The prohibition and criminalization of marijuana use does
more harm than good. But before I take a stance on legalizing the recreational
use of marijuana, it is most important to voice my support for the critical need for the legalization of medical
cannabis.
Doctors themselves have formed a national organization for
the legalization of marijuana under the name Doctors for Cannabis Regulation in
2016. The physicians say that “creating a legal and regulated marijuana market
is the best way to ensure public safety” (Ingraham, The Washington Post). The US Government Accountability Office noted the following conditions along with many others in their report "Descriptions of Allowable Conditions under State Medical Marijuana Laws": Alzheimer's Disease, HIV, Cancer, Epilepsy, AIDS, and many more. Marijuana is a much safer alternative to pharmaceuticals, to relieve chronic pain associated with these illnesses. Also, with medical cannabis, patients can reap the benefits of managing their symptoms without having to worry about addiction, overdose or, serious side effects that aren't worth the risk of pharmaceutical drugs.
Legalization can help societies as a whole. If medical marijuana were legalized, governments would be able to ensure that patients are receiving safe cannabis and would not have to risk the probable dangers of engaging in the exchange of black market cannabis. Additionally, they could effectively "control doses, track its use on a large scale, and place taxes on its sale in order to increase government profits" (Medical Marijuana Association). Legalization would also reduce the regulations on research so that we have more scientific studies on the subject, leading to a more firm grasp of its health benefits as a medical prescription.
I agree with my class mates Paige Dausin's article Medical Cannabis: 21 States to Go that we should legalize marijuana for medical use.
ReplyDeleteMedical marijuana has great benefits for people suffering from PTSD, anxiety, seizures, sleep issues and others health issues. Its also been found that it can help recovering heroin addicts from getting off heroin. Its safer and non-addictive like the pharmaceutical drugs out there today. Unfortunately the federal government still does not recognize the medicalization of marijuana and you can still be arrested it for by federal agents even if your state has legalized it. Even worse since its not recognized federally that its not protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), so even if your doctor has prescribed the Marijuana you can still be fired from your job for using it.
We need the rest of American to recognize that marijuana can be used as medicine that will benefit the people who use it and get over the old propaganda from the Regan era. Once we get the federal government to recognize it then we can start giving the American people more alternatives then just using pharmaceutical drugs.
For the commentary on a colleagues stage 7 blog I chose Paige Dausin take on the legalization of Medical Marijuana commentary. First off i'll state that I am not a typical "millennial hooligan that smokes all day everyday". I am in fact not a participant of mary jane but I am definitely a supporter of legalizing it for recreational use because I am also not a fan of pharmaceutical drugs because of all it's side effects and higher possibilities of becoming an addiction. Where as medical marijuana is a safer solution helping with so many other deadly/painful diseases. I fully support Paige's argument that I'd rather have patients getting proper marijuana than risking their chances in the black market. In the article Paige included. I supported the idea of how beneficial it would be to "place taxes on (marijuana) its sale in order to increase government profits". Then hopefully the Government can use that funding to put into more research for cures, schools or fixing other problems in America. Thats just an idea though.
ReplyDeleteAt long last, thanks to my colleague, Paige, we can talk about something of great value and isn't necessarily a worldly problem but rather a national debate: the ongoing discussion of good ol' Mary Jane. Currently, 29 states have made the decision to legalize medical marijuana, leaving the other 21 states left shaking their heads. Naturally, I would assume that most of those states that have decided to legalize marijuana are blue states, and although that assuption was correct, I was still left with a shocking realization. Based on the statistics of the 2017 election, almost half of the legalized states were actually red (a total of 11, meaning the other 18 states were blue). Well, now that we can rule out the reasoning of the states not legalizing medical marijuana being due to the different views of red states vs blue states, the question would be "What's the hold up on the other 21 states?"
ReplyDeleteThe benefits of medical marijuana are staggering, whether it is used to treat chronic headaches to calming the mental adjustment of autism, the benefits are even making experts change their negative views regarding this miracle bud. States such as Colorado, which has also legalized recreational use, are literally swimming in money due to the taxes put on the purchase of marijuana. Although they can't use the money in certain circumstances because it isn't taxed federally (since it is still federally illegal), they ARE on the other hand able to spend it within the state and in Colorado's case, for schooling. This is probably the smartest, most efficient way to help our failing education system because:
1) People are going to smoke whether it's legal or not.
2) People are going to BUY weed, whether it's taxed or not.
3) It could potentially cut down on crime rates and drug possession charges, vacating already overfilled prisons.
4) It's helping the users as well as providing funds to the national issue of underfunded school, which should probably be fixed sooner than later so we can actually have a chance in this world.
So, once again...what's the hold up? Our federal government can TOO partake in the back-stroking through the wads of cash flowing through the medical marijuana capital. My advice; get on board America! Because like Rick James said best, we love ourselves some Mary Jane and whether its legal, taxed, home grown or purchased from a clinic, weed is weed, and we'd love it either way.