According to government figures, nearly 70 million Americans have smokedmarijuana at some time in their lives.
18 million have smoked marijuana within the lastyear, and ten million are regular smokers. Almost all of the people arrested for marijuanaare arrested for possession. And because of harsh federal and state penalties, these peoplemay be sentenced to lengthy jail terms. This is an abuse of drug laws in a great nation. Themarijuana laws need to be reformed, and the war against marijuana rethought.
One reason these laws need to be rethought is for medicinal purposes. Most peoplethink marijuana is a dangerous drug that can kill. This is true if taken in heavy doses butthats also true for aspirin, alcohol and ibuprofen, which are all largely legal. Doctors havediscovered that under controlled and medical supervision, marijuana has is one of the safesttherapeutically active substances known to man says Dr. Grinspoon, at the University ofFlorida. This is just one reason why it should be allowed for medical purposes.
Marijuanahas been proven to help cancer patients recover from the results of chemotherapy. Sometimes these results of chemo are so great that cancer patients cant continue with theprocedure and walk away from it. Marijuana has also been used successfully to helppeople with anorexia. It has given these people appetites and in some cases almostcompletely cured them.
And another medical use for it is glaucoma. Marijuana has beenknown to help glaucoma sufferers greatly and to enhance their lives. Although marijuanahas all these positive qualities that dont seem to have bad side effects, federal law allowsphysicians to prescribe far more dangerous drugs to patients. And yet refuses marijuana into themedical field. Another reason to reform the marijuana laws is to help our country socially andeconomically. America spent 20 billion dollars on the anti-drug budget last year, and thegovernments own research says that drugs, including marijuana, are more cheap, pure andavailable than before.
This large amount of money that comes out of taxpayers pocketscould be used for more useful things like schools, roads, and cancer research. Over half amillion people in our nations jails are in there on drug charges, 53% being charged formarijuana possession. These overcrowded jails could be holding much more seriouscriminals. It takes 23,000 dollars to hold each prisoner in jail for one year, which is alsovery costly to America. Marijuana offenders can loose their drivers license, their occupationallicenses, loss of child custody, loss of federal benefits and even face removal from publichousing. They can even lose their cars, cash, boats, land, and houses.
Another reason for marijuana reform is because the laws dont work. Theprohibition against marijuana hasnt stopped marijuana use by teens, or anyone else. Research has been done on high school seniors in decriminalized states compared to stateswith marijuana penalties since the mid 1970s. These studies show that decriminalizationhas had virtually no effect on marijuana use.
Another thing to think about is: Why is thiscountry trying to end marijuana use when studies show that the prohibition is bringingcrime with it? If laws were reformed, the black market would disappear and manymarijuana dealers would surface overnight. International studies also indicate that ifmarijuana laws were to be removed crime actually declines instead of increasing. Anotherthing is that casualties from marijuana are very rare. In fact, deaths from all illegal drugs isless then 20,000 annually. Compared to 450,000 people who die from alcohol andtobacco, this is a tiny number.
Should alcohol and tobacco be prohibited? Of course not,that would bring utter chaos. The Netherlands are a living model to solve the marijuanaproblem America today. Since 1976 marijuana possession has been allowed by thegovernment of the Netherlands. Investigations show that marijuana use or crime relatingto marijuana hasnt gone up.
Who is to question that the same wouldnt happen here?Overall, the marijuana laws need to be rethought and the fight opposing marijuananeeds to end. There are many important reasons that for this, including the medicinal usefor marijuana, improving crime rates, and superior budget spending for the country. Also,illegal drug use would go down and the policemen and law enforcers could spend moretime on serious criminals. The nations jails would be much less crowded and money on theprisoners could be used elsewhere. Its not crazy to think that if America followed theNetherlands and other countries footsteps, our country would be a better place.Words/ Pages : 734 / 24
