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Positive Effects of
Marijuana Legalization
David Christian Toepfer
SOC 120
Instructor NAME REMOVED BY AUTHOR
October 29th
2013
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MARIJUANA 2
For
many years marijuana has been the most popular and socially acceptable street
drug within our global society as a whole. The marijuana trade in the
underground drug world is a booming business in this country and beyond. On the
other hand marijuana trade for medical purposes and in the two U.S. states in
which recreational use is legal, the business is booming as well. Currently in
more places now than ever before, legalization of both recreational and medical
marijuana is becoming much more prevalent within our
society as on a broad spectrum; on even a global scale. The idea of Marijuana
legalization stirs up many different ethical issues all over the globe, some of
a positive nature, and some of a negative one. America’s economy is hurting
pretty badly in these current times, and we need real change. Nationwide marijuana
legalization would do, such things as: stimulate the economy, save financial
resources used for our police and judicial system, provide comfort for those
that cannot take traditional pain medications, provide those with particular
afflictions or diseases, who cannot find relief or proper treatment from;
anything else, other than medicines/products derived from marijuana or the
marijuana plant itself, and provide patients with depression and anger issues
with alternative methods of treatment; it is very clear that marijuana
legalization would play a very positive role in modern day society.
Within the United States only Colorado and Washington have
adopted the legalization of marijuana for recreational use. Other states have
adopted marijuana for medical purposes, as it is now accepted for medical
purposes in the following U.S. states: New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Massachusetts,
New Mexico, New Jersey, Nevada, Michigan, Oregon, Maine, Illinois, Hawaii,
Delaware, Washington DC, Connecticut, Arizona, Maryland, Montana,
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California and Alaska.
The majority, approximately seventy percent of those states have as well
implemented some sort of decriminalization of Marijuana (World Future Society,
2012).
“The
Drug Enforcement Agency employs over 9,000 people and has a budget so huge that
I’ve repressed it. Lately it’s in the neighborhood of $2 billion. That’s
$2,000,000,000. marijuana arrests consistently top three-quarters of a million
per year.” To break that down into an example, that is approximately one marijuana
arrest every forty seconds (Earleywine, 2013). This is a perfect example of
financial resources that we could utilize for more critical issues such as;
heightened security at public schools, or fighting the wars on meth and crack
cocaine. Which right now, happen to be at their height in popularity socially;
in following and applying the theory of utilitarianism (Witt, G. A., &
Mossler, R. A. 2010) we can see that the greatest number of individuals could
benefit from such changes in law.
Here
is another fact effecting an entire states educational funding. “11 percent of
California’s general fund went to prison spending; 6 percent went to higher
education. Maybe the point of these laws isn’t to end marijuana abuse so much
as to keep members of law enforcement and the prison industry employed” (Earleywine,
2013). If we were to follow the Utilitarian theory of ethical practices in
reference to marijuana legalization we will benefit drastically on an economic
level alone. More than 550 economists prepared and sent a letter to
legislators, governors, congress and even the president himself in an attempt
to shed some light on the positive effects of marijuana legalization for our
economy.
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A
report was prepared Professor Jeffrey A. Miron that expanded upon the financial
positives of the decriminalization of marijuana. This report was the foundation
on which the letter was prepared. (J. Benson, 2012)
When applying the theory of
utilitarianism to this topic, and then directly contrasting this issue with the
debate of alcohol vs. marijuana from an ethical standpoint; it gets kind of
sketchy in regards to federal and state laws. As the book expands upon
utilitarianism in the following; “A natural way to see if an act is the right
thing to do (or the wrong thing to do), is to look at its results, or
consequences. Utilitarianism argues that, given a set of choices, the act we
should choose is that which produces the best results for the greatest number
affected by that choice” (Witt, G. A., & Mossler, R. A. 2010). I just
cannot seem to make a connection between marijuana remaining illegal and the
immense social and medical positives for the greatest number of people with
that being the end result. I am as well, equally if not more concerned with the
fact that alcohol is such a widely used, socially normal product of the states,
and many parts of the world. Even though it has tremendous health risks for
both users, and those affected by the users. I just can’t understand from a
utilitarian perspective, that alcohols benefits somehow outweigh marijuana’s?
This is discouraging because as intelligent modern day humans, so many of us
find it almost insanity, that marijuana is not yet legalized. Or at least the
fact that it is even more appalling to think, that alcohol is thought more
highly of in every aspect of the term by the powers that be.
