The substantiation of marijuana and Hemp is a concern among the Americans. As such, the authorities focus on whether or not to legalize the growth, sell, or purchase of marijuana. Marijuana flowers contain “an active chemical compound known as cannabinoids” (Morgan 7). This compound is psychoactive, and its consumption is primarily for leisure and remedial purposes.
It is important to acknowledge that there was no regulation of cannabis plants in the United States before the 20th century as Marijuana was a crucial constitute in medicines. The movement against alcohol in the country brought gave rise to the objections against Marijuana. The growing concern over wrongs and aggression associated with haulage of the drug made Marijuana illegal in the U.S.
Legislation changes often occur in the United States when a new president takes office. The president’s beliefs stimulate the creation of these laws. During the term of president bush, he emphasized on enforcing laws against the marijuana drug. The federal agents thus medical dispensaries associated with Marijuana, doctor’s offices and marijuana gardens (Morgan 7). After Obama became America’s president in 2009, there was the conception of a new administration.
According to the new administration, the federal agents would not plunder the Marijuana dispensaries thus complying with the state laws (Morgan 8). In addition, the federal agents would not chase the marijuana users and cases involving illegal possession or sales to the minors would undergo scrutiny. Legalization proponents know exceedingly well that the American public cannot accept the choice of policy they advocate for (Rogers 32).
For instance, “ONDCP” outlines some reservations concerning the legalization of hemp being an agricultural product due to the potential for increasing growth and use of Marijuana. Majority of the other proponents concerned with legalization of hemp are not honest with their goals, as industrious farmers would like to grow the crop in order to support their families.
A significant proportion indicates that legalization of therapeutic Marijuana would assist in preventing the demise of cancer patients. Legalization should be on the sale of the drug except for minors (Rogers 34). Whether people term legalization as harm reduction, it remains legalization.
Arguments by proponents assert that legalization is the only cure for the nation’s drug deficiency. However, not all state decrees connect with the federal stipulations concerning Marijuana. For instance, California legalized Marijuana for restorative purposes in 1996.
Reports by therapeutic professionals confirmed that Marijuana offers health benefits for individuals who are prone to migraines and nausea. These reports forced some lawmakers to alter their thoughts as they considered the use of Marijuana as detrimental to human health (Morgan 9).
This conflicting information from the health experts leaves the majority of the people uneasy about medical Marijuana. Going by 2010, 15 states have provided allowances for the use of Marijuana in manufacturing drugs. Examples of these states include “Alaska, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, and Maryland” (Morgan12).
However, according to reports by the “British Lung Foundation” confirmed that Marijuana culminates in lung infectivity and damages to the bronchi. It also weakens the immunity of the user. Contrary to this, a study by the “American Thoracic Society” reported that to the heavy users, there is no increased risk for cancer (Morgan12).
Onto both sides of the debate, legalizing marijuana pertains to the moral issues of the people. Many individuals tend to believe that the use of Marijuana is morally wrong as it alters the mental state of the user and leads to dangerous addictions and actions in the end.
They strongly agree that by legalizing the use of Marijuana, the government would be encouraging unethical practices. They continue to believe that the use of Marijuana promotes laziness and hedging of responsibilities. However, ensuring that Marijuana is illegal is the surest way to protect families from unscrupulous behaviors that would otherwise decrease responsibility and levels of productivity (Morgan12).
Those who favor legalization of Marijuana affirm that People have their own right to make choices on what to undertake on their bodies. The supporters of legalization argue that prohibiting the use of Marijuana violates the constitutional right of expression thus limiting growth of a society. The struggling of the U.S economy in the first decade of the 21st century pushed the lawbreakers to reflect on how the country uses its depleted resources. This eventually led to re-energization of legalizing Marijuana.
Proponents believe that legalizing Marijuana creates a potent source of income through tax revenue since taxation of the drug would be eminent just as any legal business. They still believe that altering this law saves on expenses.
According to their view, Marijuana is not that harmful, and the amount of money spent to sustain Marijuana illegal including prosecuting, and imprisoning offenders instead be used elsewhere. These supporters of legalization also believe that time and resources used by the police instead be efficiently spent when tracking down the most perilous criminals.
The opponents of legalization believe in another economic squabble. They argue that the short-term revenue resulting from taxation of Marijuana negates due to increased violent crimes resulting from the majority of the people using drugs. This will drive the society to incorporate more resources into the police entities together with prisons.
It forces people to set aside some money on personal safety to shield themselves from drug addicts. Moreover, these drug addicts would be of no use to the society, as they will not contribute productively to it making the economy lose the contributions of intelligent minds and bodies (Morgan 15).
