Throughout history marijuana has been used to serve various purposes in many different cultures. The purposes have changed over time to fit in with the current lifestyles. This pattern is also true in American history. The use of marijuana has adapted to the social climate of the time. Marijuana, whose scientific name is cannibis sativa, was mentioned in historical manuscripts as early as 2700 B.C. in China. (Grolier Electronic Encyclopedia, 1995).
The cultivation of the marijuana plant began as far back as 1611, with the Jamestown settlers, who used hemp produced from the marijuana plant fibers to make rope and canvas. It was also used in making clothing because of its durability. These uses fit in with the time period, becasue the main focus was on survival rather than for psychoactive purposes. Not only is marijuana useful in clothes and canvas products, it is a proven fact that marijuana is of a medical value. Marijuana has been used as a medicine since antiquity, but U.S. anti-drug laws have kept physicians from prescribing it or testing its benefits. Marijuana is the flower of the cannabis plant, and if smoked, gives the smoker an euphoric high, but really has much more to offer than just the high. Using marijuana and the growing of hemp are presently illegal in the United States, with the exception of medicinal uses in some states. The legalization of marijuana has many advantages including for simple personal enjoyment, the usage of hemp and its by-products, and medicinal purposes. Why should marijuana be illegal when people just use it to help themselves enjoy their lives more? Tobacco and alcohol are both used, and abused for the same reasons, but with many more negative side effects than marijuana. “Government’s surveys indicate more than 70 million Americans have smoked marijuana at some point in their lives, and that 18- 20 million have smoked during the last year” (Rose 1).
The Term Paper on Coffee Bean Marijuana Drug Hemp
Illegal drug use is a major problem in the world today. Million of dollars are spent ever year to prevent the trafficking and distribution of these drugs. Virtually all Drugs is smuggled into the United States concealed in false compartments, fuel tanks, seats, tires of private and commercial vehicles, pickup trucks, vans, mobile homes, and horse trailers. Large shipments usually are smuggled in ...
Marijuana has no solid negative effects, and “the U.S. National Institute of Drug Abuse’s Bureau of Mortality statistics report that per year there are zero deaths caused by marijuana. In camparison tobacco causes 400,000 deaths, where alcohol causes 100,000” (Rose 1).
People generally believe that marijuana is addicting, but “marijuana is not a narcotic and is not a mentally or physically addicting drug. One can use mild cannabis preparations such as marijuana in small amounts for years without physical or mental deterioration” (Adams 1).
People who smoke marijuana feel relaxed and sociable, tend to laugh a great deal, and lose the sense of time. Those under the influence of marijuana also show loss of coordination and have an impaired ability to perform skilled acts. As long as people do not drive, or operate heavy machinery, these effects although maybe not positive, are certainly not negative. America is supposed to be a free country, where everyone has basic human rights, including privacy. What happened to the Declaration of Independence speaking of every citizen’s right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?” If the United States is to be persuasive in promoting freedom in other parts of the world, it must respect the privacy of its own citizens. Why is a plant that was proclaimed by Popular Mechanics magazine to have the potential to be manufactured into more than 25,000 different environmentally friendly products being systematically withheld from U.S. farmers? (Popular Mechanics Magazine, 238-239).
The reason is simply becasue hemp has a small tie to the feared marijuana, but in essence, is completely different containing virtually no Tetrahydrocannabinol, (THC) the active ingredient of marijuana. Hemp is possibly one of the strongest crops in nature. In modern day if hemp use for industrial purposes were legal, 20th century technology would make hemp the single largest agricultural crop in the United States, without even considering recreational smoking. If the hemp pulp paper process invented by the USDA in 1916 were legal today, it would replace 40 to 70 percent of wood pulp paper, and make a better and cheaper paper, with no acid rain produced in its manufacture. Textiles, cordage, construction products, paper and packaging, furniture, electrical, automative, paints and sealants, plastics and polymers, lubricants and fuel, energy and biomass, compost, food and feed are either products of industrial hemp or would benefit from it. “In addition, hemp has an average growing cycle of only 100 days and leaves the soil vitually weed-free for the next planting” (NORML, 1).
The Essay on Medical Marijuana Patients Smoking Aids
One of the most controversial issues in the United States is over medical marijuana. Many experiments test the validity of the drug as a medicine, and results of these experiments receive much praise but also some critique. The DEA and the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) are battling over the issue. The underlying matter that cannot be ignored is that marijuana ...
