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Legalization of Marijuana

“Marijuana is a mind altering substance produced from a plant whose scientific name is Cannabis sativa” (National Drug Intelligence Center, 2003). Marijuana is primarily used because its active chemical, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) induces relaxation and heightens the senses. Marijuana is dried shredded leaves, to include stems, flowers, and seeds of the cannabis plant. This substance resembles tobacco however; it is green, brown or gray, and most recently purple in color. Marijuana comes in varying quality types, and is priced accordingly. Higher quality types of marijuana comes in colors such as purple, shades of red and yellow, and is composed of buds (National Drug Intelligence Center, 2003). Marijuana has many street names to include; Pot, Bud, Grass, Weed, Chronic, Indo, Ganja, Mary Jane and Herb, to name a few. Marijuana is used by many, to include teens and adolescence, and many debates have ensued as to legalities and dangers of use, however marijuana continues to be the most liked, and drug of choice by many. Marijuana is used by smoking it like a cigarette in a joint, pipe, bong or blunt. Recently, marijuana has become legal in many states, for the purposes of treatment of many medical disorders and diseases, which has resulted in legislation to legalize it, making it available to patients with medical conditions, for use by a prescription. Legalization of marijuana would reduce incarceration rates of drug related offenses based on the information provided by the statistical data represented throughout this research paper. Information on marijuana related offenses indicate that there are many marijuana related offenses that are prosecuted which lands offenders in prison for what could seemingly be a less offensive drug. Marijuana users amongst alcohol abusers are much less prone to violence or crime. As mentioned earlier, marijuana is now legalized in most states at least for the purposes of treatment of medical conditions and diseases. States have now implemented lesser penalties for marijuana possession as opposed to earlier years. There is a high cost associated with arresting marijuana users, which raises question about the cost effectiveness of marijuana prohibition. Marijuana related arrests cost state and local governments $10.3 billion in 2006. The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) reported that there were 1,548,197 arrests in California in 2006; there were 65,467 marijuana arrests that year, accounting for 4.23% of all arrests in California for 2006. According to this percentage basis method of estimation, if not for marijuana decriminalization, marijuana arrests would have cost California $1.34 billion in 2006 (Gettman, 2009). According to the California Department of Justice 23,635 offenders were arrested for marijuana misdemeanors and felonies in 2006. These represent 1.53% of total arrests in the state. These arrests cost California $482.9 million. Consequently, decriminalization of small amounts of marijuana saved California approximately $857 million in addition to nearly $4 million in fines resulting from 39,789 citations (Gettman, 2009). These calculations and estimates makes for very good argument for legalization of marijuana in addition to relaxing the penalties associated with not legalizing it. Should marijuana be legalized? Most definitely yes, regardless to the debates and questions surrounding its use and the affect it has on the behavior of its users. There are many users of marijuana from adolescence to the elderly. There are far more benefits to the legalization of marijuana than not having it legalized. Legalization would decrease the crime rate tremendously putting the average marijuana drug dealer out of business. Additionally, legalization would decrease the price of marijuana, thereby decreasing crimes of theft, robbery and other high risk crimes. Marijuana is thought to be a victimless crime, whereby only the user is harmed. Further, marijuana is much less harmful than alcohol, tobacco, and any other drug in use today. Legalization of marijuana would free up law enforcement to fight more serious crimes, and reduce spending on prosecution of these crimes, which are currently at a whopping $1.2 billion per year. The reverse of all of this could net the government millions of dollars, or perhaps billions in tax dollars should legislation legalize marijuana on a national level.

As a law abiding citizens, we need to find ways to discourage personal conduct of all kinds that is abusive or dangerous to the societies. Never the less, the responsible marijuana smokers are not the issue and it may be time to legalize the marijuana for medical and recreational purposes for all states. The US war on drugs are focusing on arresting people who smokes marijuana and growing it for sales. The US government and local law enforcement had made arrest of over 509 million Americans who smoke marijuana. This is more than the population of some of the states in the United States. The numbers are pretty alarming, and the government acted upon the belief that marijuana is dangerous to use which can cause health problems. In 1990’s, the overwhelming majority of the arrests in the United States were charged with a marijuana violation. Approximately 88% of the violations were simply from possession. Furthermore, the FBI statistics indicate that a marijuana user is arrested every 45 seconds in the US. This is far more than the combined number of arrests for violent crimes, including murder, rape, robbery, and assault. This leads to a question of how dangerous marijuana is and how it affects users. Like any other drug, marijuana can be abused. The common problem is frequent overuse and it causes induced lethargic behavior. Plus, it can cause a short term memory loss, but only when one is under the influence. Other effects include hardship on families when their loved ones are arrested. This could lead to children being taken away from their families and financial issues would arise. Plus, the public would have distrust in law enforcement and disrespect the criminal justice system. As years have passed many studies have been done regarding marijuana and its dangers. Facts from these studies have caused law makers and law enforcement more aware that marijuana laws may need to be reformed. The problem must be addressed openly and debated only with concrete facts that have been established over time. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Bureau of Mortality Statistics the annual American deaths caused by drugs are listed below:

TOBACCO …………………… 400,000
ALCOHOL …………………… 100,000
ALL LEGAL DRUGS ………….20,000
ALL ILLEGAL DRUGS ……….15,000
CAFFEINE …………………….2,000
ASPIRIN ………………………500
MARIJUANA …………………. 0

