Introduction
Also known as cannabis, Marijuana primarily consists of dry leaves of the hemp plant that people chew or smoke in order to experience euphoric effects. Besides tobacco and bhang, people around the world consume large quantities of marijuana, and as a result, debates have emerged on whether governments should legalize marijuana like alcohol or maintain its ground that it is an illegal drug. In the United States, for example, a major debate ensued in the year 2005 on whether or not to treat marijuana like alcohol (Debusmann Para. 2). Prior to this debate, approximately 5000 economists, among which there were three winners of the much-coveted Nobel prize, had written an open letter calling for attention towards the economic benefits that would come as a result of treating marijuana like both alcohol and tobacco.
The responses to these debates were diverse and depended on the angle from which one approached the issue. One such response came from William Buckley. According to Buckley’s argument, it would be good if people treated marijuana like alcohol. To ensure that its legalization would not bring any problems, he further added that the government should intervene in its regulation, control, and taxes on top of making it illegal to children as it does to alcohol. Considering the benefits that would accompany the legalization of marijuana and its treatment like alcohol, I strongly agree with Buckley’s comparison; marijuana should be treated like alcohol.
Comparison between Marijuana and Alcohol
Though consumed differently, marijuana is similar to alcohol in many ways. First, the use of marijuana affects the body initially in a similar way as alcohol. The short-term effects are decreased concentration and slowness in making decisions. The use of alcohol also causes similar short-term effects. The second similarity between marijuana and alcohol is how it stimulates the body. Ashton argues that, once an individual takes marijuana, “the body responds shortly afterward, but the effect lasts for only three hours” (104). When one takes marijuana in combination with other consumables, the body takes longer to respond, and the resultant effects last for quite a long period. Alcohol also has similar short-term effects.
When taken alone, the short-term effects are short-lived but more intense. When taken with another drink, the effect on the drinker’s body is less intense and slower but lasts longer. The third similarity is that with prolonged use, both marijuana and alcohol cause addiction. Addiction is a craving that an individual develops towards a certain drug due to continuous use. Like alcohol, addiction in marijuana makes it difficult for the affected individual to stop taking it.
The only slight difference is that addiction to alcohol is more difficult to overcome. The fourth way in which marijuana is similar to alcohol is how it affects the user’s health after its prolonged consumption. Scholars have established that long-term consumption of marijuana causes cancer to the human body. In its composition, marijuana contains some cancer-causing agents similar to those in tobacco, the only difference being that those in tobacco are fewer.
Hall and Lemon argue that “an individual who usually takes five joints of marijuana daily consumes as many cancer-causing agents as one who takes a full packet of cigarettes” (113). These cancer-causing agents qualify marijuana for a disposing agent for head, neck, and testicular cancer. Like alcohol, Marijuana impairs the consumer’s immune system. Studies in the past have shown that prolonged use of marijuana weakens the T-cells in the lungs and reduces their ability to fight infection, which explains why marijuana consumers develop lung-related problems such as coughs and chest colds. The long-term effect of excessive alcohol consumption is hypertension. Another similarity marijuana has with alcohol is that it affects one’s ability to drive.
The drug impairs the user’s ability to track, control, or concentrate maximally on a moving vehicle. As a result, they take a longer duration to make decisions and increase their tendency to change lanes, a characteristic that is so common in alcohol consumers. Finally, marijuana has medicinal value. In some medical situations, doctors recommend the use of alcohol as the most appropriate cure. Similarly, doctors have established that marijuana has the ability to reduce symptoms of various side effects with minimum side effects. The comparison between marijuana and alcohol is realistic since the two drugs have many similarities in common; the big difference is only that the former is illegal while the latter is legal.
Benefits that can result from treating marijuana like alcohol
If governments enacted laws to legalize, regulate, and effectively control the consumption of marijuana, the accompanying benefits would be a hundredfold. First, through legalizing marijuana, governments would make billions after billions through the tax they levy on marijuana sellers and companies that manufacture the drugs. The letter from economists in the United States, who wanted the government to consider legalizing this drug, has illustrated this benefit well.
According to the letter, the economists posited, “legalizing marijuana would bring billions of dollars to the USA government” (Debusmann Para. 3-4). These billions come in two ways; first, they come through the huge savings that the government would make in its annual budget. Secondly, the government would make billions by taxing those organizations and individuals involved in the business of selling the drug. As a result, the government would have revenue that it would spend in improving its economy and the standards of living of its citizens.
