Abstract
Nowadays American society faces a number of questions and debates that considerably influence living conditions and safe future. The use and necessity to legalize marijuana is considered to be one of the most burning and important questions to deal with. One nation that is eager to achieve the same objectives and meet personal needs is divided into those who support and argue the idea of marijuana legislation in the United States. In fact, it sounds alerting.
A number of sources are devoted to the theme of marijuana and its impact on human health and lives. It is not always easy to give one clear and definite question whether marijuana legislation is necessary for the American society or not, this is why the main purpose of this paper is to investigate the current state of affairs and clear up really obligatory and strong reasons of this legislation process.
It is high time to enforce a controlled ban on that marijuana selling; however, the idea to create a strict quota basis for actual users for medical self-consumption against the prescription of certified medical practitioners who are mandated to prescribe such drugs for ailing patients has many unclear points. If the concept of marijuana could be changed over time from a commercial drug to a pharmaceutical drug, it could go a long way to ensure its judicial success.
In this paper, the evaluation of available sources that contain clear information about marijuana, its process of legislation, and people’s attitude to this drug will be given.
With the help of personal knowledge, thorough analysis, and constant investigations of the subject, it is possible to realize the reasons to make use of while marijuana legislation process. Among the variety of such reasons, the idea to legalize marijuana under strict conditions and restrictions sounds rather persuasive and clear to help people improve their lives and choose the safest methods.
What I Want to Know and Why
The question of marijuana legalization has been discussed in many countries for a long period of time. Those people who prefer to use this psychoactive drug try to find out as many reasons as possible in order to protect the use of marijuana and prove that its legalization is a perfect step up for many people.
And those people who cannot realize why so many people agree to use this drug and become dependent on its power do not want to accept the idea of legislation and insist on establishment special norms according to which the use of marijuana may be controlled.
In my opinion, in order to give a clear answer to the question whether it is urgent and necessary to legalize marijuana in the United States, it is very important to say unbiased and be able to gather as many different sources as possible and define both weak and strong sides of the issue under discussion.
What I want to know is the reasons of why so many people use such serious psychoactive drug as marijuana of their own accord and do not want to pay special attention to their activities and the outcomes of their activities and why so many people prefer to stop using marijuana and blame marijuana smokers for inability to think about future, safe, and sound of human generation. In fact, marijuana use is considered to be less harmful in comparison to other drugs.
This is why it is very important to compare the effects of marijuana on people’s health, define its possible medical benefits (if there are some), and clear up what makes people strive for marijuana legalization in the United States of America.
It is also possible to evaluate two types of the situation: one is when marijuana is legalized; and another is when marijuana is prohibited, and its users undergo certain punishment because of its selling and using. After such evaluation is made, the answer to the question whether marijuana legalization is worthwhile or not may be given.
Search for Information and Focus
One of the first sources by means of which I get to know about marijuana, its effects, and the peculiarities of use was television. My passion to movies and the variety of themes touched upon there usually help me recognize the main aspects of American style of life, people’s preferences, and challenges to overcome.
Requiem for a Dream is probably one of the most serious and provocative movies about the use of marijuana (cannabis) and many other drugs which influence human perception of the world, human possibilities, and dreams.
Other movies like American Beauty or Alpha Dog are also good sources to comprehend why some people cannot accept the idea of marijuana use in everyday life and why many people still find some kind of help that comes form marijuana (that is usually relief, satisfaction, relaxation, calmness, or vice versa obligatory drive). However, movies are not the only reliable and helpful sources to realize the necessity, effects, and legalization of marijuana.
A number of articles and books’ writers pay special attention to the question of marijuana legalization. The possibility to find necessary sources online is good indeed: it does not necessary to spend much time waiting in queues or visiting the library that is far from your house.
This is why all I need to find out interesting and reliable information is to look through my personal video collection, choose several provocative articles and books, and communicate with people. Communication with people who have different opinions, evaluation of politicians’ positions, and focus on my personal attitude to the problem turn out to be helpful in order to develop the necessary research and give a clear answer to the question concerning the process of marijuana legalization.
What I Learned
Summary of sources. The vast majority of medical workers admit that “marijuana-based medicines may prove helpful in treating a variety of painful symptoms associated with AIDS” (Mack and Joy 90). This is why it is easy to find out many positive feedbacks of marijuana use from a pure medical perspective and it is very important to evaluate once again the necessity of marijuana legislation under a number of distinctions, social norms, and legal restrictions.
