Analyze the Marijuana Essay

The use of marijuana in human civilization dates back to 6000 B. C. In this era, China found that cannabis seeds are edible and later discovered a greater use as textiles. From that time period, humanity has made significant advancement, and has discovered further uses for the marijuana plant. Today, marijuana can be used as medical cannabis to treat ailments that other medication cannot possibly treat. Although medical cannabis has some great benefits, in the many countries it is still illegal to possess and/or use.

Thus the legalization of marijuana should be legalized through its promising and beneficial results. Contrary to belief, medical cannabis has very few health risks compared to propaganda suggested to most people in mainstream media. Throughout the years many random and bogus facts of marijuana have circulated, many of these disputes however, have been debunk through actual scientific study done today. The monkey marijuana experiment in 1973 for example was a huge hoax. In the case study, the monkeys were exposed to marijuana smoke everyday and died after ninety days.

The autopsy report ruled that hey died to a dead brain through great loss in brain cells. Therefore, the conclusion of the study was that marijuana kills brain cells, but the experiment failed to report the monkeys were being suffocated for five minutes on a daily schedule for three months. The process of asphyxiation or suffocation causes lack of oxygen to the brain, which leads to death of brain cells. Soon after, many more theories have been tested and most of the so-called health risks were nothing more than hokum.

Marijuana has fairly less harmful effects, unlike other legal drugs such as: alcohol, tobacco, cetaminophen, amphetamine, OxyContin, Xanax, sleeping pills, and many other legal drugs. Adversely, compared to other drugs and the drugs listed prior, marijuana has very few health risks. Since there are very few scientifically proven health risks, they are much more minimal in harmful effects than other recreational drugs. Alcohol and tobacco for instance, have higher risk in use than marijuana.

The Center of Disease Control and Prevention states that: There are approximately 80,000 deaths attributable to excessive alcohol use each year in the United States. l This makes xcessive alcohol use the 3r d leading lifestyle-related cause of death for the nation. 2 Excessive alcohol use is responsible for 2. 3 million years of potential life lost (YPLL) annually, or an average of about 30 years of potential life lost for each death. l In 2006, there were more than 1. 2 million emergency room visits and 2. 7 million physician office visits due to excessive drinking. The economic costs of excessive alcohol consumption in 2006 were estimated at $223. 5 billion. 3 Compared to the average marijuana smokers, tobacco smokers frequently smoke more as stated in Mikaela Conleys ABC News article, “Among the study participants, the average pot smoker lit up two to three times per month. The average tobacco user smoked eight cigarettes per day. ” Due to the greater amount of frequency in lighting a cigarette the average tobacco smoke causes much more air pollution as well as second hand smoke.

In summation, the negative output of marijuana is miniscule compared to the negative output of most legal drugs/over the counter drugs. The medical uses of prescribed a mysterious herb as tea. This tea was marijuana and was used to treat, everything from pain relief to earache to childbirth. Doctors also warned against overuse of marijuana, believing that too much consumption caused impotence, blindness and “seeing devils. (Stack& Suddath)” Ever since then the uses of medical cannabis has varied from nausea to cancer and even to pain relief.

According to “Disabled World”, Few herbs offer a wide variety of therapeutic applications like these: Relief of muscle spasms, relief of chronic pain reduction in interlobular pressure inside the eye, suppression of nausea, weight loss – increase and restore etabolism, AIDS – Marijuana can reduce the nausea, loss of appetite, vomiting from the condition itself and the medications as well. Today, medical cannabis remains one of the most controversial social issues around the world.

Although many people disagree with the drug, for one boy it proved valuable results. Jayden David of California suffers from a, “debilitating form of epilepsy, which causes him to experience frequent seizures – some lasting up to 90 minutes. (Fox40)” This only treatment for his epilepsy prior to medical marijuana was twenty types of medication hat he must take everyday in order to control his epilepsy. Once Jayden was on CDB (cannabidol), “Jayden’s seizures are down approximately 80 percent. Jayden is functioning now,’ David, of Modesto, Calif. told Fox 40. ‘The doctors told me Jayden would never walk or talk. ‘ (Fox40)” This is Just one of the stories of many lives that medical cannabis has managed to improve, including: cancer, chemotherapy, anorexia, bulimia, and many other ill patients. Due to its already besmirched image, the process in which obtaining medicinal marijuana has become such a hurdle that it is much harder to obtain than it should. Along with its beneficial results as medical cannabis, marijuana could have a substantially great impact on economy.

With the drug being legal, less police force is needed to enforce the law, thus saving a substantial amount of taxpayer’s money from the “get-go’. The Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition in the United States reveals that, “The report estimates that legalizing marijuana would save $7. 7 billion per year in government expenditure on enforcement of prohibition. $5. 3 billion of this savings would accrue to state and local governments, while $2. 4 billion ould accrue to the federal government. This is Just from deprivation of reduced police force, TBIMP states that, “50% of possession arrests are due solely to marijuana possession rather than being incidental to some other crime. ” Declaring the arrest rate of 50% of all arrests are marijuana possession shows and reinforces the idea of how much the United States can save with reduced arrests and enforcements. In addition to the legalization of the drug, it could be taxed and distributed as a product worldwide for increase GDP in not only the United States, but also many other countries. However in the U. S. he estimated report says it would yield is, “$2. 4 billion annually if marijuana were taxed like all other goods and $6. 2 billion annually if marijuana were taxed at rates comparable to those on alcohol and tobacco. ” Increase of new product in the market allows more economic growth worldwide. If the enormous revenue of legalization of marijuana is so great, it imposes the question of the legitimacy of illegalization of a drug in the first place, and to answer that question frankly it should! morality of it (which is the only answer to the question imposed prior to this entence).

Most people against marijuana say that it is a drug and it is bad, but hold no other credible evidence of it truly being “bad”. In 1920 the United States imposed an alcohol prohibition because of their morale of it being “bad”. Just like marijuana alcohol is a drug, and has many pros and cons, such as medical uses like a disinfectant as well as a recreational drug. The hypocrisy came when the government imposed the prohibition when the motto has been “for the people by the people”. This lack of representation of the people caused one of the greatest failures in law reation since slavery.

Not only did prohibition fail in stopping people from drinking alcohol, it also increased the amount of people drinking as well as crime rate. The distillation process of making alcohol became a homemade Job, but due to the lack of proper equipment and sanitation this beverage was much more hazardous to drink. It was estimated at least ten thousand people died during the enforcement of the 1920 to 1933 Prohibition. During this time the profit of making alcohol skyrocketed, which made it more tempting to break the law.

Along with the increase crime rate, it as also reported that vandalism and public disturbances increased. This example is currently like the prohibition of marijuana, not only is it making crime more profitable, but it is also increasing the negligence of the people consuming and the law enforcement. However, due to a greater understanding of responsibility and information of recreational drugs, modern day society has allowed awareness in safety of alcohol consumption. This awareness could also be used for marijuana, Just as it has been done for tobacco and other drugs.

In summation, the use of marijuana medically and recreationally has been around ince the beginning of civilization, and should still be continued today; Just as Bert Lance once said, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. ” In addition, the legalization of marijuana should Just be reinstated prior to it’s ban through its promising medical uses for all sick and ill patients, its beneficial economic results for everybody, and its use as a reminder that public opinion are still held accountable; even with the modern political Jargon going around today.

So, for the sake of the ill who needs the drugs, to us, the people who could benefit from the drug, we should keep in mind that the ecision is more than Just a basis of morality, but also the basis of something for all. “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one.