Also there is the hemp seed, which some refer to as nature’s perfect food. The oil from hemp seeds has the highest percentage of essential fatty acids and the lower percentage of saturated fats than any food, and also is second only to soy in protein content. Steps are being made to legalize the use of hemp, for there are really no disadvantages in growing it. “In 1996, politicians in four states introduced legislation allowing for domestic hemp cultivation and by legislative session’s end, both Hawaii and Vermont had passed measures promoting industrial hemp research” (NORML, 1).
Marijuana is now legal for medicinal purposes due to Proposition 215 in California, and Proposition 200 in Arizona. Also, the House has intoduced bill 912, “The Medical Use of Marijuana Act.” People with specified physical pains such as headaches, arthritis, and others can now legally use marijuana. If someone is really upset or depressed, marijuana could help him or her calm down and get into a better mood so they can enjoy the rest of their day. Marijuana could be used to cure manic-depressives and would have fewer side effects than current medications used. “Clinical and anecdotal evidence also points to the effectiveness of marijuana as a therapeutic agent in the treatment of a variety of spastic conditions such as multiple sclerosis, paraplegia, epilepsy, and quadriplegia” (NORML, 1).
The Essay on Marijuana Drug
Marijuana use and the ability to freely choose whether or not it should be legal or illegal is fierce debate today. Whether or not State or Federal government should regulate this is the “hot topic” that is being debate even as we speak. There are two sides to every story and of course my opinion as well. The side that opposes the legalization of marijuana stands tall with the National Institute ...
The areas of cancer and AIDS studies have also been greatly benefited from the intoduction of maijuana as a treatment. AIDS patients have been proven to receive benefits from smoking marijuana: “most recently, a federally commissioned report by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) determined that, Marijuana’s active components are potentially effective in treating pain, nausea, the anorexia of AIDS wasting, and other symptoms” (NORML 1).
It has also been proven that the introduction of marijuana to an HIV patient has no effect on accelerating the virus to clinical AIDS. The National Academy of Sciences has also completed studies with cancer determining, “Short term marijuana use appears to be suitable in treating conditions like chemotherapy-induced nausea for patients who do not respond well to other medications” (NORML 1).
In an interview with Robert Randall, a current medical marijuana user of Washington D.C. At the age of 32 years old Randall was diagnosed with a chronic case of acute glaucoma. Which is a disease characterized by abnormally high fluid pressure in the eyes. “”At best, you’ve got three, maybe five years of remaining sight,” said the doctor, one of the nation’s leading ocular pathologists” (Brazaitis unknown).
Later in Randall’s life he discovered by accident that smoking marijuana not only lessened the strain on his eyes, but eliminated the tricolored halos that marred his vision. Randall didn’t believe that smoking an illegal drug could stop the deterioration of his precious eyesight. Then after six months of trial and error, he became a believer. Randall began to grow his own marijuana, due to the fact that he could not afford the street price for it. He pleaded not guilty on previously unheard of grounds of medical necessity. He petitioned his government for help. In November 1976, Randall became the first American to gain legal medically supervised access to marijuana. Twenty-three years after Randall’s initial diagnosis of impending blindness, he is one of eight Americans who continue to recieve free marijuana from the federal government. In another case of effective medical marijuana use, Irvin H Rosenfeld who is a medical marijuana user said “I feel like without the marijuana, I would be dead,” he said. “And I’m still a good and productive member of society” (Smith, unknown).
The Essay on American Drug Laws Do They Help Or Hurt
American Drug Laws: Do They Help or Hurt? I believe the drug laws are in serious need of reform. We tend to forget that alcohol is a drug and that at one time it was prohibited without success. Also, I believe that a civil body of government rather than a criminal one should regulate drug use. It is a social problem, not a criminal one. As a largely victimless crime they should not have their ...
Tumors choke Rosenfeld’s body, the result of a rare congenital condition. Rosenfled took on seven operations to remove 40 tumors. Doctors suspect that 200 tumors are hiding inside of Rosenfeld’s body all of which are noncancerous. But pain still tortures him as tumors strangle his bones and muscle. Rosenfeld began to smoke marijuana in the ’70s. After playing a 45 minute game of chess he stood up and said “With this disease, I can’t sit still for more than 10 minutes” (Smith, unknown).
