As many of you probably already know marijuana was recently legalized in both the states of Colorado and Washington. Yet, it's still not determined legal by the federal government anywhere in the United States, yet anyway. Should this change, should marijuana be legal everywhere? Many people are asking what's the harm? Marijuana never hurt anyone right?
Many studies have proved that marijuana use can be beneficial in many ways. Some of these include helping chemotherapy and AIDS patients by curbing the nausea and vomiting and increasing their hunger. There is also a lot of evidence that marijuana can provide long-term palliative care for various types of patients that are in significant pain constantly. Other benefits include help with glaucoma, asthma, movement disorders, neurogenic pain, unintentional weight loss, and treatment of premenstrual syndrome. There are also studies proving that zero deaths were reported due to marijuana use between the years of 1997 and 2005. These findings are the reason that medicinal marijuana is legal to many patients currently in the United States. Some doctors even say that marijuana use beats highly addictive narcotic use when it comes to patients dealing with pain. So why is it not legal everywhere yet?
Well, there are also some downsides to the use of marijuana. Some studies have shown that marijuana may have a negative effect on memory, intelligence, respiratory function, and may lead to a higher rate of mental disorders in some users, such as schizophrenia, psychosis, and depression. It is shown however, that if used during young adulthood, marijuana doesn't appear to have these negative effects on the users. However, it's not known whether these negative drawbacks are any more common with marijuana use than they are with the use of any other recreational drug, such as alcohol which is obviously legal if you're over the age of twenty-one in any U.S. state. So, should marijuana be legal in every state? I feel like it will keep getting passed in more and more states and eventually even the federal government when deem it legal.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-superhuman-mind/201212/yet-another-reason-legalize-marijuana
Considering the fact that alcohol use which has been associated with memory loss, impaired cognitive functioning, accidental deaths,and addiction, it seems to me that federal laws that deem marijuana use as illegal are arbitrary and are based solely upon conservative social attitudes. Marijuana has been demonstrated alleviate symptoms/pain with a wide spectrum of medical and psychological disorders. Furthermore, as you noted, it can be used to provide palliative care instead of the use of highly addictive narcotics. However, there seems to be a lack of scientific investigations examining potential negative side effects that utilize a longitudinal design (this is likely due to IRB restrictions and ethical issues.) Nonetheless, marijuana appears to be "safer" than alcohol, which is legal. Additionally, legalizing marijuana would create jobs, generate revenue for the federal government, and eliminate a considerable amount of crime in the United States.
ReplyDeleteI feel that if the use of cigarettes which has been proven to cause cancer and also the use of alcohol as the person before me stated has been associated with memory loss, marijuana use should be legalized in all the states. However as in the case of cigarettes and alcohol it should be monitored if not monitored more than the other two. This being said there is also the downside of legalizing it where people would misuse it more than the other two i feel like. If we legalize marijuana now, I feel that people will take full advantage of it and this might prove to be a problem.
ReplyDeleteThe current restrictions on marijuana are the results of lobbying in economics and discrimination. The experiment the government cited for cannabis effects on the brain uses monkeys, attached to gas masks pumping marijuana smoke. The monkeys died and the autopsy showed brain damage which they linked to the smoke, but in reality was due to suffocation, for the little oxygen was delivered. Our brain cells begin to die after 5 minutes of oxygen deprivation. Of course there were also lobbying effects like from paper companies and even polyester producers (DuPont was a big contributor). Mixed with discrimination in American society associating reefer to hippies getting in the way of government policies (and even jazz musicians), the government swiftly criminalized it.
ReplyDeleteMost research since (and even prior) has not shown nearly gloomy results, if at all. The marijuana plant has so many uses outside its modern medical spectrum, it would only continue to be foolish of the government to not legalize and utilize it. Hemp (from the marijuana plant), for example, is the strongest natural fiber used to make clothing and rope. It was advocated (almost mandated) to be grown and used in WWII efforts for making uniforms and other products. Interests are pioneering technology in the hemp industry for making biodiesel/biofuel. The marijuana plant has been used historically for making necessities and products like baskets and paper, to medicinal uses in treating glaucoma, and even psychological treatment.
There are easily more reasons to legalize it than not. Eventually the government will consider reason, as a newer era or people and ideas enters into politics.
The fact is that making Marijuana illegal is probably one of the dumbest things that our nation has done. The hemp plant was used for hundreds of things when our nation was founded and even with all of the innovation that has surged within the last 100 years there are still a slew of things that it could do for us. All of that aside, smoking marijuana should not be taken that seriously as the detrimental effects that are associated with it are hugely trumped by legal substances. As Aalok said above, the experiment that the government references for the negative effects of cannabis used a gas mask administration. Of course that's going to give results of monkeys dying from brain damage and suffocation. I think that the mode of delivery is a big part of why it remains illegal as well. People freak out when something is administered through the lungs especially in the case of marijuana, where smoke inhalation is probably the best method of delivery. I think that if a new way of ingestion was looked at it would ease people's concerns on the "drug." I am hopeful that legalization will happen one day, but I don't think that its going to be for a good long while. Even if all of the states legalize for true recreational use, the FED will take much, much longer to convince. Everyone is under the false notion that marijuana use turns people into dumb, unpredictable, violent individuals; I think the world would just be a more enjoyable and tolerable place if everyone shut up and hit a blunt a few times every now and then.
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