Legalizing Marijuana

The topic of legalizing marijuana has been widely discussed and debated throughout the country. Just like any other topic, there are many who are for, but there are also many who oppose the idea. Legalizing marijuana is wrought with both pros and cons. Both sides have equally convincing arguments as to why it should or shouldn't be done. In this paper we will discuss what marijuana is and some of its history. Also, we will take a look at some of the arguments for each side.

What is marijuana? Marijuana, or Cannabis sativa, is a plant containing upwards of four hundred chemicals. There is a male plant and a female plant. The psychoactive agent, THC, or delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, is much abundant in the female buds. THC is the active ingredient and is what caused the high. In colonial America, "hemp" was a major agricultural crop; both Washington and Jefferson raised it. Hemp was valuable because one could use its fibers for rope and canvas and its seeds for soap, lamp oil, and birdseed. Preoccupied with finding used for weed, people in India and North America started smoking it. It soon developed names such as dagga, ganja, bhang and hashish. In the 19th century, physicians who had been recommending marijuana for pain relief began switching to synthetic drugs. As the drug became associated with marginal groups-Mexican laborers, blacks, jazz musicians, and prostitutes-many states started passing laws against it. In the 1930's, the Bureau of Narcotics (now the Drug Enforcement Agency) got involved. Pot finally went underground with the passage of the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, which required sellers to obtain a license.

Why should marijuana be legalized you ask? Well those who agree have many reasons behind their belief. The top argument is that marijuana is used for medical and therapeutic purposes. It has assisted patients suffering for the symptoms of cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma, and depression. Some patients say that the use of medical marijuana has even had more substantial affects than some pharmaceutical counterparts. It serves as a great pain reliever. Most current prescriptions have their roots wither directly or indirectly in plant remedies. Digitalis was discovered in foxglove, morphine in poppies, and taxol in the yew trees. Even aspirin has its counterpart in herbal medicine. If marijuana is legalized it insures that people who use the drug for medicinal purposes have access to it. It limits the legal sale of the drug to those who are using it for medicinal purposes, rather than personal use. The sale of marijuana as a prescription drug serves as a source of income for the government. Any one familiar with pot knows about the "munchies." This factor proves that it can be an aid for people with AIDS to put on needed weight by increasing their appetite. Cancer patients smoke pt to dispel the nausea they get from chemotherapy, and doctors recommend it for epilepsy, arthritis, migraines, and other health issues mentioned above. The federal government should follow the lead of voters in Arizona and California and at least allow the medical use of marijuana.

Those who oppose would say synthetic alternatives are available for patients with these conditions. There are steroids to stimulate muscle growth; megace, too, has been shown to help patients put on weight. Marinol comes in pill form so patients do not need to inhale a carcinogen to make them hungry. Smoking marijuana isn't more effective than regular therapies. It is wrong for doctors to have patients figure out what the correct dosage should be, especially with a drug as impure as marijuana. Those who say marijuana has helped them with their medical problem probably believe so because they forget about their problems while under the influence. How will a doctor know if a patient is really being helped or if they are solely trying to use the drug for pleasure and fear of being criminalized.

Another argument for those who want marijuana to be legalized would be the fact that the drug generally isn't more harmful that alcohol or tobacco. Most doctors would agree that it's not very harmful if used in moderation. When you abuse the drug problems start to occur, but that is the case with any bad substance. If you abuse alcohol, caffeine, Ephedra, cigarettes, or even pizza, health problems are sure to follow. A Harvard university medical team in 1987 found that "dangerous physical reactions to marijuana are almost unknown." All smoke is unhealthy, but marijuana is safer than tobacco, and people tend to smoke less of it. That risk can be eliminated by eating the plant instead of smoking it, or it can be reduced by using water pipes to smoke smaller amounts of more potent marijuana. Tobacco is more harmful to the body than marijuana. People do not chain smoke pot the way they smoke cigarettes. Once they have gotten high, they usually stop, so ultimately they inhale much less smoke than cigarette smokers. Tobacco has many heath hazards and so does alcohol which is clearly stated on their labels. If marijuana is not sold because of its health hazards, then why not stick a label on it and put it on the shelf?

This is not true says those who oppose. Marijuana smoking is equivalent to tobacco smoking, or even worse. The Berkeley carcinogenic tar studies of the late 1970's concluded that "marijuana is one-and-a-half times as carcinogenic as tobacco." This finding was based solely on the tar content of cannabis leaves compared to that of tobacco, and did not take radioactivity into consideration.

American Judge Francis Young studied all the evidence in 1988, and ruled that "marijuana is far safer than many foods we commonly consume." The federal agency NIDA says that autopsies show 75 people per year are high on marijuana when they die, but this does not mean

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