Legalizing Marijuana for Medical and Entertainment Purposes - Essay Example

Legalizing marijuana for medical and entertainment purposes Use of drugs like Marijuana is generally considered as a social evil as it affects the users physically and mentally causing many negative impacts. Marijuana use of an individual can also produce negative effects on others that can be an emotional, physical or social in kind. The war on Marijuana was kicked off when evidences to this effect became visible in the society, pointing to a link between drug use, health problems and crime. Thio (2001) had observed, the “United States as a whole has the highest rate of drug use among the industrial countries of the world, and U.S. high school seniors have the highest rate among their peers in the industrial world (p.278). Towards the fag end of the 1960s, the US as a nation was fraught with incidents of Marijuana abuse which created a situation of panic (Thio, 2001, p.270). As a result, strict laws were enacted (Thio, 2001, p.270). This was not the end of the story. As time went by, the draconian provisions and methods of law enforcement led to a public outcry about human rights violations and suggestions were made that the focus on enforcement be shifted to awareness and treatment (Johnson, Golub and Dunlap, 2006; Samuels and Kalishman, 2003). This is the context in which a new debate has come to fore on the question of whether marijuana can be legalized for medical and entertainment purposes. This paper will argue against legalizing marijuana but will suggest a law amendment to facilitate the use of marijuana for medical purposes alone. Marijuana is a strong drug and has the combined effect of three categories of drugs, namely, stimulants including cocaine and nicotine, depressants like heroin and morphine and hallucinogens like LSD and MDMA (Thio, 2001, p.270). Hence it is evident that this drug is dangerous than all other drugs. Alarmingly, in the US, it is the most used drug among students who are around the age of thirteen (Thio, 2001, p.270). The stimulant property of marijuana is well known as it tempts the users to try other new drugs (Thio, 2001, p.272). Indicating the link between marijuana use and crime is the fact that “close to half of the crime suspects arrested in the United States had used illegal drugs in the prior three days” (Thio, 2001, p.281). Forty-six percent of those arrested for drug use in the country were found with the single drug marijuana (Drug Policy Alliance, 2011). Given all these facts and complexities, it would be a suicidal act to legalize marijuana. Particularly, with a view on the effect of this drug on teenagers and young people, the social impact of legalizing marijuana could be incalculable and bad. Marijuana legalization cannot be a panacea for preventing the human rights violations happening in the name of marijuana law enforcement. Instead, there needs to be a policy change at the level of government to remodel law enforcement protecting human rights. The United States allocates a considerable part of its “antidrug budget to law enforcement” but actually this could have been used for building awareness against drug use, and treatment for addiction (Thio, 2001, p.287). The indiscriminate incarceration of drug offenders is a policy that does not take into consideration, the social factors (Thio, 2001, p.287). When it comes to drug use, the most vulnerable groups will be minorities who are dragged into this vice through the social insecurities they face owing to their minority status and economically lower position to the natives (Thio, 2001, p.287). In this scenario, it was only natural that the war on marijuana turned into a “war on powerless groups, particularly minorities” (Thio, 2001, p.287). The search operations of the law enforcement for custody of marijuana many times resulted in school children including girls being unnecessarily harassed (Drug Policy Alliance, 2004). Individuals from ethnic minority groups and economically backward sections were caught by the police and convicted for marijuana use, while the powerful sellers and smugglers of marijuana evaded capture (Thio, 2001, p.287). The result was that “millions of people have been incarcerated for low-level drug law violations, resulting in drastic racial disparities in the prison system, yet drug overdose, addiction and misuse are more prevalent than ever” (Drug Policy Alliance, 2011). Number of arrests carried out for drug offenses has become three times higher than it was 25 years before (Drug Policy Alliance, 2011). Even house searches are permissible by law (Drug Policy Alliance, 2004). In this backdrop, there has even been a gallop poll conducted in which around forty six percent of Americans said marijuana should be legalized (Meno, 2010). The above discussion on human rights violations and racial injustices only suggest certain anomalies in the law enforcement and not in the law itself. Once there is a policy shift towards awareness building and supportive rehabilitation, the