In the last few decades the criminalization of drugs has escalated to all-out "war" on drugs. Today in the United States, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 55% of federal prisoners and 21% of state-level prisoners are incarcerated on the basis of drug-related offenses which represents an incarcerated population greater than the population of Wyoming; the federal government is spending over twenty-two billion dollars alone on a so-called war that 76% of the population view as a failure (Head, Key Facts About the War on Drugs, N
In the last few decades the criminalization of drugs has escalated to all-out "war" on drugs. Today in the United States, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 55% of federal prisoners and 21% of state-level prisoners are incarcerated on the basis of drug-related offenses which represents an incarcerated population greater than the population of Wyoming; the federal government is spending over twenty-two billion dollars alone on a so-called war that 76% of the population view as a failure (Head, Key Facts About the War on Drugs, N
" However, not promoting the "War on Drugs" to the American public has not yet had any real implications for political action. Criminal correction spending is outpacing budget growth in education, transportation and public assistance, based on state and federal data; only Medicaid spending grew faster than state corrections spending, which quadrupled in the past two decades, according to the report by the Pew Center on the States (Laudanon, 2012)
Despite the "War on Drugs" best efforts, the drug problem in the United States has still steadily expanded. Political Issues The United States has less than 5% of the world's population but it has almost a quarter of the world's prisoners (Liptak, 2008)
Since 1996, sixteen states have passed new laws legalizing the drug for certain medical purposes. All the while, the federal government has remained committed to zero-tolerance, prohibiting the possession, cultivation, and distribution of marijuana for any purpose (Mikos, 2012)
Although this is certainly not a long-term solution, this would restore balance from the federalist perspective and alleviate some of the conflict between the state and federal agencies and restore the "cooperative federalism" between states and the federal government. However, this policy issue of medical marijuana to illustrate how key virtues of federalism can be used to make a threshold determination as to whether a particular public policy should be subject to federal regulation or reserved for states and could clearly set a precedent for future issues (Pickerill & Chen, 2008)
9 million individuals in the United States aged 12 or older (7.3% of this population) had used marijuana in the past month; the rate of reported marijuana use in 2012 was significantly higher than those rates reported prior to 2007 and the trend is expected to keep growing (Sacco & Finklea, 2013)
In a true democracy, public policy should mirror public opinion, or at least come close to it, however, if the case of the prison epidemic and the war on drugs there is a great divide in public policy and public opinion. Discussion The conflict between state marijuana legalization and the blanket federal marijuana prohibition of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) has created a federalism crisis in which the duties of state officials to adhere to state or federal law are unclear (Schwartz, 2013)
The symptoms of their conditions deter their hunger and make it difficult to eat. Research conducted at Columbia University were able to determine that medical marijuana and cannabis are able to increase hunger in AIDS patients and allow them to intake larger quantities of food without any negative effects on the body (Ellis 2009,-page 672)
Gastrointestinal illnesses can be alleviated and treated through medicinal marijuana as well. Other conditions, namely "spasticity, painful conditions, especially neurogenic pain, movement disorders, asthma and glaucoma" can be treated in this way (Grotenherman 2002,-page 124)
The substance has been proven to lower intraocular eye pressure. According to research that was conducted by the National Institute of Medicine, medical marijuana and its active ingredient THC has been show to decrease intraocular eye pressure by an average of 24% (Joy 1999)
Other conditions, namely "spasticity, painful conditions, especially neurogenic pain, movement disorders, asthma and glaucoma" can be treated in this way (Grotenherman 2002,-page 124). It has also been found to relieve symptoms of multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injuries (Kogel 1995,-page 800)
If medical marijuana usage can help patients who are undergoing this process, then it seems cruel to deny them this. Additionally, there has been research which proves that medical marijuana may even be able to prevent the spread of cancer throughout the body of the patients (McAllister 2007,-page 2921)
These conditions are so far incurable, making pain management medication the only thing which makes patients able to continue. It has been found that medical marijuana can be instrumental in helping these patients (Russo 2004,-page 32)
In addition, a study conducted by the Scripps Research institute showed that THC prevents the development of harmful plaque in the brain. This suggests that THC could be a very effective drug for treating Alzheimer's disease (Bushman, 2007)
There have been six additional states that have passed a decriminalization policy towards the drug. Yet, because the federal government does not acknowledge any medical uses for marijuana, there are still federal enforcements that ban this drug (McLelland, 2007)
html?cat=5 Cannabis in the Clinic?: The Medical Marijuana Debate. (2010)
As the use of Marijuana has expanded, researchers have begun to reconsider the possible therapeutic uses of this drug. A lot of the interest has been ignited by smokers themselves, who have reported that the drug helps to relieve a variety of problems (Parker, 2007)
The Canadian government has further allowed the medical use of smoked cannabis on medical advice. (Degenhardt; Hall, 2008) Thus for patients who suffer from painful diseases like epilepsy, HIV infection, cancer, multiple sclerosis and related diseases the drug is being used
The progress in Germany is such that in April 2000, the German company THC Pharm received the approval to make "THC (dronabinol) available to pharmacies." (Grotenhermen, 2002) the future developments in that country depends on how the patients, physicians, politicians, lawyers and others involved in the debate bring it to a conclusion