Marijuana started to become illegal in the United States around the 1930’s. During this time, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics was founded. In 1936, the government produced a film entitled “Reefer Madness” which portrayed marijuana use in an extremely negative view as a mind altering psychological changing drug that is highly addictive. In 1937, the Marijuana Tax Act taxed everyone, including doctors who legally dealt in marijuana. (www.deathandtaxesmag.com). In the decades that followed, especially the 1960’s and 1970’s the people’s experimentation with marijuana has exponentially increased. According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy, “marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States. In 2011, 18.1 million Americans aged 12 and older (7.0 percent) reported using the drug.” (Office of the National Drug Control Policy). Compare this statistic, “to the 10.4 million young people between the ages of 12 and 20 who drank more than just a few sips of alcohol.” (National Institute on Alochol Abuse and Alcohlism).
While the question of this paper is not the underage usage of alcohol or marijuana, in all the research that topic keeps being brought up. This focus of this paper is on the adult use (over the age of consent) of marijuana used to treatment medical necessity, not recreational use. Marijuana is considered a Schedule I drug as defined by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). According to the DEA website; drugs, substances, and chemicals are classified into five categories, or schedules. A drug classified as a schedule I drug has no accepted medical use and has a high potential for abuse. (DEA/Drug Scheduling). Along with marijuana, heroin, LSD, ecstasy and peyote are also listed as schedule I drugs. It is also interesting to note, that Ritalin given to children under 18 to treat ADD, & ADHD is classified as a schedule II drug as is cocaine.
In reviewing the states listed on the NORML website, 20 states have passed some type of medical marijuana reform law. Of those 20 states, 11 of them had the voters deciding on the passing of the state law. The remaining 9 states, the governor signed the bill into law after it was presented by the state legislature in both House and Senate bills. While some states with the passage of the medical marijuana law just try and elevate the fines imposed (Maryland), other states actually allow people with a medical need to grow or obtain marijuana through a state approved facility. The states are also all over the place on the registry of people, some states require mandatory registration, while California allows for voluntary registration. In addition, some of the registries themselves are confidential and others are not.
In 2011, over 850,000 people in America were arrested for marijuana-related crimes. Many states and large corporations are spending big money to lobby to keep marijuana illegal. The top five special interest groups that gain the most from keeping marijuana illegal are; (1) Police Unions, these groups receive federal drug war grants that help finance their budgets, (2) Private Prison Corporations, they make money by people getting caught committing crimes. If marijuana becomes legal, there would be a decrease in population, less money for them. (3) Alcohol and Beer companies would have a new competitor on the block, if marijuana became legal. If people had a choice, they might choose marijuana over alcohol/beer taking money of the Alcohol and Beer Companies. (4) Pharmaceutical Corporations – This category has the deepest pockets of them all. According to the Nursing Online Education Database (www.noedb.org), the mark up on brand name prescriptions can be as much as 1,000%. Couple that with the fact that the pharmaceutical companies spend $33.5 billion dollars on promotion costs in 2004, and it is easy to see why the big drug companies do not want a cheaper substitute for oxycodone, Vicodin, and the numerous other pain medications on the market today. Lastly (5) Prison Union Guards are highly dependent upon the prison population remaining constant or increasing, any decrease would adversely affect them similar to the Private Prisons mentioned above. (Fang)
As marijuana is governed by the FDA and DEA, both federal agencies, the federal government needs to remove marijuana from the schedule I listing, and allow each of the states to decide for themselves how best to treatment marijuana. According to the textbook (Chapter 4, page 117), “the states are required to recognize the actions and decisions taken by other states.” By allowing each of the states to decide, you grant freedom to the people. If someone lived in a state where marijuana was illegal, they have a choice to possibly change the people in office by voting, stating a petition, or moving outside of that state. Lobbyist are making significant amounts of money on both the federal and state platforms. There was an article entitled “Exclusive: Why Can’t You Smoke Pot? Because Lobbyists Are Getting Rich Off of the War on Drugs” the article was found on the Republic Report.org website it mentions a lobbyist in California called John Lovell. He is lobbying against legalizing marijuana. On some additional research, Mr. Lovell’s firm draws $400,000 annually paid for by the various police unions as listed on the www.progressive.org. Perhaps there would be a better use in California for $400,000 considering the economic troubles that they are in.
The American Medical Association back in 2009 prepared an article entitled “Use of Cannabis for Medicinal Purposes” in this report it states that, “short term smoked cannabis reduces neuropathic pain, improves appetite and caloric intake…” The problem still persist that more trials are needed and there difficulty in fully testing marijuana because it is illegal. The DEA along with the FDA must allow for further testing into the benefits of using marijuana for medical purposes. Then, after the results are made public, the individual states can decide for themselves whether or not to allow marijuana for medical purposes.
In Texas, the medical marijuana bill was introduced a sixth time in January 2013. While this bill (HB 594) does not prevent patients from being arrested, nor does it, allow patients a legal means of getting the marijuana. Rather, it offers a defense for individual with a medical condition. This bill does allow a physician to discuss medical marijuana with a patient. (Wiggins) In my opinion, the discussion of a treatment plan without the legal means to obtain the treatment itself seems pretty short sited.
There is definitely a negative stigma in society today against smoking cigarettes, so I can only assume that the negative stigma carries forward to smoking marijuana. While marijuana seems less costly to produce and distribute, the big drug companies are not going to go quietly into the night without one heck of a fight. The legalization would offer a direct blow to their pocket books. There is no easy answer, and the answer is going to be different for everyone. If I was dying of cancer, and medical marijuana alleviated some of the pain better than the pain medications, than I would consider that as an option. Anyone who has filled a pain prescription can see the numerous warnings about driving and being impaired, why wouldn’t the medical marijuana come with the same warnings? Our prisons systems are over-crowded currently, this might help by reducing the number of people incarcerated for medical reasons. I believe it is up to the citizens of each state, along with the state officials these people vote into office to consider the best course of action for each of their respective states.

Works Cited
DEA/Drug Scheduling. www.justice.gov/dea/druginfo/ds.shtml. n.d.
Fang, Lee. The Top Five Special Interest Groups Loobying to Keep Marijuana Illegal. 20 April 2012.
National Institute on Alochol Abuse and Alcohlism. www.niaa.nih.gov. n.d.
Office of the National Drug Control Policy. www.whitehouse.gov. n.d.
Wiggins, Mark. KVUE.com. 24 January 2013. www.deathandtaxesmag.com. History of Marijuana Prohibition:policing pot & weed laws. April 2012.