...Legalizing Marijuana Thomas Hendricks SOC120: Introduction to Ethics & Social Responsibility Instructor: Wendell Johnson 11/18/13 Introduction The legalization of Marijuana has long been a debate and will no doubt continue. While it has its supporters it also has opposition against legalizing it. This paper will look at the argument for legalization and the argument against legalizing it. It will also look at Marijuana use for medical purposes and how that too affects the arguments on both sides. There has been a long debate to legalize marijuana for many years. It now appears that many Americans are favoring legalizing Marijuana and this may have gotten a boost from accepted medical use in some states. Many states allow the use of medical marijuana for cancer patients, multiple sclerosis patients and as Dr. Sanjay Gupta who worked on a documentary called “Weed” for CNN stated the case for medical use of marijuana when he answered a viewer question on his change in opinion of medical use marijuana “Take neuropathy, a severe nerve pain that's often treated with narcotic pain relievers. Yet marijuana has proven to be effective, with few side effects. Every 19 minutes, someone in the United States dies from a prescription drug overdose, usually narcotics. I couldn't find one documented fatality from a marijuana overdose. Marijuana can also ease nausea from chemotherapy treatments, tremors, and epilepsy. Still, I'm very concerned about young people using pot recreationally;...
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...Should the U.S. legalize marijuana? • The U.S. legalization of marijuana has been a controversial subject for many years. Proponents of legalization cite many benefits including, what they claim to be substantial increases in tax revenue, reduction in crime, and widespread medical benefits. Opponents argue that marijuana is a harmful drug that increases crime, causes more problems with health than it benefits, and would cost taxpayers more than the revenue it would bring in. II First Source Klein, J., April 2, 2009. Why legalizing marijuana makes sense. Time magizine Retrieved from: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1889021,00.html • This author expresses the many benefits of legalization, while expressing just a few valid, weak arguments for those against legalization. • This article easily answers the question for the proponents of legalization but doesn’t offer enough information to argue against it. • Evidence is sufficient for legalization • Examples cited are revelant and conclusions do add up for legalization III Second Source DuPont, R., April 20, 2010. Why we should not legalize marijuana, A CNBC special report. Retrieved from http://www.Why_We_Should_Not_Legalize_Marijuana.cnbc.com/id/36267223/ • This article supports the opponents of legalization and offers nothing for the opposing view. • Evidence is sufficient and well written for the points expressed for not legalizing marijuana. • Evidence is insufficient...
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...Without a doubt, public campaign in the fight against legalizing marijuana is very essential as it creates and sends a clear message to the under aged that use of drugs is unacceptable. When people are secretly or publicly using marijuana, the children will automatically notice whatever that is going on regardless of whether the drug user had earlier purposed to create awareness to the children or not. Actually, if by any chance the kids do not see the adults taking marijuana, they will surely notice these adults’ change in behavior and then tend to relate the conduct with drug use. According to researchers, most children learn by seeing what their elders do and, in future, tend to copy from them, which become their habit if no positive intervention is done. In order to keep the innocent children off some vices like use of marijuana and other drugs, the government and the members of the public need to create awareness of the dangers of copying and adopting irresponsible behaviors from their elders which include drug use. Clearly, when the members of public or even activists conduct the public campaign against legalizing the use of marijuana, the children get a chance to learn the dangers of the drug usage in addition to realizing that, at that specific period, the use of marijuana is illegal and has serious unpleasant consequences. With the understanding, the children will be able to make informed or correct decisions in life and, therefore, keep off the drugs as the perfect...
