Debate surrounding the advantages and disadvantages of Australian cannabis legislation is often framed as a simplification between two competing choices relating to levels of harm to individuals and to society, with the same evidence and information selectively interpreted, to bolster opposing arguments (Hall, 2008). The choices are: cannabis use as harmless and therefore, should be decriminalised or legalised based on prohibition’s inability to deter use, crime, mortality and morbidity (McGeorge & Aitken, 1997) versus continued prohibition due to harmful effects of addiction, crime and health consequences (Dennis & White, 1999; Hall, 2008). This simplification glosses over the advantages and disadvantages of the health consequences and potential medical benefits to use, the economic costs of enforcement, criminal administration and decriminalisation plus the social costs to individuals and society. In addition to there being no public unanimity on the harms that are of most significance, nor the required action from the government in overseeing those harms (Weatherburn, 2014).
Nevertheless,
…show more content…
Quantifying the desired and achieved levels of harm minimisation is both difficult and problematic due to the lack of public consensus regarding the harms that are most important and requiring priority, in addition to the context they occur in (Weatherburn, 2014). Polarised views of minimising harm for the health of individuals versus society, motivations for use as medicinal versus youth experimentation to long-term dependency plus combining economic costs and benefits of a criminal prohibitionist approach as opposed to a civil prohibitionist approach means legislation is required to find balance between the policy that reduces the most amount of harm for the least amount of resources, with the highest expectation of
The debate between prohibitionists and citizens who believe in the legalization of illegal drugs provide many arguments. Since there are many drugs that are illegal there are many different arguments on what should be legal and what shouldn’t. The biggest debate, and the argument that I will mostly focus on, is the reform of marijuana. Prohibitionists argue that marijuana has adverse health, safety, social, academic, economic, and behavioral consequences (Goldberg 183). Not only do they claim that it causes all of those consequences but it also can cause harm to others including family and friends (Rachels 228). The obvious argument in harming others is driving under the influence of the drug but proh...
Today, in the United States alone there are over: 400,000 cases of Multiple Sclerosis, 4 million cases of glaucoma, and between 1.3 and 2.8 million cases of epilepsy. That is at least 5.7 million people that suffer every single day. For many of those people, the situation seems hopeless, but there is an option that may help. Medical marijuana has been proven to be very helpful in all of those cases including other things such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and just pain in general. Not only has it been known to help reduce pain and other symptoms from those diseases but it has also becoming apparent that marijuana may also be able to potentially slow down cancer as a connection has been made between the plant turning off a gene
Did you know that marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug, with 19.8 million past-month users according to the 2013 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. That year, marijuana was used by 81.0 percent of current illicit drug users. Now think if every state in America was to legalize marijuana. There would be so many pros and cons that will change the economy. In this paper I will tell u all the pros and cons of legalizing marijuana. Some pros are that it will help cure many illnesses and different forms of pain, it will decrease the crime rate, and will help the economy. But, as a result of legalizing marijuana there will be cons. For example it will affect teens, harm the person smoking marijuana, and harm those around the person
There is a major debate in today’s world about the legalization of cannabis, especially, in the United States. States such as California and Illinois have already moved forward in their open-minded thinking about the drug and are allowing people to use marijuana as an alternative to other prescribed drugs in treating the effects of certain ailments. The idea of legalizing marijuana is a touchy subject for many people; on the one hand its properties are beneficial to many people who suffer from many different illnesses, on the other hand, it is an illegal substance that has many addictive qualities. According to the Drug Enforcement Agency’s website, “Marijuana is a Schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances Act, meaning that it has a high potential for abuse, no currently accepted medical use in the treatment, in the...
Harmful drugs are an issue that creates controversy just by being mentioned, let alone acted upon by public policy. Despite this, policy actors must address drugs, through action or inaction, for the chance to make our society safer and healthier. Scientists and policy makers tend to agree that some drugs can be harmful to their users (Nordegren, 2002), but there are two broad camps of opinion on how best to protect users from these negative effects. This paper will discuss the ways that the policies of harm reduction and prohibition are formed, and identify the key actors in this policy space.
When Dr. Lucido was asked if marijuana should be legal he replied, “if marijuana was legalized there would be more people using it for the wrong reasons, but he thought that there would be a lot less death and crime out on the streets.” Many people would agree with this statement. Other’s would argue with it because they believe marijuana use would go down. Some think that if marijuana was legal less people would use it. A lot of youth wouldn’t think it was cool because it wasn’t illegal and there for adolescents marijuana use would decrease. This question is the basis of the paper, should medical marijuana be available? This paper will show you the positives and negatives of medical marijuana.
