Our Right to Choose
Michael S. Mays Sr.
ITT-Tech

The topic of legalizing marijuana has become a very hot topic here in the Unites States of America. With sixteen states having medical marijuana laws already in place and seventeen states with pending legalization legislation (http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=002481); many communities are split on the issue due to misinformation and stigmas. Even though marijuana is stigmatized as a gateway drug that leads children to harder drugs, marijuana should be legalized for medicinal use because it is incredibly expensive to keep marijuana illegal and adults deserve freedom to use marijuana as medicine without having to deal with the criminal element or fear of being unjustly prosecuted.
The gateway effect states that marijuana acts as a stepping stone, or a gateway, that leads people to harder drugs. They support their argument with statistics that show that most people who use hard drugs have tried marijuana before (http://www.mjlegal.org/gateway.html). What though is the gateway theory? Is it based on facts brought to light by years of scientific study? No, in fact the gateway theory does not explain anything at all. It is simply an observation that has been vague at best and dispersed by media outlets and the governing body. It is true that many people that use hard drugs such as heroin, cocaine, or LSD did in fact use marijuana before they tried the harder drugs. The true reason for this is marijuana is much more accessible due to its popularity than other illicit drugs (http://www.mjlegal.org/gateway.html). In fact the Institute of Medicine agrees that the marijuana gateway theory is misleading and was quoted as saying:
"In the sense that marijuana use typically precedes rather than follows initiation of other illicit drug use, it is indeed a "gateway" drug. But because underage smoking and alcohol use typically precede marijuana use, marijuana is not the most common, and is rarely the first, "gateway" to illicit drug use. There is no conclusive evidence that the drug effects of marijuana are causally linked to the subsequent abuse of other illicit drugs." (http://www.mjlegal.org/gateway.html)
Being a friend of an ex-marijuana distributor I know the true link between marijuana and harder drugs is that they are both purchased on the black market from cartels or other criminal elements. Those wishing to purchase marijuana for therapeutic or medical use are forced into contact with the more illicit drugs being sold by their local dealers, instead of making their purchase in a regulated dispensary environment. Many people state that legalization even for medical consumption will lead to an increase use of marijuana in our nation’s youth. If we look at the statistics comparing the Unites States to the Netherlands where marijuana is sold publically in cafes we will see just the opposite is true. The Netherlands uses a policy for separating the two markets of illicit drugs. The marijuana cafe where marijuana is purchased leaves little chance of exposure to any other illicit drug, thus achieving a separation of the soft drug market from the hard drug market

