It’s a question that’s been asked for awhile, should our drug policies be reformed. The idea of reforming our drug policies has been in question for a while, and the United Sates has decided to not reform it over fears of unknown affects. However, it has been considered by some in support for the reform of our drug policies, rather than being against it. Cannabis, also known as marijuana, can be used for recreational, as well as medical uses. Marijuana is a drug, but can be used and is used for useful purposes such as medical purposes. Despite the fact that some people need marijuana for medical purposes and it is not addicting. Still, the United States government has decided to put off legalizing it and the question has remained the same ever since should marijuana be legalized. Our drug policies should be reformed because there is no reason for it to be in its current state of being illegal because there are no harmful effects of it that science knows of.
The United Sates currently has drug policies, however those current drug policies need to be reformed. The current drug policies of the United States need to be reformed because they are causing more harm than good because they are kept because of politics ignoring science. For example, ‘The Nations Health’ Newspaper says, ‘When President Barack Obama issued a memorandum in March Affirming that science would reclaim its standing in policy decisions, public health advocates let out a collective sigh of relief, warmly welcoming the change in direction’ (The Nations Health page 10). This shows the problem that are drug policies have been based on politics rather than scientific facts. The significance of this is that the fact that science has its own say about Marijuana and our current drug policies are kept due to politics it shows that legalizing Marijuana as a whole is the better scenario.
There are definitely different takes and views on this opinion. Some people may think that even though science has its own information it still might be wrong. I do not think this is the case, however because the scientific information is based off of research that is current and is being updated all the time, whereas the official current drug laws are based off just a majority of opinions and not facts such as science. I think that the science approach is more believable because it has facts and current updated facts with it other than personal interests. Another opposing argument to my claim could be that the current drug policies have facts that are actually true, but I do not think this is the case because science’s facts are up to date and current so I think that is a better argument that my claim is right. However, I will acknowledge that there has been a history of opposing reform.
It is not true that opposing drug reform is a thing of the past and it is has been currently brought to attention for reform but drug companies do not want reform. Throughout history everyone has considered the idea that maybe reforming our current drug policies should be accomplished. ‘Tobbell’s book directly addresses this question, clearly describing the struggle for drug reform and presenting several strategies used by the pharmaceutical industry to thwart major reform of this industry’ (Campbell 128). This shows that the general public has been open to the idea of reforming our drug policies as far back as fifty years ago. The significance of this is that this proves there are many people who agree with me that the drug policies should be reformed but pharmaceutical companies use their own strategies to thwart anything that does not result in a profit for themselves.
As we have discussed, former president Barack Obama was for the drug reform however there are people with opposing arguments former president Barack Obama. Drug reform that Obama announced did not happen because of opposing viewpoints on the topic. For example on ‘Turning the Tide on Drug Reform by Kristen Gwynne she says ‘ Decades later, the Choomer turned president is in a historically unprecedented position when it comes to drug policy in the United States (Gwynne 22)’. This shows how the author of this article is degrading and is unsupportive of former president Barack Obama’s approach to reforming our drug policies. The significance of this, is it shows that even if the president declares to reform our drug policies it still cannot be done even with public support.
We need to reform our drug policies because we have people that need it for medical purposes and have no access to it and there are no known affects of marijuana. Our drug policies should be reformed because there is no reason for it to be in its current state of being illegal because there are no harmful effects of it that science knows of.