A captivating and meaningful observation that “marijuana prohibition is unique among American criminal laws… no other law is both so widely and harshly and yet deemed unnecessary by such a substantial portion of the populace” was introduced in one academic journal that meets my eye (Nadelmann 28).
I was so fond of information found there that made a decision to find out several more articles from academic journals to discover what other sophisticated people think about the idea of marijuana legislation and why this question is still open. It was discovered that the vast majority of governmental representatives still forbid doctors promote the use of marijuana even if it is medically useful (Kreit 1795).
However, the movies prove that people continue selling and using marijuana without considering whether it is legal or not. People truly believe that they can reach their dreams and become more important in this world.
For example, the main character of Requiem for a Dream says, “I’m somebody now… Everybody likes me. Soon, millions of people will see me and they’ll all like me” (Requiem for a Dream). It is also necessary to admit American Beauty (1999), when the main character start using marijuana to change his mood and become closer to his dreams and ideas, and Alpha Dog (2006), where almost each character is connected to marijuana by means of its selling, buying, and using.
Legalization of Marijuana Selling: Advantages and Disadvantages. Drugs like marijuana are indiscriminately used for pleasure or commercially distributed for profits and quite capable of causing major short-term detriment both to the bodies and to minds of its users.
If it is used over some period, the outcomes connected to health hazards may become irreparable. Thus, it is necessary to admit that government continues taking considerable actions against such occurrences in the interests of public good in order to ensure concrete health standards of the public especially among young people who may not be fully aware of the threats that are caused by constant consumption of non-medically prescribed and supervised marijuana.
Besides, there are also concerns that if and once legal precedents have been set regarding these drug groups, it would be difficult to allow similar cases in future indeed.
I also learned that the medical aspects of the drug groups have to be differentiated from its commercial and economic elements. There are also issues concerning some medical aspects that are disassociated with others. On the one hand, the medicinal use entails growing, cultivation, marketing, and distribution of these lethal drugs without prejudice to its content and consumption values.
The supply chain management and logistics for medicinal use may not be different from that of commercial use. On the other hand, Customer Marijuana ID permissions and quota restrictions on case-to-case basis could be manipulated and used by drug groups that lead to real fears through arm-twisting and malpractices.
To comprehend clearly why marijuana legalization has still to be justified, it is possible to compare it to some other types of drugs and means people prefer to use to relax, feel relief, forget about challenges of reality, and enjoy this life.
In comparison to alcohol and cigarettes which may cause death very often (more than 100,000 Americans die from alcohol use, and more than 400,000 Americans dies from tobacco use), marijuana users are not under a threat of being dead. Of course, the idea to overuse marijuana, inability to control human desires and demands may be fatal for the vast majority of people without consideration whether this drug is legal or not.
The threats of marijuana are also evident: its use may lead to short-term memory loss however, it occurs only in case of considerable influence. Long-term memory cannot undergo considerable changes and damages because of marijuana use. However, again in comparison to other drugs like alcohol, it is possible to drink a lot, not notice danger, and be injured.
Human experience proves that marijuana does not influence the work of brain, does not damage either genetic structure or the immune system. Alcohol in its turn influences considerably the work of brain and may lead to serious dangers. Smoking cigarettes leads to numerous health problems such as lung cancer, and the use of marijuana is possible by means of food so that marijuana does not have serious damages connected to human health.
The point is that more experienced people who get a clear idea of what the possible safe doze means and how dangerous the use of drugs is are able to evaluate the situation and use marijuana in order to get pleasure and be satisfied.
Solution. As it has been mentioned above, it is quite possible to legalize marijuana under a number of restrictions, and one of them is the process of marijuana taxation.
However, in 1937, the Marijuana Tax Act has been already adopted and proclaimed that any user of marijuana had to pay taxes in order to get a legal permission of having this drug. However, within a short period of time, the federal government argued against this act and the results were terrible: more than 500,000 Americans continued to be arrested annually (Goldberg 74).
Young people and children do not understand how to use drugs properly and forget about all possible precautionary measures, this is why even Vitamin C may be dangerous in children’s hands. This is why when the questions of marijuana legalization is raised, the following clarifications have to be mentioned:
- Age restrictions (they may be even the same which are inherent to cigarette smokers);
- Attention to driving and the use of marijuana (drunk people need to pass through numerous tests and pay fines; the same should be used in regard to marijuana smoker-drivers);
- Appropriate taxation (this method prevents easy possibilities to find marijuana);
- Proper advertisement (if marijuana legalization is possible, the conditions under which it is promoted to people should not be different in comparison to other drugs advertised);
- Development of special centers (marijuana users should have a chance to drop this habit and have the place where to go and share personal worries).
