ARGUMENTS FOR Even though now marijuana is a banned substance in majority of the states and countries nationwide it is actually legalized in several states and countries for medical purposes. The states that have legalized marijuana for medical purpose are Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, DC, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.
Though it is legalized in those select states the purpose are only for medical use. States that legalize marijuana also have a limit on how much you can have in possession. Just to name a few, Alaska has a possession limit of 1oz usable; 6 plants (3 mature, 3 immature) while Washington allows 24oz usable; 15 plants. In order for these states to legalize marijuana for medical purposes they couldn’t have done it without government approval. In today’s society marijuana is or can be used to treat patients that may suffer from cancer, glaucoma, or AIDS.
Delta 9 tetrahydrocannabinal [(“THC”)], one of the most psychoactive ingredients in marijuana eliminates loss of appetite, nausea, and vomiting in patients undergoing chemotherapy” (Pfeifer, 2013:23-24). Someone that may be arguing about why marijuana should continue to stay banned would never understand that the THC in marijuana can help you. To convince a person that may oppose medical marijuana, consider the patient that may suffer from glaucoma, cancer, or AIDS as one of your loved ones or closest relatives.
With some of these diseases being very tragic it is very helpful that some of them could in fact be treated. A patient that may suffer from “wasting syndrome” either aids or cancer may suffer involuntary weight loss. “In order to achieve weight gain, some of these patients have smoked medical marijuana to stimulate their appetite and food intake” (Pfeifer, 2013:24). Since there are no effective treatments for AIDS or cancer, medical marijuana may be an appropriate treatment. Glaucoma is another fatal disease that can be treated by marijuana.
Glaucoma is a group of diseases that can damage the eye’s optic nerve and result in vision loss and blindness. “Although patients can protect their eyes against serious vision loss with early treatment, many glaucoma patients have resorted to smoking medical marijuana in order to relieve the pressure on their eye” (Pfeifer, 2013:25). To further demonstrate the effectiveness of marijuana one should consider Robert Randall, who was diagnosed with glaucoma. He was in a phase known as end stage glaucoma and had already lost a lot of his vision.
Standard drugs were no longer helping out at all. Robert started smoking marijuana and he wrote a story about his experience with it, one paragraph states: “Then someone gave me a couple of joints. Sweet weed! That night | made and ate dinner, watched television. My tricolored halos arrived, which made watching TV less interesting. So I put on some good music, dimmed offending lights, and got into some serous toking. I happened to look out my window at a distant street lamp and noticed what was not there. No halos.
That’s when I had the full blown, omni-dimensional Technicolor cartoon light bulb experience. In a transcendent instant the spheres spoke! So simple! Old messages-new context. You smoke pot; your eye strain goes away. Ganja is good for you” (Grinspoon, p. 52). Randall’s condition is explained in more detail in the book, but the fact that he was prescribed different medication and it didn’t help, but made it worse. The suffering that he went through with the previous medications was unnecessary, the treatment he need came from the grown, not a lab.
The night he smoked marijuana his eyes stop straining and the tricolored halos was gone. That case shows that marijuana has medical benefits, even for a disease that can cause blindness. Since marijuana is an illegal substance but still is used around the nation it is accounted for most arrest around the United States. For those that watch television and view the show “Cops Reloaded”, most of the time those people that get pulled over and have marijuana in their possession either in a bag because they just purchased it or in a blunt because they are about to smoke it are arrested.
According to the report, marijuana arrest now compromise more than one-half (approximately fifty-two percent) of all drug arrest reported in the United States. A decade ago, marijuana arrest comprised just forty-four percent of all drug arrest” (Armentano, 2010). As stated, from a decade ago to present times those incarcerated for substance abuse has inclined by twelve percent. At this rate over a twenty year period this would only mean that the jail house would be over crowded with marijuana users.
With this problem brings forth the question on is this offense really considered a serious one, one that’s serious enough to put those that use it behind bars? If the jails are crowded with marijuana users then where do you put those who have committed a crime such as burglary, murder, grand theft auto, rape, or kidnapping? The use of marijuana may never be stopped in fact it continues to incline with younger kids starting to use it. “Of those charged with marijuana violations, approximately eighty-eight percent (758,593 Americans) were charged with possession only.