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Evidence of the medicinal use of marijuana dates back to ancient
times, in fact there has been in excess of 17,000 articles published about marijuana
and the benefits that it holds on many medicinal level’s, and on a wide
spectrum in the name of patient wellness. This is blatantly evident due to the
fact that these publishing’s all describe the same thing, which is; relief from
such things as: nausea, vomiting, pain and muscle spasms, as well as relief
from a wide variety of very debilitating conditions. Marijuana has also been shown to help stimulate
hunger. It is very useful in the act of stimulating hunger in those who have
trouble maintaining a healthy nutrition regimen due to different types of
psychological eating disorders. Here is one example of the immense benefits
that medical marijuana holds, for patients in which; suffer from some of most
debilitating conditions. “Marijuana
provides significant relief in patients suffering from peripheral neuropathy,
an extremely painful nerve condition afflicting one-third of people living with
HIV and for which conventional drugs often offer no relief, according to a
recent study.” (Arias, D. C. 2007).
Patients have also had much success in the very troubling
torture of chronic nerve pain associated with HIV and other health issues,
which is sometimes rather quite hard to adequately treat. Studies have shown
that patients who used marijuana had on average a thirty four percent decrease
in pain. These studies have also shown that upon initial treatment the pain
reduction was far greater but decreased over time. (Arias, D. C. 2007). I would assume this is because Overtime the
body will develop a natural tolerance to almost anything. Whether it be,
medical marijuana, or prescription pharmaceuticals.
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Here
are a few more examples of the quality of life for individuals dealing with all
sorts of different afflictions and/or diseases, from the use of medical
marijuana: Individuals who consume marijuana regularly have, on average less
issues involving depression than those who do not consume it, relief in the
controlling of seizures in patients who suffer from epilepsy, doctors abroad
will admit to the fact that medical marijuana helps reverse deterioration in
patients who suffer from glaucoma, as well as reduce pain and pressure
associated with it, therapeutic treatment of such psychological anxiety and
mood disorders and many more abroad. (International Business, T. 2012)
If
we were to actually take a universal ethical egoism approach to this matter in
particular, (Witt, G. A., & Mossler, R. A. 2010) on a national or maybe
even global level, I would assume that we would have surprisingly, better
effects than we currently have as of right now. I believe that people do as
they are told, because someone of authority is almost inherently someone of gratitude
and respect even trust. I believe this directly correlates with the mass idea
of what marijuana is? What is stands for, and most importantly why it has been
viewed as more heinous than alcohol or tobacco for many years within this
country particularly. Entities, such as; the mass media, drug awareness groups,
academic and public mentors, commercialized anti-drug marketing campaigns, and
many other government and local law enforcement agencies over the years; have
conditioned us mentally to stray away from street drug. Lately prescription
drug abuse is gaining major attention nationally; this is a situation in which
we can see direct benefits from medical marijuana, in contrast to harmful
prescription drugs. These highly prescribed
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narcotic prescription
drugs that are being abused at an alarming rate, could one day be substituted
with active ingredients found in medical marijuana. This is very beneficial for
reasons such as; treating symptoms with safer alternatives to harsh and highly
addictive narcotics that can damage the body and liver over time dramatically. (GateHouse Media, I. c, Kerr, C. 2010)
Going
back to my statement about authority playing a role in the facts being preached
and soaked up by our brains, I have provided an example of an experiment
conducted many times with different individuals by Yale University Psychiatrist
Stanley Milgram. These were conducted in the early sixties. This was an
experiment to scientifically explore and test an individual’s willingness to
obey an authority figure. The experiments were carried out multiple times, in
which the same procedures were utilized every time. With much the same results
time and time again.
In
conducting these experiments Dr. Stanley Milgram would use three individuals, in
which only one was unaware of the true nature of the obedience experiment. Out
of the three individuals they were categorized as follows: There was the unaware
party or volunteer, who was; always selected as the teacher, the person conducting
the experiment or the authority figure over the experiment and individuals
involved, and finally, the third individual was a volunteer who was actually
fully aware of the experiment’s nature and procedures and was always selected
to be the learner.
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The
learner was separated in a room right next to the authority figure and the
teacher volunteer or unaware party. The teacher/volunteer was sat down in front
on a control panel. The teacher/volunteer was to call upon the learner for
answers to questions asked, if the learner was to answer incorrectly the
teacher was instructed by the authority figure to then press a button on the
control panel, which would; deliver an electric shock to the learner in the
next room. The learner is of course aware to the experiment and is not actually
being shocked. The screams of agony heard in the control room were false
dramatizations made by the learner, in an attempt to keep the experiment as
realistic as possible. As the experiments would progress, the voltage of the
shock would be turned up and the learner would exhibit more signs of distress
and pain. The teacher’s/volunteer’s would naturally express concern for the other
party/learner, but the authority figure would respond by saying; that the
experiment must go on and that the individual would be fine, and that the
teacher volunteer would not be held responsible for anything that has happened.