Rosenfeld immediately thought to himself what he had taken today. He then realized that he had smoked a marijuana joint. A joint is finely chopped up marijuana that is rolled in tobacco rolling papers. The next day he called his surgeon and told him what had happened. His surgeon told him that he had never heard of a medical use of marijuana. After an 11 year battle the federal government agreed to provide Rosenfeld marijuana harvested from a 5.6 acre chunk of land on the University of Mississippi campus in Oxford. One negative view of marijuana is that even though it is not addicting, it may be habituating. The individual may become psychologically rather than physically dependant on the drug. Heavy marijuana smokers might feel the need to be high before they do anything, including work, school, or play becasue it makes things easier to tolerate and more enjoyable. These symptoms are very much alike with the habits that can develop with the abuse of alcohol and tobacco. So needless to say without the abuse of marijuana, there really is no reason to keep it from ones life. A major complication of marijuana use is the tendency of some users to progress to more dangerous drugs. Marijuana is often called the “gateway drug.” After prolonged use of the drug, the individual might feel the need for different or more intense drugs. The drug of choice after marijuana can depend on finaces and area, for example, “Users in economically deprived areas usually go on to heroin, whereas more rich individuals tend to move from marijuana to more potent hallucinogens such as LSD” (Adams 2).
The Essay on American Drug Abuse Mccuen And Winkler
Kelsey Liles Pat Patterson Engl. 1301. 0816 March 2002 American Drug Abuse Our society has found itself directly in the middle of a transcontinental drug surge. An estimated 23 million of the world's population regularly take illicit drugs, and the Drug Enforcement Administration estimated that 13. 6 million of those who habitually used illegal drugs in 1998 were Americans. Even in our current ...
One final negative aspect of legalizing marijuana is that many people claim there will be an increase in the amount of people who use and try it. That is simply not true. There is some evidence suggesting that drug use under a relaxed system might not increase at all, for example, “Many states have removed the penalties for marijuana possession that were on the books in the 1950’s and 1960’s. The change occurred during a reform movement that swept the nation in the mid 1970’s. Yet in spite of the less severe laws, studies show that the use of marijuana in the affected states has, after an initial increase, declined. Although marijuana became easier to use, (from a legal standpoint), it also became less The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, (NORML) has been a voice for Americans who oppose marijuana prohibition. During the prohibition, marijuana was widely used because of the scarcity of alcohol. Prohibition was repealed after just thirteen years, while the prohibition against marijuana lasted for more than seventy five years. This double standard may have resulted from the wishes of those in power. Alcohol prohibition struck directly at tens of millions of Americans of all ages, including many of society’s most powerful members. marijuana prohibition threatened far fewer Americans, and they had relatively little influence in the districts of power. Only the prohibition of marijuana, which some sixty million Americans have violated since 1965 has come close to approximation the prohibition experience, but marijuana smokers consist mostly of young and relatively powerless Americans (American Heritage 47).
Alocohol prohibition was repealed and marijuana prohibition was retained, not because scientists had proved that alcohol was less dangerous of the various psychoactive drugs, but because of the prejudices and preferences of most Complete Decriminalization: NORML supports the removal of all penalties for the private possession and responsible use of marijuana by adults, cultivation for personal use, and the casual nonprofit transfers of small amounts. This model, generally called “decriminalization,” greatly reduces the harm caused by marijuana prohibition by protecting millions of consumers from the threat of criminal arrest and jail. It represents a cease fire in the war against marijuana smokers, smokers would no longer be arrested, though commercial sellers would be.
The Term Paper on Marijuana Prohibition Is A Violation Of First Amendment Rights
... the 18 million other adults who used marijuana last year can make is the martini ("Against Drug Prohibition" ix). The legal acceptance of ... criminal prosecution (New England Journal of Medicine, August 1997). American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Foundation of Northern California co- ... any "drug," contrary to our past acceptance of the market. Before and during the Civil War, morphine (a derivative ...
Regulation and Legalization: NORML also supports the development of a legally controlled market for marijuana, where consumers could buy marijuana for personal use for a safe, legal source. This is generally called “legalization”. The black market in marijuana, and the attendant problems of crime and violence associated with an uncontrolled and unregulated black market, could be eliminated, as was the case when alcohol prohibition was ended in 1933, by providing consumers with an alternative legal market. With these two steps in consideration it could save the U.S. billions of dollars. In reality, marijuana smoking is extremely common and marijuana is the recreational drug of choice for millions of mainstream, middle class Americans. When it costs approxamtely $25,000 a year to jail a law-abiding marijuana smoker and over 10 million Americans have been arrested since 1965 for marijuana related offenses. There are currently 1.7 million Americans behind bars. Look it how much money the U.S. could save by making it legal. With all these benefits, why is marijuana still illegal? The positive effects of legalization clearly surpass the negative effects. Think of how many things would benefit if marijuana was legal: the econony, trees, unemployment, the national debt, and people who need that extra help with their medical status. We should take advantage of what the plant has to offer by legalizing marijuana.
