Drug Discrimination

718 Words2 Pages

Drug Discrimination

The legalization of marijuana is just as heated as it has been since the 1930s when it was first outlawed(Marijuana). Marijuana is a name given to any drugs made from the hemp plant, Cannabis(Grolier). To legalize or not to legalize is the question that has been plaguing politicians and no one knows the answer. It is a burning issue that just won’t go away like many had wished it would when it started. Nothing has been this heated since the alcohol prohibition in the 1920s. Why should people have the right to use something that is as bad to your health as marijuana? Well if you look at it millions of people smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol and that is legal, so why not marijuana too?

Those opposed to the legalization of marijuana do have valid reasons. The harmful consequences of marijuana use include addiction, coordination and perception impairment, and a number of mental disorders including depression, hostility and increased aggressiveness(Say it Straight). There are over 10,000 scientific studies that prove marijuana is a harmful addictive drug with no studies stating that it has any medical value. Therefore marijuana can have withdrawal symptoms such as those listed above. Also marijuana impairs short term memory, legalization of marijuana would cause “carnage on the highways”, and the use of marijuana is a gateway to harder drugs such as cocaine and heroin.

The increased campaign awareness to legalize marijuana has shown youths believe marijuana is less harmful than many other drugs out there like cigarettes and alcohol(Say it Straight). This is simply not true, in fact marijuana has 425 unstable chemicals that convert to thousands when smoked by the user(Say it Straight). ...

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...rage marijuana consumer and also provide needed tax dollars for the government so they can crack down on really harmful drugs such as heroin and cocaine. My view is summed up best by this quote “Adults should be allowed to live as they wish, provided they do not harm others...the government should not outlaw...To do so would be to substitute the government’s tastes and moral judgment for those of the individual, and unjustified violation of personal freedom by the state.”(qtd. in Nagorney) Which is my point exactly.

Bibliography:

Works Cited

Marshall, Eliot. Legalization: A Debate. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1988.

"Marijuana." The New Grolier Multimedia Version. 1993 ed.

Nagorney, Paul “Marijuana Should be Legalized.” 24 Sept 2000

United States. Department of Justice. Say it Straight: Myths of Marijuana. 24 Sept 2000

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