(Blass, T. 2009).
Throughout
the experiments, it was blatantly evident that individuals in the teacher/volunteer
role of the experiment would do things that they would not normally do, even
when their own good judgment would tell them not to. Based on the fact that; an
authority figure was commanding them to do so and reassuring that for a lack of
better words “everything is ok, and that you can put trust within the authority
figure”. This shows that individuals do many of the things they do because
society tells them that are the way that it’s done, in one way or another.
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I
believe that if more individuals used the full spectrum of their brain to
really encompass what looking out for your own best interest’s by working
together with others and “agreeing to disagree” in unison could really do for
society. We need to learn to see that as one, united with true, genuine, good
natured, progressive, and positive intentions this nation would have more
success in many different areas of life. The fact alone that are own government
is but two split parties, in which consistently disagree and argue amongst each
other, opposed to working together to achieve greatness; is a stern example of
the almost barbaric code of a lot of our world leaders and the ideals they set
in place.
I
think that in government, as well as in many institutions they do many things
as I stated before, that they do not wish to for reasons of appeasing someone
of authority. I am quite sure that there are members of congress and of the senate
that have outside of the box thinking practices. I believe such individuals do
not propose certain ideas for fear of ridicule, and the damaging of their
personal self image, both personally and professionally.
In
closure, I agree with both the ethical egoism theory and the utilitarianism
theory when it comes to this specific topic (Witt, G. A., & Mossler, R. A.
2010). To simply put it, most people enjoy marijuana; whether for recreational
or medicinal purposes. I think that if more individuals did what they wanted in
a responsible manner, with positive and progressive intent, they would;
probably utilize things such as marijuana recreationally and/or for medical
purposes. In my personal opinion, for me; this is perfectly fine as long as
used responsibly.
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Alcohol
and even tobacco are far worse for your health and overall quality of life in
many ways. If you were to tally up the accidental or intentional deaths
involved with alcohol from all different scenarios, and the amount of
fatalities associated with the consumption of tobacco products; im sure the
numbers would astonish you. That is just common sense, based on what knowledge
we have of those two widely used legal products in the United States. There is
little doubt that marijuana is far safer for consumption than that of alcohol
or tobacco. Not even to mention the immense economical positive’s that could be
accrued by marijuana legalization. Now more than ever, do we need change in our
economic future; if we do not act soon America may fall into the dark ages of
financial history.
I
personally do not see any problem what so ever, with the use of marijuana for
recreational or medical purposes. I hope to one day see it legalized abroad, so
that many people can experience all the true benefits that cannabis holds. I
have provided different factual examples that hold value in the argument of
marijuana being much more positive, than negative. We cannot rely on lawmaker’s
alone, if we want to see change within our society, whether it be; marijuana
legalization, same sex marriage, gun control or any other issue; we must take
action. We must be the voice of change, and influence other’s with similar
interests to act as well. I mean only good, when I speak of action I mean;
positive, progressive and peaceful intelligent action. Nothing happens
overnight, but with time, and ambition we can achieve anything.
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References
Earleywine, M. (2013). A legal marijuana economy
without puns. Psyccritiques, 58(3), doi:10.1037/a0031001
Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com.proxy- library.ashford.edu/
A Future of Legalized Marijuana?. (2012). World
Future Review (World Future Society), 4(4),
28-32. Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/
Legalization of
marijuana: NASN consensus statement. (2013). NASN School Nurse (Print), 28(4),
206-207. http://ehis.ebscohost.com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/
Uritsky, T. J., McPherson, M., & Pradel, F.
(2011). Assessment of Hospice Health Professionals'
Knowledge, Views, and Experience with
Medical Marijuana. Journal Of Palliative Medicine, 14(12), 1291-1295.
doi:10.1089/jpm.2011.0113 Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com.proxy-library.ashford.ed
Arias, D. C. (2007). Study shows medical marijuana
benefits.(HEALTH FINDINGS: The
latest public health studies and
research)(Brief article). The Nation's Health, (3), 16.
Blass, T. (2009). From New Haven to Santa Clara: A
historical perspective on the Milgram
obedience experiments. American
Psychologist, 64(1), 37-45. doi:10.1037/a0014434
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Witt, G. A., & Mossler, R. A. (2010). Adult
development and life assessment. San Diego, CA:
International Business,
T. (2012, August 8). ‘Medical’ Marijuana: 10 Health Benefits That
Legitimize
Legalization. International Business Times. Retrieved from
GateHouse Media, I. c. (2010, December 2). Letter: Medical marijuana a
safe pain alternative.
State Journal-Register, The (Springfield,
IL). Retrieved from
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