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...Your Name Professor’s Name Course 22 September 2013 Medical Marijuana – What’s the Problem? While the debate rages across the country about legalizing medical marijuana, or Cannabis (Cannabis comes from the plant Cannabis sativa, and is commonly referred to by the Mexican name “marijuana”), apparently the majority of U.S. residents have already made up their mind about it. According to a 2004 AARP poll, over 72 percent agreed with the statement, “Adults should be allowed to use medical marijuana for medical purposes if a physician recommends it.” Perhaps even more astounding are the results of a 2013 Gallup poll which showed that fifty eight percent of Americans favor legalizing marijuana, after both Washington State and Colorado legalized it in November of 2012. Those in favor of the drug claim that it is both an effective and safe treatment for many medical conditions, including; epilepsy, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, AIDS, cancer, and more. They point to the long history of the use of marijuana medicinal purposes and back up their claims with studies, reports, and medical data. So, what’s the problem? Why hasn’t medical marijuana been legalized in every state in the Union? Created in 1970, the Controlled Substances Act, an amendment to the Public Health Service Act, was enacted, making the “prevention of, drug abuse and drug dependence; to provide for treatment and rehabilitation of drug abusers and drug dependent persons; and to strengthen existing law...
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...Thesis: Legalizing marijuana simply digs a deeper hole in the fight against harmful intoxicants. Summary: The legalization of marijuana would have no benefits. To the contrary, doing so would simply add to the list of readily accessible and potentially addictive substances that can lead to irresponsible behavior and poor health. Given the widespread problems associated with addictive substances such as alcohol and tobacco, why should laws be altered to add another substance to this list? The fact that so many people break laws prohibiting marijuana use does not mean that these laws should be repealed. Introduction One function of government is to protect citizens from harm, whether it is from foreign enemies or from internal causes such as poisonous food or contaminated water. Similarly, the ban on marijuana protects citizens from the dangers of drug consumption, as well as potentially destructive behaviors associated with marijuana use. With the possible exception of limited benefits in treating some diseases under a physician's direction, there are no advantages to the use of intoxicants such as marijuana or more potent drugs, including cocaine and heroin. This is not to say that individuals do not experience some momentary pleasure in consuming drugs-often at tremendous social costs. However, drug use can also wreak havoc on an individual's ability to experience all of the facets of life-from facing and overcoming challenges to enjoying times of great joy to relishing...
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...Legalization of Marijuana In today’s society what is accepted in different American cultures as far as drugs are on a thin line of what people accept. The Gore Vidal was published on September twenty-six nineteen seventy, so the discussion on marijuana has been talked about over forty-four years now. It is about time that the American society accepts legalization of marijuana. Many Americans do not see anything wrong with a doctor prescribing them “legal drugs.” People think of marijuana in a negative ways because they are against the law. Many people don’t realize that there are many things that are legal that are a lot worse than marijuana things like prescription drugs, alcohol, and even in some instances cough medicine, but none of these are illegal why is that? When in all reality can we really put a difference on which is okay in today’s society. In the article that Gore Vidal wrote, he believes that our society should legalize marijuana. In comparison to Gore Vidal an article on the website called the Huffington post they also think that there are good reasons to legalizing marijuana and also some negative stand points. America has been fighting to legalize marijuana for nearly forty-four years now. Recreational marijuana is for sale in Colorado, one of the few states that have actually gone through with legalizing it in the United States. There is a Huffington Post article about the legalization of marijuana in Colorado and the effects of it. Amendment 64 is the...
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...Amanda Martinez Proceed with the Weed! Although people say marijuana has no benefit or purpose of use, I strongly standby the fact of it becoming legalized acknowledging that there has been positive results’ concluding from the medicinal uses of marijuana, growth in job marketing and fiscal matters. The first and most essential reason that marijuana should be legal is that there are no cautious proven facts or reasons for it not to be legal. Some people ask 'Why should marijuana be legalized?" but we should really be asking "Why should marijuana be illegal?" Some of the United States labels Marijuana as a gateway drug leading to a life of failure because it is assumed to not having a legitimate purpose of use. Although there has been proven facts of positive benefits from the uses of marijuana. Many people against legalizing marijuana argue that marijuana should stay illegal because it poses health risks. This claim is not logically sound because Marijuana’s health risks are too complex therefor can’t be specifically classified of being a detriment to an individual’s health or not. The health risks that are believed to occur from ingestions of marijuana are most likely to be known as exaggerated. When people against legalization begin to go over health risks with the public they use it as a strategy for providing controversy arguments to try convincing individuals to avoid excessive use of marijuana or use at all. No one realizes that alcohol and tobacco are a lot...