The “legalization of Marijuana and hemp” abundantly offers food benefits. The oil derived from the hemp plant serves as an appropriate dietary supplement due to the high levels of fatty acids and proteins. These fatty acids are fundamental as they normalize immune responses.
Hemp oil also serves to manufacture pharmaceuticals and making of cosmetics. This oil offers some technical applications thus used to manufacture paints and plastics. During food shortages requiring instant emergency, hemp seeds are beneficial as they allow processing into nondairy milk and cheese (Buxton 201).
Hemp is useful to the body as it aids in relaxation by cutting back on stress. It enhances creativity as its use enables the ideas to flow smoothly and easily. It also enhances music appreciation as it enhances a strong connection to music.
Other positive benefits associated with hemp are that it reliefs headache pains and cramps. In addition, it diminishes nausea, a medicinal purpose. Hemp is also valuable to the bulk of the asthma patients who smoke it. It dilates the airways of the lungs, thus opening them to allow more oxygen in the lungs (Buxton 203).
Legalization of hemp as a vital resource would eliminate many economic and environmental barriers that revolve in the universe. To start with, legalization of hemp would do away with the need for wood in paper products.
The amount of hemp grown on one acre of land is four times comparing with the amount of wood generated. The hemp plant needs only four months to be set for harvesting, compared to almost ten years needed for trees. In addition, the paper generated from hemp is more durable than that generated from wood and requires low fabrication costs (Rawlins & Metzger 172).
The hemp plant is more amenable to many soils thus allowing substantial growth globally. It does not degrade the soil unlike the majority of the rotation crops since hemp aerate the soil thus allowing for more productivity. Nearly, 1/3 of hemp seed constitutes oil.
The usage of hemp oil in vanishes eliminates necessity for petrochemical oils. Since the hemp seed is biodegradable, it is useful as diesel fuel and as a lubricant resulting to minimal environmental pollutions. Raid growth of hemp suits it as the ultimate renewable resource of biomass worldwide. Use of hemp instead of fossil fuels is feasible (Rawlins & Metzger 174).
However, the substantiation of Marijuana and hemp will also be associated with several cons that have an unconstructive impact on the entire society. Legalization of these drugs will pass a message to the young children that the use of drugs is entirely acceptable.
This will transform the children to consume drugs due to the acceptability. This will increase the levels of children addiction to drugs and will affect their studies in school at the end. The society will suffer, as it will lack reliable and capable people who would otherwise be of considerable use in the society.
This legalization will deprive the user of free will, as drugs are highly addictive. Majority of the drug users will lack the capability of making informed decisions to shun using the drug as the drug deprives the user’s ability to think logically.
These users can no longer disassociate themselves from taking drugs. Moreover, the use of drugs is detrimental to individuals close to the user. There will be a colossal raise in health-associated costs. This is due to referral of users to hospitals for further treatment due to over use of the drug (Hoeger 457).
This will lead to setting aside of extra cash for taking care their health, as opposed to using this money for other vital uses. Violence associated with the use of the drug will also be common. Neglect of children by their parents addicted to drugs will also be common.
Their parents will abandon their responsibilities thus forcing their kids to survive on their own, and this will force others to take refuge in the streets. Legalization of these drugs will mean that the drugs will be easily accessible. This will lead to the emergence of new consumers of the drug other than rescuing the current users of the drug thus increasing the number of drug addicts (Hoeger 459).
Conclusion
Though the legalization of these drugs for medicinal purposes will fix the drug problem, there will be several concerns on drug abuse. In as much as Marijuana and hemp will be useful in getting a cure for cancer, the greatest concern is that a significant proportion will exploit the drugs for individual gratification thus affecting development of the society.
This is reliant on an individual’s morals on whether to abuse the drug or not once, upon legalization. As such, legalization is not representative that individuals should coddle in the exploitation of drugs. It is worth denoting that morals should guide individuals when making grave decisions.
Works Cited
Buxton, Julia. The political economy of narcotics: production, consumption and global markets. New York, NY: Zed Books, 2006. Print.
Hoeger, Wener. & Hoeger, Sharon. Principles and Labs for Fitness and Wellness. New York, NY: Cengage Learning.
Morgan, Kayla. Legalizing Marijuana. New York, NY: ABDO, 2010. Print.
Rawlins, Jack. & Metzger, Stephen. The Writer’s Way. New York, NY: Cengage Learning, 2011. Print.
Rogers, Kara. Substance Use and Abuse. New York, NY: The Rosen Publishing Group, 2011. Print.