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"The greatest service which can be rendered any country is to add a useful plant to its culture."-Thomas Jefferson. One of the biggest controversies that currently plague the U.S. is the debate over the legalization of marijuana. There are numerous factors to be considered in the debate, the drug's effects, how it affects crime, and it's medicinal uses. Federal law has prohibited marijuana since 1937. It is currently illegal to buy, sell, grow, or possess marijuana in the U.S.
Marijuana goes by more than 200 names, the most common being weed, pot, and herb (Ravage 6). Marijuana is made from the dried leaves of the cannabis sativa plant. The active ingredient is THC and when smoked it produces a "high" (Ravage 7). Marijuana is considered a mind-altering drug (Monroe 16).
The effects that marijuana has on its user varies from person to person. It depends on how it is taken, other drugs involved, and the expectations of the user (Monroe 17). The "high" consists of a dreamy relaxed state (Dupont 1). Other effects include an increased appetite, paranoia, tiredness, short-term memory loss, loss of coordination and balance, trouble with thinking and problem solving, and distorted perception of sight, sound, time, and touch (Monroe 17-18). Marijuana causes the heart to beat rapidly and blood pressure to rise (Monroe 18). Because the drug is stored in fat cells and slowly released its effects can last up to 24 hours after use (Ravage 8). The long-term effects of marijuana use are not entirely known. It may cause damage to the immune and reproductive systems (Dudley 6).
One of the arguments against the legalization of marijuana is the high potential for abuse associated with it. Many people develop a dependence on the high, which causes stunted emotional and social maturity. It also causes many people to lose interest in school, job, and social activities (Dudley 6). The other standpoint to this is the fact that marijuana is about as addictive as caffeine. It's far less addictive than alcohol, nicotine, heroin, and cocaine (Fortang 101). 9 out of 10 people who have tried marijuana have since quit (Dudley 7).
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Marijuana is relatively harmless. Used in moderation, it is less harmful than tobacco or alcohol (Dudley 7). There is no known case of a person dying from an overdose of marijuana. According to Susan Terkel, "To cause death, a person would have to smoke 1,500 pounds of marijuana- 720,000 joints- in fifteen minutes."(75). No one has ever died from an overdose of marijuana, while hundreds of thousands of people are killed by tobacco and alcohol every year.
The current drug laws are causing more harm than good. Many crimes are committed in order to pay for a drug habit (Terkel 98). 600,000 marijuana-related arrests were made in 1995, 80% of which were for possession alone (Dudley 6). People are being arrested for having marijuana and being thrown in jail for a crime in which there was no victim. Many of these people are in jail for many years because of mandatory prison sentences. This presents a new problem of jail overcrowding. The U.S currently has 1.6 million people in prisons, more than any other industrial nation. Drug offenders make up 60% of the federal prison population (Terkel 51). In order to make more room for these drug offenders, violent offender are being released early (Terkel 51). If marijuana were decriminalized, meaning there would be no possibility of arrest- only a fine, there would be 500,000 less arrests per year (Terkel 51). Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter supports the idea of decriminalization, "Penalties against possession of a drug should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself."
The other crime aspect of legalizing marijuana would be that of organized crime. Marijuana makes up most of the international drug trade (Ravage 9). Only about 25% of marijuana available in the U.S. is grown here, majority of it comes from other countries including Mexico and Colombia (Ravage 9). Because marijuana is illegal, drug cartels can make an enormous amount of money from growing and selling it. This is similar to the effects of alcohol prohibition in the U.S. in the 1920's. After alcohol became illegal speakeasies sprang up all over the place. Organized crime grew rapidly. The famous gangster Al Capone had a bootlegging empire that netted over $60 million a year (Danzer 615).If marijuana was legalized it would drive these drug cartels out of business (Terkel 99). It would no longer be economical for them to try to sell expensive marijuana to a country that can grow it cheaply.
The U.S. has spent $16 billion on the "war on drugs" (Terkel 102). If marijuana was legalized the government could collect $4-6 billion in taxes on the marijuana (Terkel 105). This money could go into educating people about drugs. "The goal of legalizing drugs is to bring them under effective legal control. If it were legal to produce and distribute drugs, legitimate businessmen would enter the business. There would be less need for violence and corruption since the industry would have access to the courts. And, instead of absorbing tax dollars as targets of expensive enforcement efforts, the drug sellers might begin to pay taxes. So, legalization might well solve the organized crime aspects of the drug trafficking problem. On average, drug use under legalization might not be as destructive to users and to society as under current prohibition, because drugs would be less expensive, purer, and more conveniently available"-National Institute Of Justice.
The strongest argument for the legalization of marijuana is for its medicinal use. 73 % of Americans support seriously ill patients having access to marijuana ("Medicinal Marijuana"). Marijuana is an effective treatment for something as mild as a headache to cancer and AIDS patients. Marijuana can help glaucoma patients. 2-8 million people have glaucoma, a disease where pressure on the eyes and optical nerve can cause blindness. Marijuana can lessen the pressure on the eyes thus avoiding blindness. For 10-20% of glaucoma patients, marijuana is their only hope of keeping their eyesight. For the 1 million people who have epilepsy, marijuana can reduce the amount of antiseizure medicine needed or even eliminate the need for antiseizure medicine. For AIDS patients marijuana can help deal with the side effects of AZT, a drug used to treat HIV and AIDS. It can also help combat extreme weight loss, nausea, and vomiting associated with both AIDS and cancer treatments (Terkel 71-73). One solution developed by scientists is a pill by the name of Marinol. This is a pill of THC- the active ingredient in marijuana. Marinol does not effectively take the place of marijuana because Marinol takes up to 4 hours to take effect. If a patient is trying to combat vomiting, they have no hope of trying to get a pill down. Marinol can cause hallucinations, dizziness, anxiety, and it can last up to 10 hours (Terkel 76). Marinol is expensive it cost around $200 a month, more than actual marijuana (Thompson 149).
If marijuana was legalized the purity of it would be controlled by the FDA. There would be fewer crimes committed to support an expensive habit. The government would save money on enforcement of drug laws and collect more money from tax revenue. Sick patients would be able to receive effective treatment. Drug cartels would slowly fade out of existence. People would be happier.
Works Cited
Danzer, Gerald. The Americans. Evanston: McDougal Littell, 1998.
Dudley, William. Marijuana. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999.
DuPont, Robert L. "Marijuana," World Book Online Americas Edition, http://www. worldbookonline.com/wbol/wbPage/na/ar/co/344500, April 12, 2002.
Fortang, Erika. "Is Pot Bad For You?" Rolling Stone 4 Mar. 1999:101.
"Medicinal Marijuana." Drug Policy Alliance, http://www.lindesmith.org/library/
focal12.html, April 12, 2002.
Monroe, Judy. "Marijuana- A Mind Altering Drug." Current Health 2 23 Feb. 1998: 16-19.
Terkel, Susan N. The Drug Laws. Danbury: Franklin Watts, 1997.
Thompson, Stephen. The War on Drugs. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1998.
Ravage, Barbara. "Marijuana Update." Current Health 2 28 Sept. 1994: 6-12.
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