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...this article was the legalization of marijuana here in America. Washington and Colorado recently became the first two states to legalize the recreational use and sale of marijuana. This article touched on how those states came to legalize recreational use, what the future holds for these states since they’ve legalized marijuana, and how the other 48 states can and/or will go about legalizing marijuana. One stated premise I found in this article was that Washington passed a law legalizing marijuana before Colorado did in 1998. Another premise I found was that Washington legalized marijuana on December 6th 2012. An unstated premise would be that the author is a supporter of the legalization of marijuana and I gathered this from her tone in the article. In conclusion this article was written to educate others on how Colorado and Washington were able to legalize marijuana. It included information on how marijuana is taxed, who wrote up the bills that were made into laws and even information on how many other states have legalized marijuana. I believe that the author is a supporter of the legalization of marijuana based on her tone in the article. I believe that the legalization of marijuana could help America a lot especially when it comes to reducing the national deficit. As a country we continue spending and giving money we don’t have to other countries and it’s only leading towards us being more and more broke. Using marijuana as a means to make more money shouldn’t...
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...Should Marijuana be Legalized? BCOM/275 November 26, 2012 Should marijuana be legalized? Throughout the years, the topic should marijuana be legalized is often heavily debated. For many years the use of marijuana was forbidden and outlawed in the United States, but in more recent years marijuana seems to be becoming accepted. Scientist has found many useful applications for marijuana. Recently, here in the United States, many states have approved legislation for marijuana for medical purposes. Most recently, two states Colorado and Washington have passed referendums that will allow people over the age of 21 recreational use of marijuana without the penalty of a criminal offense. These two states will oversee the use of marijuana for its constituents similar to how alcohol is controlled. Whereas, the government at the state level in Colorado and Washington is in favor for the legalization and passed legislation for the legalization of marijuana, the federal government has not. This causes legal, moral, and ethical issues and begs that questions; should marijuana be legalized? Pros of Legalization One benefit of the legalization of marijuana would be the ability for state and local governments to tax the legal production and sale of it. Currently, because marijuana is illegal the sale of it is not taxed so the local, state, and federal governments do not reap any of the benefits of this “$10.5 billion dollar industry” (Miron, 2005, p.4). In a report written by Jeffrey A....
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...Legalizing Marijuana, New Social Stigma: The new wave of Acceptance C. LaMour Romine Pittsburg State University Definition of Problem to be studied: This research is a secondary research analysis of the theoretical perspective of the marijuana movement - pertaining to the politic standpoint of marijuana verses cigarettes and scientific medical analysis of marijuana verses cigarettes. This research is meant to explore the multifaceted aspect of marijuana, cigarette trends, and the correlation between their recent waves of popularity. We will explore the historical facts of past tobacco trends to the present marijuana movement including widely held attitudes and beliefs about both substances. The thesis of this research will be to explore the differences between marijuana and cigarettes and social stigmas. Including the shift in popularity between tobacco and marijuana the MJ activist group known as NORML supporting the legalization of cannabis, while anti tobacco organizations have increased to ban cigarette smoke in public places. This research will conceptualize the meanings behind the negative stigmas associated with drugs legal and illegal influence. The problem is a double standard between the political views of marijuana and cigarettes. The political perspectives seem to be focused on public stigmas about the substance(s) rather than deciding drug laws based on medical science. Marijuana and tobacco have a shared...
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...Why Not There is a huge argument in the United States on legalizing Marijuana. I will be discussing both sides of the argument against and for legalizing Marijuana. I think it is important to discuss both sides of legalizing marijuana, mostly because you need a variety of fact before you form your own opinion on legalizing Marijuana or to not legalize it. There are many good reason to legalize Marijuana; taxation, jobs, drug wars, , and crime rates dropping. When it comes to taxes it would help out or debt problems. “There is already a huge tax revenue from Tabaco products and alcohol. To legalize marijuana would just create another addition to the funds for the government.”(citation2) This country could use the extra help from this drug to get us out of this massive debt problem. If you had to think about the jobs this drug could produce if it were legalized. You would have farmers, processers, shipping, packaging, stores. When it comes to farming there are many helping hands around farms but opening up another field for marijuana there would require a lot more help opening up more jobs. For the processing side of things you need employees to go though and make sure the plants are good for selling. By this I mean cleaned clipped and bug free. Then they would have to give the marijuana to packaging. In packaging employees would have to make sure the right type of Marijuana is labeled correctly and has the right logo on it for that company. Now this part of the process...