The remaining 99,815 individuals were charged with “sale/manufacture”, a category that includes virtually all cultivation offenses” (Armentano, 2010). Since it seems that marijuana upholds the most common arrest it makes no sense to continue to arrest those marijuana users. A common solution for this problem for the purpose of keeping the jails from overcrowding is to legalize marijuana. Another method of doing this could be using the same method used for tobacco or alcohol users meaning set an age requirement for users preferably twenty-one.
Even though users start very young this solution could decline some arrest and incarcerations and allow more room in the jail houses for more serious offenses. There’s only one issue when you bring up incarceration rate and legalizing marijuana and that is releasing those offenders who are already locked up for substance abuse to be fair to them. With over more than fifty percent of those being incarcerated for illegal use of marijuana this would only mean that a lot of people would have to be released from jail.
The release of those in jail already serving time for marijuana would clean out quiet of a few people. This can have its pros and cons. The positive side about it would be that the overcrowded population in jail would decrease giving there more room in jail for those who commit more serious offense. The down fall about releasing current prisoners in jail for marijuana would be deciding who to release and if their background history would allow for them to be released. The pie chart shows the amount of current prisoners that are in jail because of marijuana or marijuana related problems.
With most arrest coming from a simple marijuana possession the amount of space in jail would have a dramatic increase for other crimes based off the possession only statistic. This chart also shows the number of arrest made from other marijuana charges. These charges could be sale/ manufacture or based off the amount of marijuana possessed with the intent to sale. While cops are busy sniffing out those marijuana users and throwing them in jail, maybe it’s time the focus is turned to alcohol users because smoking marijuana turns out to be less harmful than alcohol.
Alcohol is far more toxic than marijuana and when under the influence of alcohol the human body is less attentive and uncontrollable. “Just ten times the effective dose of alcohol can be fatal. Yet there has never been a recorded marijuana overdose death in history. The highly toxic nature of alcohol is also what leads to the all too frequent occurrences of nausea and vomiting from over indulgence” (Fox, 2011, p. 156). Alcohol seems to do more harm to the body than marijuana.
With there being no recorded death history of marijuana over dose this shows that it is more likely that an alcohol user is far more dangerous when under the influence than a person who is “high” (a term used for a person under the influence of marijuana). Violent crimes tend to happen more often when a person is under the influence of alcohol versus when under the influence of marijuana. It’s not often you come across a victim that has been sexually abused because of marijuana use cause those who use marijuana tend to be more chilled versus an alcohol user who is capable of more violence.
Perhaps most disturbingly, as almost anyone who has been exposed to the two substances could tell you t, alcohol is far more likely to produce dangerous and socially destructive behavior. It is cited as a contributing factor in 25-30% of violent crimes in this country and in about 100,000 sexual assaults on college campuses annually. These kinds of negative associations simply don’t exist with marijuana” (Fox, 2011, p. 157). Even though marijuana users are less violent than alcohol users, it seems as alcohol users are let off the hook more often than marijuana users.
When pulled over with the possession of marijuana it is more likely that the holder would be put in jail versus when pulled over with alcohol most the time you are let off the hook as long as the container or bottle isn’t opened. A drunken person is usually locked up overnight to sober up and probably followed up with a huge fine. There are ways law enforcement can tell if someone is drunk, with the most common method being a breathalyzer (a device for estimating blood alcohol content from a breath sample) but, there are no devices that can be used to determine whether someone is high or not.
According to the U. S. Centers for Disease Control, between 33,000 and 35,000 Americans die annually from the effects of alcohol. The comparable number for marijuana? Zero” (Fox, 2011, pp. 156-157). When taking the number of those incarcerated for marijuana and comparing them with death and violent crimes of alcohol users it is obvious that the focus point should shift more to alcohol since marijuana causes less crimes and deaths but yet it accounts for over half the population in jail.