very same law can be used less sparingly and with less exercise of force. The required policy changes are, replacing incarceration policy with a rehabilitation policy, and spending more budget money on awareness creation and prevention (Samuels and Kalishman, 2003). As far as medical use of marijuana is concerned, of the 52 states in the US, 11 have “already legalized medical use of Marijuana” owing to its effectiveness in reducing pain and nausea, especially in acutely suffering patients (Thio, 2001, p.272). This drug has been found to be most effective in pain and palliative treatment of cancer and AIDS patients (Thio, 2001, p.272). More strikingly, certain latest studies attribute cancer-curing properties to marijuana but this claim has not yet been scientifically substantiated (Fox, 2011; American Cancer Society, 2012). Refuting the claims on the beneficial use of raw marijuana for curing diseases, the American Cancer Society (2012) has reminded that certain chemical substances extracted from marijuana is already in use for medical treatment. The uses include: There are chemically pure drugs based on marijuana compounds that have been approved in the US for medical use. The active ingredient THC has been available by prescription as dronabinol in pill or suppository form since 1985. A second drug, nabilone, is much like a cannabinoid. It is also a prescription drug, and is sometimes used when other drugs fail to reduce nausea and vomiting after chemotherapy. More recently, a chemically pure mixture of THC and cannabidiol (CBD) called Sativex® was made into a mouth spray. This prescription spray has been approved in Canada and parts of Europe to relieve pain linked to cancer as well as muscle spasms and pain from multiple sclerosis. It is not yet approved in the US as of early 2012, but it is being tested in clinical trials to see if it will help relieve cancer pain. Given this context, it is clear that there are enough provisions in our existing law to ensure that the medicinal properties of marijuana are well made use of. Still, keeping in view, the need for providing relief to patients who are in their end-of-life moments, it is advisable that there be a national law amendment to legalize the medical use of marijuana under strict norms and conditions. All the same, the already proven negative effects of marijuana use, on the youth, and its connection to crime rate warrants that marijuana should not be used for entertainment purposes. The recent legalization of marijuana for entertainment purposes in Washington and Colorado States do not seem to be a good sign, given the historical increase in marijuana use even when strict laws existed (Johnson, 2012). The world is losing its sanity, and relishing the madness, it seems. References American Cancer Society, (2011) Marijuana, Retrieved from http://www.cancer.org/treatment/treatmentsandsideeffects/complementaryandalternativemedicine/herbsvitaminsandminerals/marijuana Drug Policy Alliance, (2011), Forty Years of Failure, Retrieved from http://www.drugpolicy.org/facts/new-solutions-drug-policy/forty-years-failure Drug Policy Alliance (May 14, 2004) Innocent Maryland Teens Treated Like Criminals: Strip-Searched By Cops during Humiliating High School Search, Retrieved from http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/2004/05/innocent-maryland-teens-treated-criminals- strip-searched-cops-during-humiliating-high-s Fox, M. (March 24, 2011) More Evidence Suggests Marijuana Helpful in Cancer Treatment, Retrieved from http://blog.mpp.org/research/more-evidence-suggests- marijuana-helpful-in-cancer-treatment/03242011/ Johnson, B.D., Golub, A and Dunlap, E. (2006) An Analysis of Alternatives to New York Citys Current Marijuana Arrest and Detention Policy, Retrieved from http://www.drugpolicy.org/resource/analysis-alternatives-new-york-citys-current- marijuana-arrest-and-detention-policy Johnson, G (06 December 2012) Legalizing marijuana: Washington law goes into effect, allowing recreational use of drug, The Huffington Post, Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/06/legalizing-marijuana-washington- state_n_2249238.html Meno, M. (2010) Gallup: Record 46% of Americans Support Legal Marijuana, Retrieved from http://blog.mpp.org/tax-and-regulate/gallup-record-46-of-americans-support- legal-marijuana/10292010/ Meno, M. (October 7, 2010) New Report: Marijuana Prohibition Doesn’t Work, Regulation Needed, Retrieved from http://blog.mpp.org/prohibition/new-report- marijuana-prohibition-doesnt-work-regulation-needed/10072010/ Samuels, S. and Kalishman, A. (January 29, 2003) Drug Policy Alliance Opens Office in Trenton in Response to State Drug Policy Crisis, Will Push for Legislation to Provide Alternatives to Failed Drug Policies, Retrieved from http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/2003/01/drug-policy-alliance-opens-office-trenton- response-state-drug-policy-crisis-will-push-l Thio, Alex, (2001) Deviant behavior, Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Read More