Each drug has a number of harmful outcomes but some of them are still legal. This is why it is useless to forbid the use of marijuana. Medical experiences help to realize that marijuana has the same or even less harmful outcomes for human health.
Not long time ago, it was difficult to imagine a young lady smoking because this activity is harmful for female health and influences the functions of reproduction. However, nowadays, many women continue smoking and drop this habit in case they are emotionally ready for it. Marijuana does not influence any reproductive functions; it helps to relieve pain and decrease the level of human suffering.
Those people who still cannot agree to the idea of marijuana legalization should evaluate their opinions and ideas once again and conduct a number of researches which help to compare how dangerous legalized marijuana can be, smoking is, and the use of alcohol is.
Importance of marijuana legalization. Observations show that our society is divided into those who support the idea of marijuana and those who cannot realize its necessity. Numerous debates, quarrels, and fights take place in order to prove each position. However, smokers and non-smokers do not use the same methods to prove their rights. Legalization of smoking and alcohol decrease the level of violence caused by the necessity to prove something.
In its turn if the use of marijuana is legalized, people should not care of necessity to prove their rights. They are all equal, and people have the right of choice. Those who want to use marijuana are able to use it, and those who do not find it necessary are able to avoid this habit. However, any person will be able to prove his/her rights and opinions as for marijuana by means of power and law.
Government should take care of its citizens, and if marijuana legalization may lead to better understanding of human needs and interests, this chance should be used. I think that after this drug is legalized, all problems and misunderstandings around this question will disappear. Those people who use marijuana are able to find it whether it is legalized or not, this is why governmental bans do not support the idea of safe and sound present and future but create a number of obstacles for citizens.
Smoking and alcohol is prohibited in public places; the same should happen to marijuana. Under such conditions, American people get one more chance to feel the taste of freedom and its beauty.
American civilization is smart and strong. People will hardly harm themselves without proper reasons and grounds, and marijuana is not the reason to worry about. When it is legalized, the problems of marijuana will be solved, and government as well as American citizen will get more time and efforts to pay attention to other burning problems like terrorism, obesity, violence, and kidnapping.
Self Evaluation
It is a shame to admit but it was unknown for me that the use of marijuana may be justified from the medical perspective. If I was deeply informed about all these medical issues and the use of marijuana, the research concerning its legalization could be focused more on the ideas on how to legalize its use and explain other people the necessity of this legalization.
There are so many drugs which are used by people legally and which lead to negative outcomes and threats for health. But still people continue using different dangerous drugs, taking extreme actions, and thinking that everything is not as dangerous as many people think. In fact, marijuana is not the worst and harmful in comparison to alcohol or cigarettes. And people get used to think that if it is not legalized, it is more dangerous for health and do not want to pay attention to current achievements and human personal experiences.
It is widely known that any forbidden fruit is sweet, and those who cannot reach the desirable object legally make numerous attempts and invent a number of ways to achieve this purpose. And if a person gets the right to use marijuana legally, it may become even boring with time. This is why it is better to make marijuana available for all people and legalize it under concrete conditions.
In case marijuana is legalized, more time may be spent on solving other problems. And I cannot comprehend the reason of why so many sophisticated people cannot define the necessity of marijuana legalization at least to decrease the level of violence and quarrels which happen between supporters and opponents of marijuana.
I think it is still important to continue this type of investigation in order to find out reasons that are more powerful and prove that marijuana is not the most serious problem to deal with, and its legalization has many positive aspects that have to be explained to people.
Works Cited
Alpha Dog. Dir. Nick Cassavetes and Paul Ralph. Perf. Bruce Willis, Justin Timberlake, Emile Hirsch. 2006. DVD.
American Beauty. Dir. Sam Mendes. Prod. Bruce Cohen. Perf. Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch. Dreamworks, 1999. DVD.
Goldberg, Ray. Drugs across the Spectrum. Belmont: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2010. Print.
Kreit, Alex. “The Future of Medical Marijuana: Should the States Grown Their Own?” University of Pennsylvania Law Review 151.5 (2003):1787 – 1826.
Mack, Alison and Joy, Janet, E. Marijuana as Medicine?: The Science Beyond the Controversy. Washington: National Academy Press, 2001.
Nadelmann, Ethan. “An End to Marijuana Prohibition: The Drive to Legalize Picks up.” National Review 56.13 (2004): 326 – 332.
Requiem for a Dream. Dir. Darren Aronofsky. Perf. Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Marlon Wayans. Artisan Entertainment, 2000. DVD.