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...Legalizing Marijuana: An Ethical Perspective In today’s society, many ethical concerns arise on a daily basis, especially when it comes to the topic of legalizing marijuana. Many individuals have relied on the fact that marijuana was illegal, when determining whether smoking it should be considered unethical. However, many studies have shown that the effects of marijuana are not as detrimental as they were once made out to be. Legalizing marijuana can be an extremely controversial topic because several people have strong beliefs concerning why it should not be legalized, while a significant amount of people have stronger arguments, as to why it should be legalized. When it comes to looking at the ethical standpoint of legalizing marijuana, everyone has a different interpretation as to why marijuana should or should not be legalized. This is because everyone’s sense of morals and values differ. Legalizing marijuana for medicinal and recreational use would be beneficial for large amounts of people for many reasons. The theory of utilitarianism implies that the proper course of action should be the one, which benefits the greatest number of people. Many aspects of legalizing marijuana should be considered when determining if the benefits outweigh the risks. Several states have passed laws, which govern the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. In fact, over twenty states, as well as the District of Columbia have enacted laws that govern the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes...
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...away, drugs subvert productivity and there is loss of memory affecting to the greatest extent students. Legalization generally means removing a legal prohibition against something that is currently not legal. (Dictionary.com) Then by legalizing drugs; we will be making the sale and use of drugs which is currently illegal to be legal. The sale of drugs will be done freely on every corner of our streets just like candy without anyone bothering the other. Legislation advocates deny that the amount of drug use would be affected, I conquer with the opinion, making drugs legal will increase their availability and use. For instances, “when powder cocaine was hard and expensive to get, it was found in the circles of the rich, famous and privileged”. (William J Bennett) There is an argument that legislation of drugs will reduce the number of street crimes in our streets. Research has proven otherwise. Most drug criminals on our streets were into crime well before they got involved with drugs. Legalizing drugs won’t stop these criminal from because they will continue their criminal activities to cater for their bills and needs. By keeping drugs illegal we maintain the criminal sanctions that persuade most people that the good life cannot be reached by dealing drugs. (William J Bennett) By bringing up the motion of legalizing drugs, some state government official might be looking at generating extra income which is in the trade of drugs known to be carrying a lot of money....
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...An Argument Against Proposition 19 Abstract This rhetorical analysis examines a response from Stainlislaus County about their feelings and arguments against Proposition 19. Their arguments that they use to refute their opinions had many fallacies, even though they tried to appeal to their audience as much as possible by using pathos, logos, and casual arguments. Proposition 19 was a bill that failed to pass because it was unfavorable. It stated that it would legalize the usage of marijuana along with marijuana related activities, it would allow for the government to regulate the activities and also allow the government to place taxes on it, and it would authorize criminal and civil penalties by the local government. This is an ongoing debate in many states today, and will continue to become more popular because of the uprise in popularity of marijuana. Keywords: Proposition 19, Stainlislaus County, marijuana, legalization An Argument Against Proposition 19 The controversy of the legality of marijuana has been a huge subject for debate for years, even decades. Currently, in modern society, the number of supporters for legal use of marijuana has increased significantly. People often question why this topic is an enormous concern and it is because here in the United States marijuana is the most commonly used illegal drug. It has been recorded by The National Institution on Drug...
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...Legalization of Marijuana Name: Institutional Affiliation: Marijuana is one of the many names that are used to refer to Cannabis in different parts of the world. The drug is well known in cultures all around the globe and any topic that is tied to it generates intense reactions that are aligned in different directions. The conversation on the legal status of the use of Marijuana is always heated, with supporters and opponents all convinced that they are right (Hudak & