Ethical issues involving Legalizing Marijuana
Jerriett Hand
SOC 120 Introduction to Ethics & Social Responsibility
Instructor: Denise Antoon
October 25, 2012
Nearly 80 million Americans have used Marijuana on at least on one occasion, making it the third most popular recreational drug behind alcohol and tobacco. Despite harsh laws against its use, nearly 11 million Americans consume the drug regularly and 20 million within the last year according to government surveys. Whether the use is for medicinal purposes or simply for recreation, the topic of legalization addresses ethical concerns as well. I will be outlining not only the reasons for use of marijuana but the benefits of its consumption as well. I will be applying the classical theory of utilitarianism to resolve the issue of legalization while also using the perspective of ethical egoism that this issue addresses, including my personal view of these theories concerning the legalization of marijuana.
Like all illegal drugs, many would view marijuana unethical because of the harmful side effects. Contrary to that Marijuana also has many medical benefits. Marijuana suppresses the immune system, damages the central nerve system, and can be an intoxicant that increases the chances of injury by accident. Despite the harmful views of marijuana, the medical community has adopted the use of marijuana for medical purposes. The main chemical “THC” (Tetra-hydro-cannibol) is effective at relieving nausea and vomiting in patients being treated for cancer or AIDS. Marijuana is also effective at treating anorexia in appetite loss.
The Essay on Medical Marijuana Ethical Issues
There are a number of ethical issues that a nurse faces while in the clinical setting. One of these issues deals with using marijuana as medicine to treat patients. There has been controversy over medical marijuana ever since it was discovered that patients respond to it. There are many arguments supporting the use of medical marijuana in the health care field and many arguments in opposition of ...
When it comes to applying morality to legalizing marijuana, I believe that this type if subject raises many ethical issues and ethical problems. Ethical issues, which is a problem or situation that requires a person or organization to choose between alternatives that must be evaluated as right (ethical) or wrong (unethical) draws many issues because everyone has different views. Legalizing marijuana would cause an increase in usage, due to the fact it will be more assessable. The more a person consume a drug, the higher the risk of addiction. If a man is addicted to marijuana, there’s a chance he may ignore his own responsibilities by diverting financial resources towards his habit, which could’ve gone elsewhere. For example, imagine a man using the rest of his paycheck to purchase marijuana, instead of spend it on his children. In this type of scenario, not only the individual is affected by the consequences of his choice, but those whose growth and development are dependent upon his choices are harmed as well. Another ethical problem that legalizing marijuana would present is the potential impact it can have on the youth. Legalizing marijuana could result in advertising campaigns which may be directed to adolescents.
I believe that marijuana is a gateway drug which could lead to adolescents using other things like alcohol, or other drugs that causes health issues. With that said, this could impact the youth because if more adolescents are using marijuana, it can affect student’s education progress. Legalizing marijuana by the government would be a permissive message being sent to young people that drug use is acceptable. I believe if the government legalized marijuana it would create a public perception that marijuana is not a serious or harmful drug, when in fact, it leads to numerous mental and physical harms, including use of other illicit drug, health problems, driving while ability is impaired by cannabis. Legalizing marijuana would present the inability of employers to ensure a drug-free workplace since they will no longer be able to give their employees drug tests for marijuana.
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Ethical Problems of Gambling SOC120: Introduction to Ethics & Social Responsibility Eliza Gordner October 3, 2011 Gambling and all the issues it brings have had an enormous impact on my life. Gambling is the practice of playing games of chance or betting, in the hope of winning money. Gambling is also the reason my marriage ended. I could no longer deal with whole pay checks being lost to ...
Based on the Ethical issues and problems that the legalization of marijuana would present, I believe the classical theory of utilitarianism would resolve any issues or problems. Utilitarianism argues that given a set of choices, the act we should choose is that which produces the best result for the greatest number. ( Mosser, K. (2010).
A utilitarian believes that the way to determine if an act is the right thing to do, would be to look at its results, or consequences. To support my claim I’m going to tie utilitarianism to legalizing marijuana and presents ways that the classical theory would resolve the issue. Like mentioned earlier, utilitarianism believes in order to determine the morality of the act would be look at the results or the consequences. Many people that argued that marijuana should be legalized would say that marijuana is not as harmful as other drugs and no one has died due to the cause of an overdose from it. The utilitarian might say that the person who uses these substances is forcing himself to accept negative consequences of his behavior that are undoubtedly infringing upon the maximization of his own utility by diverting his attention from other more important paths in his life. It is not too hard to imagine someone who chooses to drink instead of paint masterpieces, write deeply profound political tracts, or pursue some other end that indeed makes his life go better and better for society as well. I chose utilitarianism as the classical theory that will resolve this problem because it’s similar to my own views on this subject. Like a utilitarian, I believe that if something benefits a large amount of people then that group should be entitled to it.
From a personal stand point, I believe that marijuana should be legalized. Legalizing marijuana will reduce the strain on the legal and criminal justice systems by cutting out or massively reducing relatively petty marijuana-related crime, such as possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use. The production and sales of marijuana by the government, rather than criminals will create jobs, save lives, and generate money that can be used for social programs, education and healthcare. I also believe that crimes related to marijuana like trafficking or dealing would be reduced or eliminated. Legalizing marijuana would also allow the government to tax the sales of marijuana which could help boost the economy and lower taxes on other things. Legalizing marijuana may affect adolescents but a solution to that would be to put and age restriction on who can purchase marijuana. Even though marijuana presents many ethical issues, the pros outweighs the cons when it comes to legalizing it. I believe if the government is issue roxys which is synthetic heroine for pain, marijuana should be legalized because it has a lot less harmful effects.
The Term Paper on Marijuana xmlns=”http:
The Trutxmlns=gattp: Legalization Of Marijuana Several pressing issues have arose throughout time, such as abortion and capitol punishment. The controversies have been addressed and decisions have been made. A new topic has emerged l states (1986, Congress), (Buchsbaum, 8). This crowds court rooms and jail cells, often times forcing judges to release violent offenders. In 1994 alone, 1.35 million ...
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The Essay on Administrative Ethics Paper: Medical Marijuana
A current administrative issue relating to topics such as patient privacy, confidentiality, or HIPAA is as follow. A specific issue that was in the news is the privacy rights as applied to the patients who use medical marijuana. This issue involves the information that medical marijuana is permissible in some states according to those state laws. This means that thousands of patients will be ...
Controlled Substances Act of 1970. Retrieved from: http://www.justice.gov
United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), (2012).Poisonous Plant Database. Retrieved from: http://google2.fda.gov/search?q=marijuana&client=FDAgov&site=FDAgov&lr=&proxystylesheet=FDAgov&output=xml_no_dtd&getfields=*
