On the topic of the legalization of Marijuana I would usually find myself on the keep it illegal side. However I have found myself in a number of debates on this subject. I’m not even actually sure how I get into these debates so often. All I can gather is it’s just a hot topic among the average American or human being for that matter. I can say that I do know a great deal of people with chronic disorders that do inflict constant pain. Diseases like cancer, multiple sclerosis and fibromyalgia are among the few conditions that I personally know of more then one person dealing with. Fibromyalgia is a tricky one because it’s not actually a diagnosis. Fibromyalgia in all actuality is a lack of a diagnosis, it is something Doctors label you with when you have a bunch of symptoms but no known disease can be detected.
As I said before I would find myself in debates when it comes to the legalization of marijuana. When you are in a debate it is important to state your side and stick to your guns. It’s important to have a strong argument so you need to be prepared to offer up facts rather then opinion. Most importantly no matter how passionate you are on a subject don’t insult your opposing side. Knowing that, I also realize that it’s important for me to listen to my opposing side and consider the facts that they present. So the point I’m trying to make is that I am trying to present is which out weighs the other: The benefits of marijuana or its disadvantages.
I will start with the side that argues the benefits of using marijuana for medicinal purposes.
According to a study done by the Institute of Medicine in which the conclusions were released in 1999 they found the following to be true:
Marijuana can alleviate nausea and vomiting that are associated with the side effects of chemotherapy.
It can improve the loss of dramatic weight that is associated with AIDS
Marijuana also was found to alleviate chronic pain associated with a number of disorders in which patients did not respond to traditional opoids. *Opoids are drugs that are derived from opium such as Oxycontin, morphine, and methadone.
They also found that the active ingredient THC found in marijuana is a potent analgesic and it can deliver true pain relief. Another report stated that THC and cannabidiol can protect brain cells from damage that often occurs during a stroke.
The findings that offer that both components of THC and cannabidiol can protect brain cells from damage during a stroke does hurt one of my opposing points.
Before I state my opposing argument I am going to quickly explore a couple of in between factors. This is not usually something done in a debate but I have heard these arguments from people before and feel they are worth acknowledgment.
As a majority of people are aware marijuana is a legal substance in the country of Amsterdam. I hear this brought up a lot which would be fine with me if these people would acknowledge other factors. What they forget to point out or are just plain unaware of is that Amsterdam does have a particularly high crime rate and problems with citizens using hard drugs.
Another strong point that I often hear is marijuana verses alcohol debate. Many people ask the question “why alcohol is legal, but marijuana is not”. Some side effects of marijuana are: difficulty in judging distances, ability to concentrate, coordination, and the ability to react quickly. The point is that alcohol offers the same side effects and it’s legal. Alcohol related deaths do to D.W.I each year is in the thousands. The majority of these accidents occur between Thanksgiving and New Years day resulting in about 2000 deaths in that time frame alone. So it’s easy for people to debate the legalization of marijuana if they simply stick to the tactic that alcohol causes the same problems. However, that is still a one sided argument because they are not taking into consideration that changes to laws concerning alcohol are a possibility.
Now for the opposing side which is keeping marijuana illegal. The cons that come with legalizing marijuana are as follows:
Marijuana does affect your brain, the active ingredient THC does attack the part of the brain where memories are formed.
Marijuana can affect your self control causing a loss in sense of time and as I pointed out earlier it does affect your ability to operate a vehicle. A report made in 2002 stated that nearly 120,000 people were admitted to emergency rooms for marijuana related problems. The report also showed that it was actually 139% increase compared to reports made seven years prior.
Marijuana much like cigarettes affects your lungs. As I learned as a sophomore in high school one marijuana cigarette contains up to 4 times more cancer causing tar then a filtered cigarette. By all means don’t fool yourself into thinking nicotine cigarettes are any better for you.
Marijuana can affect your health in negative ways. It can actually limit your body’s ability to fight off certain infections. It also can have a major negative impact on your mental health resulting in such conditions like paranoia, agoraphobia, and anxiety disorders. * Agoraphobia is a condition in which sufferers are afraid to leave their home and go into public situations for fear that they may panic because they no longer feel safe in their surroundings.
One of the most obvious aspects of marijuana is that it can be an addictive substance. True, not all people who use marijuana become addicted. In 1999 a report stated that approximately 220,000 people did enter a drug treatment program to help them with their addiction to marijuana.
After stating strong arguments from both sides it looks like one does not truly outweigh the other. Each side has 5 strong and valid points. Regardless of what side I take it really doesn’t matter because ultimately the decision will be made by the government. If the end result is that the government does decide marijuana will be legalized I can only hope they carefully measured all aspects of this issue. That careful consideration is made on how carefully marijuana is controlled if it is prescribed. We should keep in mind that there are a lot of problems with prescription drug dependency to begin with. Will it just be easier for a person who seeks out marijuana for recreational purposes to illegally purchase it off someone who has a prescription for it? I also hope that science does all that it can to look into all alternatives to treating chronic conditions in which marijuana treatment was found to be effective.
