InsaneJournal

Mandey Smith

Dr. Shane

HL150

05 February 2008

The Legalization of Marijuana

            Marijuana has been illegal for too long in America. I don't believe it ever should have been made illegal in the first place. First of all, it's not the government's business whether I smoke some pot or not. Second of all, while still dangerous, it is not as dangerous as many people tend to think. Third of all, these laws have created more of a problem with marijuana in America than if they'd just left well enough alone.

            The Prohibition of Alcohol in the early eighteenth century did not deter most folks from drinking. Government is important for regulating things such as business and health care and all of those necessary components of a modern-day American society. But what government was not put here to do was to make the more personal moral decisions for us. The constitution was not written to regulate what drugs or alcohol we consumed or didn't consume, it was written to protect our rights as citizens. One of our rights should be to have the choice to smoke pot if we want to. Personally, I don't ever want to smoke marijuana, and I can't see myself ever wishing to. But that's the beauty of America—the land of the free. I should be free to smoke pot. My neighbor should be free to smoke pot. The president should be free to smoke pot. And why? Because this is America, and that kind of freedom to make our own decisions is what brought immigrants here in the first place. Freedom to participate in the religion of one's choice was a major factor in drawing settlers to America from all over the world, and still is. Every time Christianity, my own religion, gets too close to overstepping the lines of freedom of religion, my blood boils. I'd feel the same about any religion trying to break our explicit "agree-to-disagree", good ol' American attitude toward religious discord. The government should no more tell me to pray than to not pray, and should no more tell me not to smoke pot than to tell me not to drink alcohol. Banning gay marriage, changing the pledge of allegiance to include "under God", and making marijuana illegal are all examples of the government overstepping its bounds socially.

            The health risks of marijuana are widely known. Joints tend to be unfiltered, causing lung damage, and the drug itself has many side-effects, including shortness of memory, slowing of reaction time, and less sound judgment ("Marijuana Dangers"). While you wouldn't want to drive after smoking pot, you also wouldn't want to drive after taking a very strong cold medicine. The extent of the addictiveness of marijuana is questionable. Many conservative activists will claim that marijuana is a gateway drug, meaning its use leads to the use of harder drugs directly. However, there are other theories than the gateway effect theory itself to explain the correlation between marijuana use and the use of harder drugs, including the common liability theory. The common liability theory claims that the fault is the people themselves, for the most part, and not the drug, because of factors like genetics and the person's surrounding environment. Tests on twins proved truth behind the common liability theory, and no theory yet has given complete proof that a gateway effect exists ("The Marijuana Gateway Effect"). A major reason behind America's ban on marijuana in the 1930s was the myth that the drug triggers violent reactions in people. The truth is, marijuana actually mellows people out. Some serious problems in smoking marijuana do exist, though, including the inhaling of the unfiltered smoke that can lead to lung cancer, etc., and the fact that smoking marijuana while pregnant or breast-feeding can cause serious birth defects. However, many of the claims that were abundant back then, such as the claim that marijuana elicits violence from its users, are now known to be false thanks to the rise of technology and the questioning of our government, of "the man" ("Marijuana Dangers"). The drugs referred to as "hard" drugs, such as cocaine and heroin and meth and ecstasy, are all much more addictive and harmful to the body than marijuana, and while I think people should be able to choose whether or not they want to use those drugs as well, marijuana is definitely the lesser of all the "evils".

The legislation is adding to the problem. Admittedly, the marijuana used today is stronger than that used in the '60s and '70s, (Donatelle 195). But why don't we regulate it, rather than banning it altogether? Banning it has only created a sort of "dangerousness" that the younger generation considers cool. And another theory explaining away the gateway effect is a theory having to do with the government and the economy. It states that while "the potential supply of drugs is typically dependant on the drug-seeking behavior of the individual, external forces can cause changes in supply and demand" ("The Marijuana Gateway Effect"). It states that if a drug is made illegal and the government begins cracking down on the drug, the supply will lessen and the price will rise. Therefore, those who would have previously bought marijuana would turn to something cheaper, something harder. In the war against drugs, D.A.R.E. programs were started. But rather than lessen the interest in drugs such as marijuana, they helped increase the interest (Daniel 97). This sort of effect, of legislation bringing about change opposite to its intention, can be seen in the drinking of alcohol as well. There didn't used to be a national drinking age, but now it is 21.  The most common underage drinkers are in the 18 to 21 range. Making something illegal doesn't necessarily make it less popular; if anything, it can serve to increase its popularity.

Marijuana shouldn't be illegal still; it's silly to keep it so. The fact that the legislation to try and keep marijuana away makes no sense can be seen through three aspects: that people have a right to choose whether they're going to get high or not, that the risks are sometimes exaggerated for propagandist effect, and that legislation against the drug only increases general desire for people to get their hands on it.

Daniel, Eileen L., ed. Health. Dubuque, IA: McGraw-Hill, 2007.

Donatelle, Rebecca J. Health: The Basics. San Francisco, CA: Pearson, 2007.

" Marijuana Dangers." Marijuana Detox. 17 Feb 2008. < http://www.marijuana-detox.com/m-dangers.htm>.

Wilhelm, Brooks. "The Marijuana Gateway Effect." Vanderbuilt University. 14 Nov 2005. 17 Feb 2008. < http://healthpsych.psy.vanderbilt.edu/MARIJUANAGATEWAY.htm>