Position Argument on Medical Marijuana
There seems to be a constant need to provide conflict in our society. Everywhere you turn you will find articles fighting against the legalization of medical marijuana, which in this state, is already legal. What an interesting concept having to continue to defend the legality and why it should be legal in the first place. Heaven forbid we have something that actually helps people tolerate the pain they have to constantly live with. Why would we want to give them some relief? We are actually putting some income back into the economy instead of throwing it away to some criminal or helping the Mexican Cartel make a profit.
Now why in the world would we want to do that? These are the questions that come to my mind when I hear about everything going on with the cannabis issue. Let’s get down to some brass tactics as they say on everything that is being said against this issue. First off you hear, it is a gateway drug to addictive drugs like cocaine and heroin. Well that is funny, because if you survey the people hooked on cocaine and heroin, in most instances you will find that they actually abused beer and alcohol first. They did not start with marijuana.
This is according to polls taken by a number of organizations looking into the addictiveness of this type of pain killer. There is no evidence that marijuana is addictive. People like to use marijuana because it makes them feel good. Now it has been proven to be an effective pain killer. What is the problem then? Look at all the people sitting in jail right now for using marijuana or trying to distribute marijuana. Our tax dollars pay for all these people sitting in jail for using marijuana simply because our government went and listed it as a Schedule 1 drug way back in the 1950’s.
Even though it has been proven that it is not addictive and should not be listed this way-we can’t seem to get them to change this. The only reason it seems that this isn’t being done is because the pharmaceutical companies have our politicians and government in their back pocket. They support them financially. Well that, of course, is way more important than maybe providing someone with pain relief. Our economy is in the toilet right now. I’m just thinking about how many new jobs would become available if we were opening medical marijuana dispensaries all over the country. That doesn’t ven include the growers and caregivers that would now have an income coming in. Instead, they continue to keep marijuana illegal in most states. How many farmers could continue to stay in business if they could legally grow marijuana as a crop for sale? It just doesn’t make any sense when you look at all the people on unemployment or who have lost everything because there just isn’t enough work out there. Yet, there is millions and millions of dollars spent every year on illegal marijuana. There is also millions and millions of dollars every year spent on trying to stop the drug cartels bringing in marijuana for illegal sales.
Then there are millions and millions of dollars spent every year on putting people in jail and maintaining them for the use or sale of marijuana. All of this money going out and no profit coming in. Who is making the profit? The drug cartels make the profits. What do they do for us? Well, let’s see, they kill and exploit people. There was a report that said 6,000 people were murdered by the cartels last year, many of them were innocent children, police officers, reporters and politicians. Shouldn’t we spend our money legally and help the people of our country earn a living, instead of helping these drug cartels make a profit.
What do you think? Now we have to touch on the issue that it isn’t a medical pain killer. Where do people think “Marinol”, the product used to assist cancer patients, came from? It uses THC which is derived from the marijuana plant. The FDA approved this drug. Did you know that the use of this drug can cause hallucinations? Smoking a “joint” doesn’t do that. Yet they just don’t want to approve marijuana itself. Whose pocket do you think they are being held by? The excuses are that it is smoked not ingested. Who cares? If it relieves pain by the natural use of this plant, then let us use it!
Especially since they are not finding any terrible side effects like they do with most of the other pain killers people are addicted to like vicadin and methadone. What about the cocaine and morphine that is prescribed by many doctors? Do you know the history of marijuana? It goes back to 2737 B. C. where an emperor in China used marijuana for treatments of gout, malaria and poor memory. Ancient cultures in Egypt, Rome, Greece, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and India had many uses for marijuana. It was used for religious purposes, stress and pain relief.
We actually used marijuana hemp seeds and roots for inflamed skin and V. D. in the late 18th century according to our American history. It became illegal, except for medical use, by “The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937” and of course you had to pay a tax to use it. It only became illegal in these United States in the 1950’s when the FDA listed it as a Schedule 1 substance. This means it is suppose to be a high value for abuse with no medical value at all. Research has proven so differently. There have been many attempts to change this by various reform groups over the past 30 years but the FDA still has not responded.
It is amazing, that our own federal government grew & supplied a number of medical patients with medical marijuana in 1978. Why is this even an issue now? There are more deaths from alcohol or tobacco use than ever reported by use of marijuana. Alcohol abuse can cause death to the user or unfortunately to the innocent people that end up in a car crash with the abuser. Alcohol abuser’s can end up with a destroyed liver. Alcohol abuse is usually the main cause of domestic violence acts. Yet, alcohol is legal. How many of these types of incidents have you heard of from marijuana use?
You’ve heard of violence from cocaine and heroin users, but marijuana, I think not. Now we go to tobacco. Addictive, yes highly, just ask the millions of people that can’t quit but would love to. How healthy is this? You hear all the time of the problems caused by “second hand” smoke. That isn’t even the problems caused for the actual smoker. Cancer and breathing disorders are on the top of the list of disease caused by the use of tobacco. Again, this is legal. Does this make any sense to you? Marijuana does not cause violence, addiction, death, cancer or breathing disorders.
Yet, it is an illegal drug? It should not even be a drug. It should be classified the same as tobacco and alcohol at the least or put with the list of “herbal” remedies used today. After all it is a plant. Personally, I believe there seems to be too much controversy over this subject. Just legalize it and be done with it. Now people have jobs and patients have an alternative pain medicine to use. Put it in the category it belongs. Give us the money the drug cartels get and help put our economy back on its feet. Isn’t this what living the American Dream is all about anyways?
