A timeless, possibly effortless, issue that sparks relevance within the fields of medicine, politics and the economy, and one that President Obama cannot seem to avoid at the moment, is the decriminalization of marijuana. At this point in time, I feel that this argument can be looked upon and solved with the method of choosing between the lesser of two evils. One being to make marijuana a criminal offense and in doing so, inducing the crime rate by possession or drug violence. The other being to legalize as well as place extreme regulations on marijuana usage and possibly see an incline in traffic accidents or other accidents due to reasons assumed to be the cause of increased usage. Both methods have the intention of protecting society from possible harm thought to be associated with the usage of marijuana. Our government currently is in favor of the first option. I am in favor of the latter option.
I feel the medical community would benefit tremendously from the use of marijuana in the treatment process to ease the negative effects of certain ailments, such as cancers. Many patients undergoing chemotherapy as treatment for cancer can experience lack of appetite, nausea, vomiting, insomnia, and/or pain. All of these symptoms can make not only the experience more sufferable, but can have the effect of prolonging the healing process. Medicinal marijuana can be specifically engineered to combat all these negative effects.
Dalene Entenmann. Medical marijuana pot pill approved for chemotherapy. The Cancer Blog. May 16, 2006.
I feel that punishing the offenders of marijuana crimes is unnecessarily costly to the government as well as tax payers. The amount of people in American society that partake in marijuana activities has overwhelmingly increased in just 15 years. We know this by the amount of arrests due to marijuana offenses that occurred within 1991 (288,000 arrests), compared to the arrests that happened in 2006 (830,000 arrests). Either Americans became apathetic and conspicuous with their illegal engagements or more of society is now accepting and embracing marijuana. With every arrest money is spent for the police officers' time patrolling, money is spent when processing and booking an offender, money is spent to maintain an offender in jail, and money is spent in an effort to stop the trafficking and using marijuana (the War on Drugs).Paul Armentano. 20 Million Arrests, and Counting. In These Times. September 25, 2008. The campaign for "War on Drugs" has never really been a successful one, only ongoing. In decriminalizing marijuana and placing strict regulations on the possession and/or usage of marijuana not only will the government have more control than they ever have before or will on the movement of marijuana within American society, but the government can make a sufficient amount of money by placing a tax on marijuana similar to the tax on alcohol.
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The blog The Panacea proposes that marijuana should be made legal. Two of the ideas presented in the blog that attempt to support the cause for legalizing marijuana are “The medical community would benefit tremendously from the use of marijuana in the treatment process of easing the negative effects of certain ailments, such as cancers,” and “Society is now accepting and embracing marijuana.”
ReplyDeleteThe argument is made that marijuana should be legal because it eases the negative effects of certain ailments. This is an attempt to persuade the reader to agree with the opinion stated in The Panacea by making individuals feel sorry for cancer patients. What kind of person would want to deny people suffering from cancer medication that would ease their suffering? But feeling compassion for someone does not serve as evidence for an argument. The reader should rely on the rational reasons behind the argument as opposed to allowing emotions to motivate them to legalize marijuana. In fact, the claim that marijuana should be legalized for the welfare of patients is not supported by the evidence.
Despite the assertion the medical community would benefit tremendously from the use of marijuana, the facts are that there are better treatments available. The only benefit of legalized marijuana to the medical community would be the rise in employment in drug treatment centers used to treat the thousands of new addicts it would create. A synthetic form of THC in pill form, Marinol, relieves the nausea and vomiting linked to chemotherapy. Unlike marijuana, Marinol has been studied and approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Physicians who practice 21st century medicine use Marinol, rather than act like snake oil salesmen and suggest that their patients smoke a plant.
Finally, let's look at the argument that society is now accepting and embracing marijuana. This is an attempt to use majority rule as a way to validate support for legalization of marijuana. We are suppose to believe that majority rule is all-knowing and we should follow it blindly. The argument should be rejected because suggesting that it is the majority opinion that marijuana should be legal is false.
If you take a look at polls you will see that supporters of legalizing marijuana are in the minority across the board regardless of age group or gender. According to Gallup polls the supporters for legalizing marijuana are the minority. Gallup combined the results of three surveys, conducted in August 2001, November 2003, and October 2005 and found that 44% of men aged 18 to 49 and 33% of men aged 50 and older support the legalization of marijuana. It also showed that for woman 34% of women aged 18 to 49 and 27% of women aged 50 and older support the legalization of marijuana. Another poll done by Time/CNN found that only 34% want marijuana legalized.
In conclusion, the reader should not allow themselves to be manipulated to promote the legalization of marijuana. The proven medical and scientific facts about marijuana will not be changed just by changing the laws.
Paragraph 2 argument: "But feeling compassion for someone does not serve as evidence for an argument." "the claim that marijuana should be legalized for the welfare of patients is not supported by the evidence."
ReplyDeleteA doctors' or any care-givers' oath is to first do no harm. This that which drives their decisions is for increasing the quality of life of their patients.
Paragraph 3 argument: "Despite the assertion the medical community would benefit tremendously from the use of marijuana, the facts are that there are better treatments available....Unlike marijuana, Marinol has been studied..."
Here are some test results as well as user reviews of Marinol and Marinol v. Marijuana.
http://www.revolutionhealth.com/drugs-treatments/rating/marinol
http://ehealthforum.com/health/marinol-vs-cannabis-t138082.html
Conclusion Statement: "The proven medical and scientific facts about marijuana will not be changed just by changing the laws."
The proven medical and scientific facts about marijuana will have the strongest impact for changing the current laws like the following states have already passed for medical use: Alaska, Colorado,California, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington.
And penalties for marijuana crimes have been lessened in Massachusetts and some counties in Texas such as Williamson. I believe this constitutes as a growing acceptance.
Sorry about referring to you as a "she" in my blog post. I am now fully aware that you are in fact a "he". If you want, you can call me a man on my blog to even things up :)
ReplyDelete