Besides economic gains, by treating marijuana like alcohol, the government would achieve a reduction in the crime rate. Conventionally, one would think that legalizing marijuana causes an increase in crime rate rather than causing a decrease given the misconception that people have concerning drug abusers who engage in crimes and other violent activities. However, a deeper look at the situation reveals that the reverse is true. By pushing the government to treat marijuana like alcohol or simply legalize marijuana, it means that marijuana is illegal, and that is true; nevertheless, the illegality of the drug has facilitated the emergence of illegal markets popularly known as black markets.
Succeeding in acquiring and selling illegal drugs in the illegal markets, sometimes it involves violence. For instance, protecting such businesses from intervention by those in authority requires its operators to engage in crime. Debusmann argues that legalizing the drug would cause the disappearance of the illegal markets since their operators will find it needless to operate undercover if their government has already allowed them to sell their products freely (Para. 6). As a result, there would be no need for drug dealers to protect themselves from the authorities. Consequently, the cases of crime associated with this business would die slowly and finally diminish. Tobacco trade does not attract crime or violence simply because the business is legal and free to all provided one meets and keeps the stipulations put in place by law concerning the trade.
Legalizing Marijuana would also help to create medical benefits amongst populations. Studies in the past have shown that marijuana has medicinal value that would offer significant help to patients suffering from different types of ailments. In specific terms, marijuana with medicinal value has proved to be beneficial to patients suffering from “chronic pain, glaucoma, cancer, epilepsy, nausea, HIV, Aids and Crohn’s disease among others” (Mechoulam 21). However, it is worthy of mentioning that marijuana does not benefit the sufferers of these ailments by curing them, but rather by decreasing the severity of their symptoms or completely alleviating the pains. In addition, scientists have always shown that when the drug performs its medicinal functions, it does so with minimum side effects as compared to the drugs that the pharmaceuticals recommend.
Treatment of marijuana like alcohol by legalizing it also creates numerous job opportunities among citizens. Consider the industries that would emerge to seize the opportunity of legalized marijuana trade in the market. Such organizations would embark on mass production of manufactured joints and sell them through different retail outlets to the consumers. The operations in such industries would require human labor to monitor or carry out different operations necessary in the production of the final products. As a result, several job opportunities would emerge hence creating opportunities for the unemployed. The result would be improved living standards for thousands of unemployed people in the society. Other job opportunities would also come through different businesses that individuals set up to assist in the distribution of marijuana for commercial gains.
Treating marijuana like alcohol would cause relieve in the administrative arms of the government. The move would make its regular buyers prefer buying it by following the legal procedure rather than dealing with cartels, and as a result, the cartels would suffer big losses on their usual income. The cartels would then have no choice other than quitting the illegal business. The prisons, courts, and police would now have ample time to concentrate on more harmful and more dangerous criminals rather than trying to curb a few errant drug cartels. The police would have more time maintaining security while courts would have enough time dealing with more serious and sensitive cases. The prisons will also have adequate space for accommodating and reforming criminals.
Conclusion
Although the consumption of marijuana has negative short-term and long-term effects, it has tremendous advantages that would persuade governments to treat it like alcohol. If governments legalized marijuana, the economy would experience tremendous growth. The new legal business would create numerous job opportunities given the numerous processes that are involved in the processing of the drug. The citizenry will also benefit from its medicinal value.
Marijuana has many similarities to alcohol: It is addictive in nature; it affects one’s ability to concentrate on or control a moving vehicle fully; it has short-term and long-term effects on human health and has medicinal value. According to Buckley, governments should make efforts to legalize marijuana consumption because it has many benefits, and if anything, it compares strongly to alcohol, a legal drug. Therefore, in light of the explored points in this essay, I strongly agree with Buckley’s comparison between alcohol and marijuana.
Works Cited
Ashton, Heather. “Pharmacology and effects of cannabis: a brief review.” The British Journal of Psychiatry 178.1 (2001): 101–106.
Debusmann, Bernd. “The Great Debate: The Economic Case for Legal Marijuana.” Reuters, 2010. Web.
Hall, Wilson, and Lemon, John. The Health and Psychological Consequences of Cannabis Use. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service, 1994.
Mechoulam, Richard. Cannabinoids as therapeutic agents. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 1984.