Minor argument
Conlusion: Marijuana should not be legalised.
Premises 1: If marijuana were to be legalized it would be impossible to regulate its’ sell to, and use by the minors. It would set free, the bounds that exist on the transit of the drug, making it reach the intended and unintended places including possession by children. The use of the drug by minors on the other hand has devastating effects.
Premises 2: legalization increases the use of the drug for non-medical reasons. Legalization increases the circulation in the society which means that those who are to use it for reactional purposes are also getting it at increased rates than when it is illegal. The increased use for non-medical reasons means more abuse in the society (White, 2009).
Premises 3: Marijuana use has long-term adverse medical effects. Legalization the legalization would mean that the country was allowing the citizens be exposed to these conditions when it was possible to control such through having it remain illegal (Vick, 2010).
Premise 4: Even when used for medical reasons, Marijuana still has side effects which need to be avoided through not legalizing it. They include destabilized thinking.
Premise 5: With legal marijuana, deviancy cases will increase. Marijuana has been directly related to crime. With it being legalized, the impact is that crime will rise.
Support: As Govier (2010) identifies, “Marijuana should not be legalized. That’s because sustained use of marijuana worsens a person’s memory, and nothing that adversely affects one’s mental abilities should be legalized”. According to Govier (2010), the medical harms of marijuana outweigh its medical benefits.
Lepore (1985) states, “Marijuana should not be legalized because of its side effects!!” According to Lepore (1985), “Marijuana weakens the adrenal glands”, and displaces a vitamin called L-glutamine. The loss of L-glutamine, according to Lepore (1985), makes one have a hampered thinking.
A survey by U.S Department of Justice (1992), identified that 80 percent of the American population believe “it was a bad idea” to legalize and only “14% said it was a good idea”. As Peck and Dolch (2001) state, Marijuana use in a case study caused a boy to, “ran away from home a couple of times, vandalize buildings, and stole things”. As the authors believe, such use distorts the normal behavior of the citizens thus a loss especially from the most active category of the youth.
Major argument
Conlusion: marijuana should be legalized.
Premise 1: Marijuana remaining illegal is against the constitutional rights of people. According to the constitution, citizen posses the right to chose what they do as liberty bestowed on them by the constitution. Not legalizing it makes it that the government was controlling their liberty thus defining what they can do not do with their own lives.
Premise 2: Some people are prescribed to use marijuana as a medication to their medical conditions. Making marijuana illegal is denying them a right to the use of this substance as a medicine. This is inhumane because for some the unavailability of marijuana due to its being illegal means they have to suffer pains (Cantor & Berkowitz, 1984).
Premise 3: Having marijuana as illegal is an act of discrimination. It discriminates the minority who are the citizens and users of the drug. This discrimination leads to branding and name calling on this category and thus an act which continues and fuels deviancy in society.
Premise 4: Marijuana being illegal causes legal battles which lead to waste of security and law enforcement resources. With this quality, the police units are engaged in constant struggles called drug wars. This reduces the number of police who can be engaged in other meaningful security activities aimed at protecting citizens.
Support: Rosenthal, Kubby and Newhart (2003) state, “ the damage to the mental health of millions of Americans as a result of arrest, incarceration, loss of property, and humiliation are far more serious than any medical damage ever reported from the use of marijuana” as Rosenthal, Kubby and Newhart (2003) believe, marijuana’s use for medical reasons is a valid reason why it has to be legalized because for these categories, denying them through having it illegal is like denying then a drug they cannot live without.
As Rosenthal, Kubby and Newhart (2003) believe too, the millions who depend on marijuana for medical and non-medical reasons should not be made to suffer further loses through the court procedures they are put to.
Study done by Flowers (1999) reveled that, “1 in 10 respondents believed use of marijuana should be legal. Nearly 49 percent felt that marijuana should be legal by prescription for medical purposes, while over 13 percent believed marijuana use should be decriminalized”
References
Cantor, N., & Berkowitz, L. (1984). Theorizing in social psychology: Special topics. Orlando: Academic Press.
Flowers, R. B. (1999). Drugs, alcohol and criminality in American society. Jefferson, NC: McFarland.
Govier, T. (2010). A practical study of argument. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning.
Lepore, D. (1985). The ultimate healing system: Breakthrough in nutrition, Kinesiology and holistic healing techniques: course manual. Pleasant Grove, Utah: Woodland Pub.
Rosenthal, E., Kubby, S., & Newhart, S. (2003). Why marijuana should be legal. Philadelphia: Running Press.
U.S Department of Justice (1992). Drugs, Crime, and the Justice System. New York: DIANE Publishing.
Peck, D. L., & Dolch, N. A. (2001). Extraordinary behavior: A case study approach to understanding social problems. Westport, Conn: Praeger.
Vick, D. (2010). Drugs & Alcohol in the 21st Century: Theory, Behavior, & Policy. NY: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
White, J. E. (2009). Contemporary moral problems. Australia: Thomson Wadsworth.