Legalization of Marijuana
... it. Digestion is not disturbed; the appetite rather increased;…The whole effect of hemp being less violent, and producing a more natural sleep, without interfering with the actions of the internal organs, it is certainly often preferable to opium, although it is not equal to that drug in strength and reliability’” (Grinspoon 219). Glover 3 Most people know that marijuana increases the appetite. This effect could be used for the treatment of eating disorders like bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa. People that are bulimic or anorexic often have trouble eating because they loose their appetite after starving themselves for such a long period of time. Marijuana could be used as treatment to increase the appetite. “…it is a wonder that psychiatrists in their frequent frustration with the results of the present-day symptomatic treatment of anorexia nervosa…have not seized upon cannabis as potentially quite useful in this distressing syndrome” (Grinspoon 219). Marijuana also can be used as a pain reliever. It could be used to relieve the pain of headaches and migraines. “In reviewing his own experience and that of others, [Dr. J. B. Mattison] concludes that this drug is not only important in the arresting of the pain from a migraine attack but is as well most useful in preventing attacks. This view was amplified years later by William Osler, who said of migraine, ‘Cannabis indica is probably the most satisfactory remedy,’ and a prolonged course of treatment was recommended….it seems a pity that today’s migraine sufferers who do not get satisfactory relief from modern treatments cannot have the opportunity for a therapeutic trial of cannabis” (Grinspoon 220-221). Cannabis should be legalized because it is not as harmful as other drugs, such as alcohol or cocaine. Studies show that it does not lead to any diseases except possibly lung cancer if used over a long period of time. Lung cancer is a very serious disease, but it can be acquired by smoking cigarettes as well. Cigarettes are legal and are more deadly than pot. “Marihuana use, even over a considerable period of time, does not lead Glover 4 to malnutrition or to any known organic illness. There is no evidence that mortality rates are any higher among users than nonusers; in fact, relative to other psychoactive drugs, it is remarkably safe” (Grinspoon 347). “…not a single human fatality in the United States has ever resulted solely from marijuana use” (Schlaadt and Shannon 219). Marijuana is currently an illegal drug. It is illegal to distribute or to possess marijuana. The government believes that keeping the drug illegal will decrease the use of the drug. The government needs to look back at the history of the United States and learn from our past. In many situations, prohibiting a drug has caused an increase in use of the drug or an increase in use of other drugs. “In almost all instances of tobacco use, prohibitions against it failed, whether they were justified on grounds of impairment to health, religion, good taste, or by the threat of inducement to criminal activity” (Grinspoon 344). If people want to use a drug badly enough, they will continue to use it in spite of the laws prohibiting its use. “Prohibition outlawed the manufacture, sale, and transportation (but not possession) of domestic and foreign liquor within the United States. But this regulation only created a thriving alcohol black market, in which adulterated and contaminated ‘rotgut’ was easy to obtain” (Schlaadt and Shannon 287). “The Eighteenth Amendment was unable to end either the use of alcohol or the problems that surrounded that use, and in 1933 Prohibition was repealed. But Prohibition wasn’t ended because people decided that alcohol was a harmless drug, ‘On the contrary, the United States learned during prohibition, even more than in prior decades, the true horrors of the drug.’ It also learned that making a Glover 5 drug illegal does not end its use, but can actually encourage more adverse drug situations” (Schlaadt and Shannon 287). “It is difficult to enforce crime legislation when the crime involved has no victim. Does society have the right to interfere with an individual’s right to determine his or her own actions-in this case, to use drugs? Should drug use be a crime because society at large deems it to be? The answers to these questions remain uncertain, but the mere fact that the questions arise make it difficult to enforce legislation” (Schlaadt and Shannon 284. “Though many laws have been passed, they have failed to greatly reduce or restrict drug use” (Schlaadt and Shannon 284). “The use of marijuana is increasing in popularity among all age groups of the population, and particularly among the youth. This increase indicates that the attempt to suppress, or even to control its use, is failing and will continue to fail-that people are not deterred by the criminal law prohibiting its use” (Schlaadt and Shannon 298). “Legislators who look to law-enforcement techniques to eradicate marijuana use are failing to face the fact that despite every imaginable deterrent and social stigma, drug use is, and will continue to be, a part of our culture” (Schlaadt and Shannon 299). Marijuana should be legalized because it could improve the ...