Marijuana legalization: arguments and policy implications

Marijuana Legalization

The reason as to why people believe that Marijuana is illegal is wrong and attempts should be made to legalize it.

There are a lot of studies that state that by using drugs lot of medical problems may be caused. But studies have proved that this is not true and not as harmful as junk food, tobacco and alcohol. (Bowman 8a). Also individuals feel that Marijuana is addictive in nature but it is not so. (Bowman 8a). There are other studies also that state the same, as to the drug not being addictive, like the study conducted by the American Journal of Nursing. (Brown, 13).

Marijuana though is considered as a Schedule I drug that goes to state that it is of no medical value is not so, as it helps in numbing pain for cancer patients, eases the eye pressure in glaucoma and also soothes muscle spasms and kindles the appetite for AIDS patients and also other individuals who are undergoing chemotherapy. To substantiate this, an article in the TIME Magazine of November 4, 2002 went to state that nearly 80% of the people think it's fine to use marijuana legally for medical benefit. (Marijuana - Legalize or Not)

The basic fight against curbing drugs is to prevent those that are addictive and harmful, but at the same time some of them are not really so. Although till date Marijuana has not been proved to be harmful drug still as of research it states that in the past years it has been one of the drugs that has been responsible for a greater part of arrest in pertinence to drugs, also spasms and property seizing. In the past decade nearly 500, 000 arrests have been done in connection to use of marijuana and nearly a huge amount of drug usage in the U.S. nearly three fourths of it involves marijuana. Ironically, although Marijuana is actually called as a narcotic, a lot of experts and other recent research studies state that marijuana is also much less addictive and toxic then a lot of other drugs and is also much less responsible for family conflicts, workplace conflicts, and on the whole seems to impact the being much less than what alcohol would also do. (The Case for Legalization)

Medscape, a website that aims at health care providers, conducted a poll in 2003, and came to the conclusion that nearly 76% physicians and 89% nurses felt that the use of marijuana for medical purpose should be legalized. A decade ago not even enough half of the number of people thought of the same. This change of thought can be attributed to clinical experience. A lot of medical professionals believe that Cannabis is much more productive and cheaper when taken in comparison to few other prescribed medicines, especially for some diseases like Crohns disease, migraine headache, severe nausea, vomiting, convulsive disorder, chronic pain and loads of others. There is subjective evidence to prove Marijuana's medical benefits. The Institute of Medicine has also recently agreed to the medical purpose of the drug.( The Shifting Medical View on Marijuana)

There is some evidence that go to state that this drug may also be less harmful than alcohol or tobacco smoking. There are also certain others who believe that if the drug is legalized than the crimes in relation shall reduce drastically. Also there is proof that the government may also benefit to the extent of eight billion dollars from edification and healing programs. Another benefit would be that the drug lords who gain a lot of money in the form of profits for these drugs like nearly twenty billion dollars. Even the relation between the U.S. And Latin American Countries can be improved by legalizing these drugs. (Marijuana - Legalize or Not)

It can be said that it won't be too long before which Marijuana will be legalized, as seven states have already made the usage of the drug legal, which include California, Arizona, Oregon, Washington and Alaska. (Sager, 31). A lot of experts are in favor of legalizing the drug, one of who is the Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke who is very much in favor of the drug. (Evans 9a). Also Dr. Ethan A Nadelmann, an assistant professor at Princeton University also favors the use of the drug. He feels that while trying to fight the drug off we have been only incurring high costs and imprisoning low-level criminals, at the same time increasing the drug costs and profits. (Evans 9a)

Though it can be said that the current system is too adapt at controlling the drug usage and distribution and may lead to a lot of addicts using the drug for unnecessary purpose. The drug should be legalized but at the same time the actually quantity that should be available should be regularized by the government. (Brown) Now the government has come up with a solution that would go to state that the drug would be supplied to those who would regulate its distribution and avoid it from reaching the hands of children, along with being subjected by heavy penalties. (Brown 13) Along with being very medically useful, Marijuana is also very beneficial to reduce the pains and discomforts incurred in everyday life. Like a physician who provides a prescription for psychoactive or other such drugs, similarly Marijuana can be prescribed.