Legalization

There are several problems in our society, most of which concerns illegal transactions and prohibited actions. What consist the community’s primary legal problems are drugs, same-sex marriages, abortion and those issues which questions or consists of scientific progress such as issues about cloning, stem-cell research and in-vitro fertilization. However, there were several controversies regarding this matter, as to whether the community â€Å"illicit problems† are really illegal or not. In able for us to distinguish whether something is meant to be legalized or whether an action should be prohibited, a closer look about legalization is a bit crucial. Legalization is actually a process in which something is removed from being a crime. It will then be an act that is permissible and not to be considered as an offense anymore. Those crimes that are to be legalized are controversial crimes, since it doesn’t really have a victim or it does not endanger anyone aside from the person him/herself. The focus of this paper would be the legalization of a drug popularly known as marijuana or scientifically called as cannabis. According to http://www.legalizationofmarijuana.com/, an online site whose aim is to present arguments in favor and against the use of marijuana in able to inform the citizens, reports that nearly about 5.9 million Americans are arrested due to simply the use and possession of marijuana. Moreover they state that on the year 2000, about 88% of the total number of the arrested marijuana related violations are charge with possession while the remaining 12% includes violations for â€Å"sale/manufacture† of the plant itself. They insist that, the number of the people arrested from marijuana outnumbered those who are arrested from robbery, murder, rape and assault which are more violent crimes. Most of the supporters of the law to ban the use of marijuana are under the consideration that marijuana is a stepping stone drug, which it may further lead to addiction and may promote the use of harder kinds of drugs. Others are concerned about its immediate effects which results to short-term memory loss and accidents. Conservatives believe that legalization of marijuana would actually make it accessible to many people and might also be used by children, since regulation of the drug is hard. Those who are against the law believe on the proposition that were actually against or in opposition of the stand of the supporters. For one, there are medical studies that were made that actually prove that with moderation, smoking marijuana is far safer than drinking alcohol and smoking cigarette. The National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that the annual Americans deaths caused by marijuana or hashish are zero compare to some 100,000 to 400, 000 caused by tobacco and alcohol users respectively; those who have died due to the use of other drugs counts 10,000 to 20, 000, approximately, obviously higher than the use of marijuana. (legalizationofmarijuana.com) They also argued that it would help the government especially the police force to focus themselves to more violent crimes that would require more attention. The legalization of marijuana would also be a threat to most of the drug dealers because if it would be readily be affordable and accessible for the public, then it would be sold in lower price, crippling their financial gains. Aside from all this, marijuana doesn’t impair the immune system; it does not kill brain cells unlike using tobacco, cigarettes and alcohol.   Actually there had never been any records that would relate marijuana and death. (Messerli, 2006) Drinking alcohol has resulted to so many accidents, had it been ban for being so? No. It is he same with smoking tobacco which have taken so many lives and who have also been caused of diseases and deaths of even those people who are not using or smoking it. How come that these two were not being banned in the same sense as marijuana are being so? I think this is more of a business related event rather than something political. If one would look more closely, it is obvious that marijuana is something that is far safer than alcohol and tobacco, but the government acts against marijuana under the assumption that it is an opiate drug and most of opiate drugs are dangerous, thus marijuana is also dangerous. Obviously this assumption is false, and actually if the government is really that concerned about the citizens they might as well as prohibit drinking alcohol and smoking tobacco. Doing so would probably make the use of this substance expensive, less people would want to use it or even try it. There would be fewer deaths related to these substances, fewer accidents and people would be able to spend their incomes and resources for more useful things. Generally, it would make more people happy, it would result to a more peaceful community, and problems would be faced in a more rational way. If these substances would not be prohibited, then what is the reason for prohibiting marijuana? Marijuana are said to have so many beneficial effects and has no proven bad effects. It cannot even cause death. Legalizing the use of it would be very beneficial for the implementation of more laws and would save the government time, effort and resources. Indeed marijuana can caused changes in the cognition of a man, including some short term memory lost; however, it would only last for just a few minutes or an hour or two, in heavy doses. As to any type of smoking, smoking marijuana would probably results to acute bronchitis and other pulmonary problems. However as what the findings of Janet E. Joy and her colleagues at the Institute of Medicine, these health problems would only persist upon long-term use of marijuana in heavy doses. Also, chewing marijuana could actually heal some of the complications that arouse from it. Thus, marijuana should really be legalized. It would be more beneficial for the government, it would pose less health risk and it can lead to greater innovations and research regarding the issues that concerns it. Also, it is legal in other countries, most notably in Jamaica, why should it not be legalized in our country? It is important that legislators would address the actual concerns of the citizens and look at the rationale behind their decisions, not some illogical assumptions. Works Cited: Joy, J. E.   Benson, J. A.   Watson, S. J.   (1999). Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base. National Academy Press. Legalizationofmarijuana.com. (2007). US Policy on Marijuana. Retrieved on August 16, 2007. Retrieved from the World Wide Web: http://www.legalizationofmarijuana.com/index.html Messerli,   Joe (2006) Should Marijuana be Legalized under any Circumstances? Retrieved on August 16, 2007. Retrieved from the World Wide Web: http://www.balancedpolitics.org/marijuana_legalization.htm