Legalization of Marijuana

Legalization of Marijuana

SOC 120 - Introduction to Ethics

James Slack

December 15, 2011

The legalization of marijuana has been debated for many decades. Some people feel that marijuana has been an effective treatment for some medical conditions such as cancer, AIDS, pain and other medical conditions. Others feel that marijuana is a terrible drug that leaves people more addicted than heroin, and is a highly dangerous drug. In all actuality, in states where at least medical marijuana is legalized, the use of cannabis has either remained stable or followed a downward trend. My personal belief is that marijuana should be legalized, as it will increase revenue, lower crime statistics and decrease prison populations.

Marijuana, also known as pot, weed, herb, bud, Mary Jane and ghanya is a substance obtained from the dried leaves and flowering tops of the herb plant. It is technically known as cannabis sativa and is a tall, widely cultivated Asian herb of the Mulberry family. There are different ways marijuana can be ingested: the most common method is rolling finely chopped marijuana leaves in thin paper to make joints that are smoked like cigarettes. Another way is smoked through a glass pipe or a water filtration system known as a bong. Marijuana is purchased illegally in the United States, unless you have acquired a medical marijuana usage card and live in one of the sixteen states that have legalized medical marijuana (Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington) and the District of Columbia. Marijuana was legal in the United States until 1937, when the government made it a banned substance. Now marijuana is considered to be a Class C controlled substance, which can get you fined or jailed depending on how much marijuana is in you possession at the time of arrest. If you are jailed in California where they have the "Three Strikes Law", a person can be sent to jail for life if the third conviction is for possession of marijuana.

It has been noted that marijuana can be bad for your lungs as well as addictive. The same can be said for alcohol and cigarettes and they are both legal. Both alcohol and cigarettes can be harmful and eventually kill you if they are abused. Alcohol can cause cirrhosis of the liver and cigarettes can cause lung cancer, both of these can be fatal illnesses. The only difference between alcohol, cigarettes and marijuana is that the first two substances are legal. Alcohol and cigarettes bring in a lot of revenue for their industries every year and cigarettes are highly taxed. The same thing can be done for marijuana as well. No one has quit smoking cigarettes because of the high taxes and no one would stop smoking marijuana if it were sold legally and taxed as high.

In 2008, the marijuana industry made approximately forty two billion dollars. If marijuana was legalized this money could flow into our economy, which could create more jobs and keep more people out of jail because they would have something to do than just get in trouble. People could actually work to make a living; statistics show that crime has begun to rise since the downturn of the economy. This is because people are getting more desperate for cash and are bored and have nothing to do. Not only would forty two billion dollars be a huge increase to our economy, the government can make even more money by taxing marijuana the same way they tax cigarettes. As stated earlier, there have not been any studies that have shown any smokers quitting because of the tax increase. People who would want to smoke marijuana would still pay the price and would be able to feel comfortable buying as they would be able to do so legally without any retribution. Marijuana can be grown and sold here in the United States without any need to go overseas. This would bring a huge boost to our economy, as we would not pay any import taxes on our homegrown product.

In the late 1960's, marijuana became prevalent as the drug of choice by college students and young adults, known as hippies, thirty years after it became illegal. This was the same era as "make love, not war" and marijuana was smoked to help people feel good, even though they were high. Many states in the 1970's started decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana until the 1980's when former President Reagan enacted harsher penalties for drug offenses. This included marijuana, which was lumped in with the more harsh and dangerous drugs, such as cocaine, Phencyclidine, better known as PCP and heroin. This program continued to receive massive finding under former President Clinton in the 1990's; however, In June 2011 the self-appointed Global Commission of Drug Policy released a critical report on the War on Drugs, "declaring the global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world".

Drug related crimes and deaths have increased steadily over the years. More people are being arrested for drug related crimes. Harsher drugs, such as methamphetamine has come on the scene and claimed the lives of more users, including a former co-worker of mine. Another drug craze is called huffing, where users huff paint thinners, gasoline or aerosol thorough plastic bags, balloons or open containers. These items can be purchased legally but have hazardous consequences when used for the wrong purposes. All of these crimes have increased with the "War on Drugs", yet I have never heard of anyone dying from marijuana usage. The money wasted on this "war" could have been used to save our schools and giving back to our communities. "The drug war is essentially a war against marijuana. If one removes the number of pot users, only about two million hard-core addicts are left. Federal, state and local direct expenditures on the drug war total around $60 million annually. If we add to this the millions spent on incarcerating people for drug related crimes, we reach a sum that, if diverted from the drug war, could pay for the college education of the entire country " (Gerber, R.J., 2004). Less tax monies could have been spent on the number of prisoners arrested for the possession of marijuana and space could be freed for criminals who have actually committed a crime such as murder or rape - in other words, criminals who actually belong in jail. All of the money that was spent over the years was a waste and we as a country have basically nothing to show for the War on Drugs.

There are few Americans who find marijuana offensive because it is illegal; however, the consensus for most people