(http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/Netherlands_v_US#Data). In a 2001comparison of marijuana use in the populace from age twelve and up, the USA had a rate of 36.9% compared to only 17% in the Netherlands (http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/Netherlands_v_US#Data). The difference here is staggering when you take into account that marijuana is sold openly in the Netherlands for social not medical use and was loosely regulated at this time. Even though marijuana is stigmatized as a gateway drug that leads children to harder drugs, marijuana should be legalized for medicinal use because it is incredibly expensive to keep marijuana illegal. No one knows exactly how much money is spent by the government in its drug war on marijuana due to the many factors involved in keeping marijuana illegal. The high cost includes many factors: cost of active law enforcement; cost of prosecution and defense of defenders; cost of incarceration of convicted offenders; and the cost of foster care and social services for children of offenders found guilty (http://www.mjlegal.org/cost.html). All the funds being wasted in the investigation and prosecution of non-violent marijuana offenders could be better spent on healthcare, education, or anti-terrorism programs. In a June 2005 report by Dr. Jeffrey Miron an economics professor at Harvard University, he stated that replacing marijuana prohibition with a system of taxation like that for alcohol and tobacco, would produce combined savings of between $10 billion and $14 billion per year. That staggering amount of money could be used for implementing required port security plans and securing Soviet-Era loose nuclear weapons in under three years (http://www.prohibitioncosts.org/). The report was endorsed by more than 530 distinguished economists that signed an open letter to the Bush administration asking for an open and honest debate about the failing marijuana prohibition. Dr. Miron’s paper further emphasized that replacing marijuana prohibition with a regulatory plan would save the government approximately $7.7 billion in expenditures, with $2.4 billion being saved at the federal level, and approximately $5.3 billion at state and local levels. The most important reason marijuana should be legalized for medicinal use is because adults deserve freedom to use marijuana as medicine without having to deal with the criminal element or fearing unjust prosecution. America is supposed to be the land of the free, I believe as government grows this is becoming less of the case. The government is trying to step in and tell adults what they can and can’t do in their own homes. They are using the guise of public health and misinformation in order to cause panic amongst communities. Those whom support marijuana prohibition claim that marijuana is toxic and a danger to our communities. These arguments contradict the fact that the two most deadly drugs in the USA are legal. Alcohol and tobacco are far more addictive and harmful than marijuana, but yet they are readily available in almost every gas station and market you enter (http://www.mjlegal.org/alctob.html). According to a study done by the University of Michigan on alcohol and its effects on health, alcohol abuse kills over 100,000 Americans every year. Alcohol abuse contributes too many health problems including gastritis, pancreatitis, ulcers, liver cancer, cirrhosis, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and other liver diseases (http://www.mjlegal.org/alctob.html). The same study also showed an increased risk of breast cancer in woman that abuse alcohol. A study conducted by Harvard estimated that over 1,400 students age 18-24 in two and four-year colleges died in 1998 from alcohol-related unintentional injuries (http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/cas/Documents/magnitude/). Yet with all the diseases, deaths, and accidents caused by alcohol it still remains legal. Despite a warning from the Surgeon General placed on every pack of cigarettes stating that smoking tobacco may causes lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema, and may complicate pregnancy; hundreds of thousands of people across the world still choose to smoke tobacco. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention fact sheet on “Cigarette Smoking-Related Mortality”, more than 400,000 Americans die from cigarette smoking each and every year (http://www.mjlegal.org/alctob.html). According to the World Health Organization 63% of all deaths are caused by noncommunicable diseases, for which tobacco use is one of the greatest risk factors. Death from tobacco doesn’t stop at the individual using their product, as it is estimated that over 600,000 people die each year from exposure to second-hand smoke (http://www.who.int/tobacco/en/). Even though hundreds of thousands of people die worldwide from tobacco related illnesses, tobacco is still legal and widely sold all over the United States. When one takes a look at the true statistics for marijuana use and overlooks all the propaganda many are surprised at what they find. Researchers at McGill University studied the effects of THC on people suffering from depression. The study found that moderate use of marijuana has an antidepressant effect on patients (http://www.mjlegal.org/health.html). An article that ran in May 2006 from the Washington Post reported on the effects of long-term marijuana use. In the article they stated that smoking marijuana heavily and on a regular basis does not lead to lung cancer. The same study found that moderate to heavy use of tobacco greatly increased the chance of lung cancer in those that use their product (http://www.mjlegal.org/health.html). In fact there is not one recorded case in the United States of a marijuana overdose. It is true that people have died or overdosed on other drugs with marijuana in there system, but no death has been attributed to cannabis alone. A male weighing approximately 160 pounds would have to smoke about 8000 marijuana cigarettes in ten minutes or less in order to reach dangerous THC toxicity levels (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Marijuana_related_deaths_in_America). Anyone with any common sense can see this would be physically impossible to do in the amount of time given. It is plain to see that there is plenty of misinformation supplied to the populous of the Unites States on the effects and dangers of marijuana use. They would have us believe that smoking a small amount of marijuana will lead you down the road to heavy drug use and put an end to any prosperous future you may have. They strike at a parent’s weakness stating that drug dealers are targeting their sixth grader on the playground in hopes of selling them marijuana. Really how ridiculous does that sound to anyone with the ability to think rationally and educate themselves on the subject at hand? They would have us believe that marijuana use will kill our brain cells and turn us into drug fiends willing to do anything to get our next fix, or leave us bed ridden in a hospital dying from lung cancer; when many reputable organizations have disproven this in long running studies. If you don’t want your children trying marijuana, it is no different than pointing them away from tobacco and alcohol. The answer is not the government intruding into the lives of free Americans telling us what we can or can not do as adults in our homes. The true answer is simply parents educating themselves and injecting themselves into their children’s lives and educating them the best they can on why they need to stay away from any intoxicant until they are grown and able to make a rational and educated decision on their own. But most importantly keeping marijuana illegal is keeping revenue tied up in a failing drug war that is keeping taxable sales from supporting healthcare and education; two programs that Americans today need more than ever. The answer to our problems has never been the interjection of big government into our daily lives telling us what medicine we can or can not take. If the shoe were on the other foot and you were the one dying from AIDS, Cancer, or suffering from terrible nerve pain; would you not want the option to use whatever medicine available to increase your quality of life? Don’t discriminate, educate!

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