Lawmakers tend to claim marijuana causes serious health problems. Maybe that is their reasoning for keeping it illegal. In 1997, UCLA School of Medicine study of (Volume 155 of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine) conducted on 243 marijuana smokers over an 8-year period reported the following. The finding from the long term study of heavy, habitual marijuana smokers argue against the concept that continuing heavy use of marijuana is a significant risk factor for the development of chronic lung disease. The results showed no differences between the heavy smokers and the non-smoking of marijuana.
So if it’s not about the assumption of harmful effects of marijuana then could the relation between marijuana and crime be the reason for keeping it illegal? The assumption that marijuana and crime are causally related is a major reason for prohibiting the use of illicit drugs in many developed countries. If marijuana use is not the cause of crime, but merely defined as a crime, then one must consider all the criminal justice resources dedicated to arresting, processing, and adjudicating marijuana offenders as a cost of prohibition when weighing the cost and benefits of our current marijuana policy.
Since there isn’t any alarming evidence that shows marijuana is extremely harmful to users other than what can be compared with smoking tobacco then a study showing legalizing marijuana would be greatly beneficial to the criminal justice system in regards to incarceration and financial issues. Law enforcement could focus more on serious crimes, prisons and jails wouldn’t be overcrowded and federal and state governments could save a tremendous amount of money. Legalization of marijuana can have many negative outcomes. One negative outcome is the gateway theory. In this theory, many believe that marijuana leads to the use of other drugs. When one uses marijuana they get the taste of what drugs can do to alter the mind. When one takes drugs it gives them a good feeling that makes their troubles disappear. They may make your troubles go away but eventually you may eventually need stronger drugs to have the same effect. The body reacts to drugs like antibiotics. One may continue to take antibiotics but eventually it will lose its effectiveness. Another aspect of legalizing marijuana is that some will see this as a message that this drug is okay. Like with alcohol, there is a sociable acceptance of the use of alcohol. Marijuana is a drug some people need to use for medical reasons and that helps them deal with their medical conditions. If we start using marijuana on a daily basis, more people would be walking around in a daze.
Rationale
The dangers of consuming marijuana are relative to the person who is expressing them. In terms of psycholinguistics, acceptance of the consumption of marijuana for medical or recreational varies on the geographic location in question. Within the United States of America, some locales are more accepting of marijuana consumption than are others. Supporters of legalizing marijuana for medicinal and recreational purposes charge that there is no health risks associated with the use of marijuana and that it is not possible to overdose nor is marijuana use associated with violent behavior.
Opponents of the legalization of marijuana, however, charge that there are health risks, as well as problems making rational and intelligent decision while under the influence of marijuana. Research has shown, as previously discussed, that there have been no deaths whose cause can be linked to the consumption of marijuana. However, since the start of the United States “War on Drugs” the arrest statistics of those who consume marijuana has skyrocketed causing an increase in the amount of tax money that is needed to support them while incarcerated. The more people who are incarcerated, the more tax money needs to be collected from the law abiding citizens who are not imprisoned. However, the legalization of marijuana would certainly decrease the amount of arrests associated with illegal drug use, as it would no longer be illegal.
However, the concept that marijuana is a “gateway drug” is still very much alive and in some ways is very real. That being said, if those who use marijuana do begin, or start, to use other harder, more dangerous illegal substances, then the number of individuals imprisoned for use of illegal substances will not be substantially affected by the legalization of marijuana for any reason, be it medicinal or recreational. There has been extensive research on the use of marijuana. Marijuana has some medical advantages when dealing with stress, nausea, and other chronic ailments. According to the drug enforcement agency, most drug offenders do not serve time but do receive drug counseling due to the plea bargaining to lesser charges. These charges usually are no-violent crimes but to plea bargain down to a lesser charge in exchange for treatment cannot seem right. The message that you can get over your head and become so reliant on drugs that all you need to do is commit a non-violent crime and then you can get your treatment is not the best message to be sent. Since 2007, meth lab incidents have risen in frequency. In 2007 there were 6,095 meth lab incidents. In 2010 there were 10,247 meth lab incidents. I know that people have a tendency to turn to other means when dealing with stressful situations. The world economy has depleted causing people to want to turn to other forms of enjoyment. This has forced people to try and make illegal drugs themselves.
Many questions arise throughout the proposal. Yes, it is possible incarceration rates may decline if marijuana is legal but would it do more harm than good? Yes, it may not be harmful but it could lead to the use of other drugs. Is there really a connection? Will the benefits of the legalization of marijuana outweigh the potential harm that it could cause? Only an in-depth research may answer these questions.
References

Gettman, J. (2009). Marijuana in California: arrests, usage, and related data. Drug Science. Retrieved on April 2, 2011, from http://www.drugscience.org/about.html
National Drug Intelligence Center. (2003). Marijuana fast facts. The United States Department of Justice. Retrieved on April 2, 2011, from http://www.justice.gov/ndic/pubs3/3593/index.htm
Pacula, R. (2003). Marijuana and Crime: Is There a Connection Beyond Prohibition? National Institute of Drug Abuse
Drug Enforcement Administration (2010) Summary of the Top Ten Facts on Legalization,
Retrieved April 3, 2010 from http://www.justice.gov/dea/demand/speakout/index.html
Retrieved April 3, 2010 from medicalmarijuana.procon.org/
Retrieved April 3, 2010 from www.drugpolicy.org/marijuana/medical/

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