The legalization of marijuana has been a highly debated topic for many of years. Since the first president to the most recent, our nation’s leaders have consumed the plant known as weed. With such influential figures openly using this drug why is it so frowned upon? Marijuana is considered a gateway drug, a menace to society, and mentally harmful to its consumers. For some people weed brings a sense of anxiety, dizziness, or unsettling feeling. Like alcohol, tobacco or any other drug, those chemicals may not respond well with their body. For other people marijuana brings joy, a sense of relief, and takes the edge off of every day stress. For those who are associated with cannabis, purposes usually range from a relaxant, or cash crop, to more permissible uses such as medicine, and ingredient to make so many other materials. We now need to look at what would change if marijuana were legal. Benefits to the economy and agriculture, health issues, and crime rates are three areas worth looking at. Deliberating on the pros and cons of this plant we can get a better understanding for marijuana. From there it will be easier to make a clear consensus on what is best for the nation.
Introduction The legalization of marijuana is considered a controversial issue, something that can benefit people for medical purposes, but what about recreationally? Marijuana has been illegal since 1937, but there’s never been a bigger push for legalization. There are several reasons why it is illegal, because of government propaganda and big industry not wanting to lose money, but this will be discussed later. The purpose of this paper is to educate, theorize, and discuss various aspects of marijuana, such as its history, development, and the advantages and disadvantages of marijuana legalization. Finally, my personal reflection on legalization and marijuana in general will be discussed.
The legalization of drugs is a well disputed topic in today’s society that could have many positive and negative effects. Some people believe legalizing drugs would be beneficial because there
Marijuana will benefit tremendously on boosting tax revenues. On September 12th, 2014 an article entitled “ Marijuana Legalization: Pros And Cons” from Portland Tribune written by Peter Wong. Wong reports over the debate of Earl Blumenauer, a U.S Representative and Josh Marquis, a district attorney. Marquis argues we should keep the law the same and leave it how it is. On the other hand Blumenauer states were wasting tax dollars and even failing to protect children from it. In his article Peter Wong quotes U.S Representative Earl Blumenauer. Blumenauer states ,” We are wasting your tax dollars on failed Prohibition…”(qtd. In Wong 1). This is a cultural shift happening right in front of us. There is money being thrown down the drain and drug
Dr. Donald Abrams and Dr. Igor Grant, University of California advised that many pharmaceutical companies and medical research labs are shying away from medical marijuana research because it is listed as schedule 1 item, and thus makes it very difficult to get through the federal red-tape. In addition, these experiments are very expensive and the hassle received does worth the headache. At this moment, no pharmaceutical company is interested in finding a cure using herbal marijuana. So far, the federal government has formulated a synthetic pill called “Marinol” which many cancer patients said it does not help them at all.
How do you feel about the usage of marijuana in the United States? A lot of people think that the use of marijuana leads to the use of other, more intense drugs. One common question people have is “are marijuana dispensaries front for criminal profiteers?”. Also a lot of people think that marijuana dispensaries should be regulated by the government. I will now further explain these topics in the following paragraphs.
The national debate on whether or not recreational marijuana should be legalized nationally or if it should be left to be an independent state issue has been going on for the past century and the debate will most likely be going on for the next ten years or so. Whilst this situation is being resolved, another problem that arises is one that everyone in the United States questioning this particular yet similar topic. The question that everyone started asking is “Do the positive advantages of having recreational marijuana legalized outway the disadvantages?” Whilst the positive side of the debate goes into the economical nuances and how it affects depression and stress, the negatives side of the debate goes into the youth's mindsets and how the drug can affect the brain’s functions. Both of these sides are very strong when it comes to the debate, however, the positives outway the negatives
“Governments, entrepreneurs, and people everywhere are beginning to acknowledge that the potential of the cannabis industry is too great to ignore. Its outdated, unsubstantiated stigma is quickly being replaced by legitimate research, supportive laws, and market demand that has surpassed expectations.” Marijuana has been a taboo topic for a hundred years, and we are finally witnessing a shift in the conversation. Marijuana has been legalized for medicinal use in several states, and a few have allowed recreational use too. The silence has finally broken about cannabis but the question still remains; how will the states be able to buy, sell, and use something that is still against federal law? Organizations and businesses within this industry are revamping their legal marketing tactics, including: advertising, sales promotion, events and experiences. But this must happen while dealing with a tricky bunch of rules and regulations.
Thank you Michael, yes marijuana is a debatable topic, to remain open-minded helps. Although, I have a personal brief story about short term use of marijuana. Besides what studies has proven and its recent debates. Although they have two things in common the effect it has on the brain and the reward pathway. Marijuana may answer, leave open ended answers, and raise plenty of questions, but for sure it contributes to certain causes regardless of it being less harmful or helpful may share both risk positive and negative while protection or acting as a prevention. May of 2018 will be one year since my godmother passed. Her diagnosis was cancer when becoming terminally she began to smoke marijuana, although it was to assist with the pain other