp is a sativa species of the marijuana plant that is grown for commercial use. In addition, hemp contains less that 1% THC and causes no intoxicating effects when smoked. From a commercial standpoint, hemp provides many advantages over a great deal of current resources that the United States utilizes. The most common use for hemp is in the production of textile-based products. Hemp fibers are considerably strong so that makes it ideal for the production of essential products like paper, fabric, and rope. Hemp produces a higher yield than cotton and has a growing cycle of only 90 days instead of 150. Hemp seeds provide more protein than soy, and according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, “they can produce four times as much paper from an acre of marijuana than an acre of trees; plus, marijuana can be harvested at a quicker rate than trees”. Hemp holds an advantage, because it can be produced more frequently than cotton. In today’s economic situation, hemp would be a huge revenue creator. Currently, the United States has to import all of its hemp from countries like China and Canada, where there are no laws banning the plant. Not only would domestic hemp production stop the circuiting of American dollars into foreign farmers’ income, but it would create a mass amount of jobs for many unemployed Americans. In these times of chaos, as a nation that need jobs and with the need for more domestic industry, hemp farming can accomplish this feat. Currently there has been observable damage that humans are causing to the environment and with this realization that people cannot rely solely on fossil fuels anymore. With hemp being a major contributor to the alternative fuel movement, it is a surprise on why it’s still illegal to grow it. Because of the recent focus on marijuana legalization, many people are looking back to why cannabis was criminalized in the first place.
Perceptions
Contrary to popular belief, the reason marijuana was made illegal had nothing to do with health issues. The real reason was simply American business. A major factor to the criminalization of marijuana was racism. In the 1930’s and Great Depression, there was a significant influx of Mexican people immigrating into the United States. Unfortunately, just like modern times, in the 1930s these immigrants were not greeted with positive views from the public. Just like they are today, Mexican immigrants were accused of stealing jobs from “honest, hard-working Americans.” Many of these immigrants smoked a Mexican weed called “marihuana.” Marihuana was not cannabis. It wasn’t until William Randolph Hearst used the name for the smokable form of cannabis in his skewed newspaper articles that people started to associate Mexicans with the drug, too. The American people supported making the drug illegal because if the Mexican immigrants who were caught consuming it, they would be deported back to their country of origin.
As a child growing up, the media has constantly told of the dangers of drugs, and since it is illegal, marijuana is an illicit drug and therefore it is dangerous. The “dangers” of marijuana can be traced back to the 1930’s and the negative propaganda that surrounded it to appease private interests and reinforce racial stereotypes; never on actual imminent dangers to your health. In the 1970s, Dr. Robert Heath of Tulane University conducted clinical trials in which lab monkeys were given marijuana joints daily to test for harmful side effects. After 90 days, majority of the monkeys started to die and the university reported that the monkeys had died from a declination of brain cells and they concluded that the ingestion of marijuana destroyed brain cells. The official test observations and results, interestingly, were withheld from the masses for six years until they were released to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) due to a lawsuit NORML had brought to the university. Upon deeper investigation of the study, it was noted that Dr. Heath actually pumped the equivalent of sixty-three joints via gasmasks into the monkeys every day in a shorter time frame; larger than the initial report of thirty joints a day. The monkeys were reported to have died by the cause of brain damage, but in reality, they died of hypoxia; where the body does not get enough oxygen, thus one of the first parts of the body to start dying off were the brain cells.
Counter Arguments
In 2006, alcohol contributed to 85,000 deaths in the United States. In 2000 alone, tobacco contributed to a staggering 435,000 deaths. In the entire history of mankind, marijuana has never been recorded as a cause of death. No one in recorded history has died from the consumption of cannabis. However, marijuana has been linked to short term memory damage and to a slightly reduced lung capacity when regularly inhaled. Although nowhere near as severely as alcohol, marijuana does also impair judgment and motor skills. As is the same with most other things, those who regularly ingest cannabis usually build up a tolerance to these side effects which makes them even less hindering, but some individuals never fully develop one. Marijuana is also not as addictive as most media outlets would lead masses to believe. The most addictive drug, even above heroin, is nicotine. After nicotine and heroine comes cocaine, and then alcohol. Below that is caffeine, and at the very bottom of the chart is Marijuana. Marijuana laws, as they are now, cost tax payers billions of dollars a year. The taxpayers have to pay for every individual that is sent to prison for possession of marijuana and nothing more. Most people are sent to prison for possession because they are on parole and it is a violation to have any illegal drugs on your person or in your system. Because of the strict laws, they are only three cigarette joints away from spending life in prison, which is expensive investment for the taxpayers; all because of marijuana continues to be an illegal drug. Taxpayers also have to pay for every bit of legal actions that leads up to the “offender’s” incarceration. It is estimated by a Harvard study, that over $7 billion is spent annually on marijuana prohibition. Probably the biggest argument against marijuana is that it’s a “gateway drug.” Many people claim that consuming marijuana greatly increases your chance of doing harder drugs like cocaine and heroin. Just because most people that do hard drugs started with marijuana does not mean that marijuana will cause people to do harder drugs. If someone wants to experiment with cocaine they are going to do it regardless if they have tried marijuana before. People need to quit blaming that the idea of heavy drug users onto this harmless plant. Individuals do not want to take responsibility for their actions and own up to their mistakes; everyone looks for the scapegoat. Also, it’s never reported that cigarettes are a “gateway drug.” Just think about how many people first tried smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol before they start smoking marijuana. Assuming by the “gateway drug” propaganda it should be that cigarettes and alcohol that are leading people to heroin and cocaine, not marijuana.
Conclusion
It’s difficult observe why cannabis is still illegal in the country. Recently, there has not been a coherent argument against the legalization and regulation of cannabis that cannot be quickly dismissed or refuted. Many politicians, are worried that in supporting this controversial subject would cause negative feedback from their party’s support. The public has gotten it into their heads that legalizing marijuana is the same as condoning it, which it is not. One doesn’t have to condone the smoking of marijuana to vote for its legalization. In turn, many people would outlaw fast food, cigarettes, alcohol, and tanning beds because of the harm they cause. But this is the United States of America, and the country is about freedom and about choice. Give the people in the nation the freedom of choice to enjoy marijuana without the fear of prosecution and criticism. In these economic times the government should be looking for new ways to create jobs, produce dynamic revenue, and increase morality of their citizens.