In light of the increase in support for legalization of marijuana and maturity of research on its medicinal benefits, the United States has relaxed marijuana policies. Currently, more than 23 states have legalized the use of marijuana for medical purposes including Alaska and California (Wing, 2014)
Yet the report chooses to lump all of these drugs together in its summary analyses, making the implications that the marijuana trade is as damaging as any other when the reports own statistics show that this is far from the case (USDOJ, 2012). Research onto the media effectiveness of anti-marijuana campaigns actually explicitly mentions the success in exploiting not fears for personal health and safety but social fears regarding marijuana use in creating more effective drug abstinence campaigns, in what can only be read as an explicit acknowledgment of socially constructing this threat (Beaudoin & Hong, 2012)
Marijuana Social Threat The Social Threat of Marijuana: How Blowing Smoke Led to Legislative Repression and Other Practical Problems Marijuana, known by many names around the world and perhaps one of the world's oldest drugs, has only recently been the subject of intense legal and political scrutiny. Though it seems impossible to imagine, it was less than a century ago that marijuana became illegal in the United States, and initially it was only individual states that outlawed the substance (Goode & Ben-Yehuda, 2009)
Marijuana Social Threat The Social Threat of Marijuana: How Blowing Smoke Led to Legislative Repression and Other Practical Problems Marijuana, known by many names around the world and perhaps one of the world's oldest drugs, has only recently been the subject of intense legal and political scrutiny. Though it seems impossible to imagine, it was less than a century ago that marijuana became illegal in the United States, and initially it was only individual states that outlawed the substance (Goode & Ben-Yehuda, 2009)
While such "moral panics" are typically short lived, however, in the case of marijuana the perception of danger has been perpetuated (Goode & Ben-Yehuda, 1994). In the current era, research suggests that certain stigmas and preconceived notions that are associated with marijuana and its use are the primary impediments to legalization laws (Myers, 2011)
[additionally] upwards of 5000 people die from alcohol overdoses every year and no one EVER dies of marijuana overdoses." (Hager) Even those who argue against illegal drugs often gloss over the fact that Marijuana is less dangerous than other illegal drugs
' [or] former Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders' [who made a] call for a study to legalize drugs." (Maginnis) Protagonists of legalization claim that legalization or the relaxation of laws will save societal resources, eliminate prison overcrowding, help stop organize crime and reduce drug-crime, and aid in the production of safer "products" for medical and personal use that are less addictive or deadly
Obviously, instead of tweaking old laws and trying to better legislate the use of marijuana, this drug should be legalized. McGeorge Law Review -- Marijuana Misconceptions & Truths In the peer-reviewed McGeorge Law Review, the author points to the fact that experts believe the "adverse consequences of criminal sanctions" are greater than the "adverse consequences of marijuana" when smoked (Danovitch, 2013)
10. Taking those numbers further, and figuring that the government would be the marketing agency for marijuana, since an estimated 160,000 kilograms of marijuana are consumed in Canada annually (and that may be an underestimation given that Flister's figures are based on 2004 estimates), the government could realize tax benefits of "about $2 billion" (Flister, 97)
Thesis: The position of this writer is that Canada should proceed to decriminalize marijuana and remove the label of "controlled substance" -- because marijuana does less harm to users than alcohol and tobacco, and the potential tax windfall for the government would be enormously beneficial -- and the specifics of those positions are spelled out in this paper. Writer's Position on Decriminalizing Marijuana In the first place, alcohol and tobacco, according to the Drugs and Drug Policy in Canada, cause "…by far the greatest number of harms and costs to the population" (Riley, 1998)
State officials expect to receive up to $184 million in marijuana taxes in the first 18 months after recreational marijuana was legalized on January 1, 2014. What can be learned from the Netherlands? Marijuana has never been formally legalized in Holland, but the government has allowed coffee shops to sell small amounts for use on the premises -- as long as no sales of other drugs are available (Szalavitz, 2013)
Buying marijuana from a drug dealer sometimes opens the door to other, more dangerous drugs that the dealer might also have for sale; hence, legal sales reduces the user's contact with drug dealers, Szalavitz explains. Does Smoking Marijuana Cause Lung Cancer? Research conducted in 2008 by Patricia Weiss (RN, MSN, OCN, CCRP) shows that while some studies show there may be a "basis for cancer development" related to marijuana use, other research does not show "an association between a history of marijuana use and an increased risk of lung cancer" (Weiss, 2008)
Indeed, in 2010, 54% of the 113,100 arrests for drug crimes were for possession of marijuana (Flister, 98). Canada already has medical marijuana available on a doctor's prescription, and an article in Forbes (Wood, 2014) asserts that Canada expects "over $3
The total tax revenue for both recreational and medical marijuana in April was $5.3 million (Wyatt, 2014)
Not only does this help in making it more easily available, but it also increases its qualities and sellers have to compete and deliver better product, especially in places like Colorado where marijuana is legal. "Given its widespread availability throughout the United States and expanded use for medical conditions, it is reasonable to anticipate increasing number of adolescents turning to marijuana to treat chronic pain" (Harrison, Bruce, Weiss, Rummans, & Bostwick, 2013, p
In fact, in the past people used marijuana for a myriad of things, some of which were pain and loss of appetite. "During the mid- to late 1800's and early 1099s, cannabis was also used to treat symptoms of dysmenorrhea, insomnia, gonorrhea, stomach pain, loss of appetite, migraines, and typhoid fever" (Johnson, 2013, p
Analysis of issues Many see the positive effects of marijuana, however they do not believe in the delivery system. "Scientific data indicate the potential therapeutic value of cannabinoid drugs, primarily THC, for pain relief, control of nausea and vomiting, and appetite stimulation; smoked marijuana, however, is a crude THC delivery system that also delivers harmful substances" (Nunberg, Kilmer, Pacula, & Burgdorf, 2013, p
America's War on Drugs escalated after President Nixon created the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and increased penalties for marijuana-related offences. Criminalizing marijuana has caused the American legal system to appear severely imbalanced and even ludicrous with the majority of new convicts being non-violent offenders whose sentences often far outweigh those of murderers (Beatty, Holman & Schiraldi)
Yet perhaps no circumstances sparked the use of marijuana in the United States as robustly as the influx of Mexican immigrants after the turn of the century. Recreational marijuana use remained confined to Mexican-American communities but by the late 1920s the drug had also become popular with jazz musicians and urban bohemians in part because it was relatively cheap (Bonnie & Whitebread)
Schedule What? The prohibition of marijuana was initially based on faulty evidence linking use of the drug to violent crimes. Whereas marijuana still retained its value among the medical community, however, by 1970 it would become classified as a Schedule I narcotic: a delegation many experts believe to have "no rational basis" and which clearly violates the American Constitution (Hupy)