Marijuana Should not be Legalized - Essay Example

Marijuana Should not be Legalized Marijuana, the product of the cannabis plant, is one of the most widely used drugs in the world. Statistics show that in United States of America, after alcohol and tobacco, marijuana is third most commonly used drug. It is said that marijuana is less harmful and dangerous than alcohol and tobacco. A lot many people die every year due to the overdose of these two damaging drugs, but it is said that overdose of marijuana is harmless. Many countries are against the cultivation and use of marijuana. Similarly, united states of America have now set penalties and laws against the use of marijuana. Some people are in support of this act while other people strongly oppose the restrictions on marijuana. In support of their argument, they highlight the medicinal effects of this drug. Apart from the medical benefits, some people say that they deserve the freedom to use marijuana, providing they do not harm the lives of the people in their surroundings (Ruschmann 54). Some religions like Christianity and Judaism support the use of marijuana. People from these religions want these laws to be removed as soon as possible. The adverse effects of marijuana can never be ignored. Prolonged use may cause severe depression and other mental disorders. Moreover, American government have introduced healthy tax scheme on the cultivation, to discourage the exercise (Svrakic and Lynn 90). Origin By definition, marijuana is an American term for dried flowers and leaves of the cannabis plant. Marijuana is basically harvested from the ‘cannabis sativa’ plant. Cannabis plant, also known as hemp plant, is believed to have originated from central Asia. This plant has been found in tombs in about 8000BCE. Some details were also found about the growth of cannabis in china, for the purpose of gaining fiber from it. Cannabis is very versatile plant. It can grow in almost all climatic conditions. This is one of the reasons of its increasing growth throughout the globe. Marijuana comes from the leaves and the flower of the hemp or the cannabis plant. These parts of the plant contain a substance known as the Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). This substance gives marijuana its psychoactive properties. From the date of its discovery, people call marijuana by different names. Some of them are Ganja, pot, weed, grass, dope, skunk, wacky tobacco etc. In some countries of the world, Marijuana is called as Marihuana, by replacing ‘j’ with ‘h’. How Marijuana Started Spreading Addiction: Marijuana was brought to England by Spanish people in the mid of sixteenth century. Later on English introduced this drug in America (Svrakic and Lynn 91). Firstly, it was used to gain fiber, but at that time some medicines did contain marijuana in small percentage. Soon after that, people started using it for recreational purposes. Jazz musicians and show business people were among the major users of this drug. As there was no restriction and there was no legal act against the use of marijuana, people continued using it and government did not stop them. As long as patrons did not disturb their surrounding, higher authorities kept on tolerating its drastically increasing use (Ruschmann 54). From the mid of the nineteenth century to the mid of twentieth century, marijuana was listed in US pharmacopeia. In 1930s, the United States Federal Bureau of Narcotics started a campaign whose motto was to expose marijuana as a influential, addicting and strongly affecting substance that would direct users into narcotics craving. Some authorities still consider marijuana as a ‘gateway’ drug. A gateway drug is the kind of drug which is easily available and less expensive, but they can lead the user to the use of harder drug. In the 1950s it was a partner and the favorite drug of the new generation. In the decade of 1960, college students started using marijuana. It also became the favorite drug of the ‘hippies’. Soon after that marijuana became the symbol of revolution and rebellion against the higher authorities of United States of America (Kilmer 13). Legalization of Marijuana In United States Of America: The 1970 Act of Controlled Substances added marijuana, heroin and LSD in the list of Schedule I drug. Schedule I drugs are recorded to have the comparatively highest misuse potential. They are considered to have no prescribed medical use. At that time marijuana was mostly imported from Mexico, so in 1975 the Mexican authorities agreed to destroy the crop of marijuana by spraying herbicides, as a consequence people became afraid of the toxic side effects of the sprayed crop. After that Colombia became the lead supplier of marijuana. The Reagan and Bush administrations introduced strict laws and fixed penalties for custody of marijuana and increased vigilance against its smuggling towards the borders of the southern region. In the beginning of 1982 the Drug Enforcement Administration set its eyes on marijuana farms in the US. As a results, the indoor cultivation of marijuana got pace. But in 1990s, Approx after a decade of falling use, marijuana smoking again started advancing especially among teens. In the year 1978, a patient of glaucoma, sued US government for arresting him for using marijuana as a treatment of his disease. The court ruled that he needed marijuana for the medical purpose and ordered Food and Drug Administration to grow marijuana in the farm of university of Mississippi. It was also ordered to give that person 300 marijuana cigarettes every month. But George H.W. Bush ordered to stop this program when people asked to make AIDS patients eligible for the use of marijuana. At that time thirteen people were enrolled and allowed to receive cannabis cigarettes every month. Today, the government still gives marijuana cigarettes to 7 people (Kilmer 16). Reasons Why Marijuana Should not be Legalized First and the foremost reason of not legalizing marijuana is that it is extremely addictive. People catch addiction and in the end they can do anything to get an ounce of marijuana. This level of addiction can definitely cause harms to the society in the shape of different street crimes just for an ounce of it. Experiments show a failure story. In Amsterdam marijuana was legalized, apparently it became the hot spot of the tourists with marijuana addiction and what happened in the end, parents started worrying about their children, according to them its not helping the society but making people addicted. Favouring people highlight the good sides of marijuana but they do not drag into light the adverse side effects of this drug, use of marijuana is threat to your physical health. If a mother is addicted to marijuana it can certainly cause birth defects not only that every single smoke of this drug causes temporary sterility. It causes poor memory and an abnormal brain structure. Last but not the least the use of marijuana causes severe anxiety among the users and it drags them to the mental illness, psychotic disorder and sudden mood swings. Hence, the entire discussion could be sum up with the conclusion that legalizing marijuana could have long term and severe negative impact upon the overall health scenario and society as a whole and keeping in view these adverse effects, the legalization of marijuana does not seems a wise decision. While considering these severe side effects it is very important that this drug should not be legalized. It is the responsibility of the government to ensure the health safety of the people. Keeping this in mind they should shut down all the pubs and destroy the farms of marijuana, if they want a health non addicted nation. Works Cited Kilmer, Beau. Marijuana Legalization: What Everyone Needs to Know? London: Oxford University Press, 2012. Print Ruschmann, Paul. Legalizing Marijuana. NY: nfobase Publishing, 2009. Print. Svrakic, Dragan and Lynn, Taylor. "Legalization, Decriminalization & Medicinal Use of Cannabis- A Scientific and Public Health Perspective". Missouri Medicine 109.2 (2012), 90-98 Read More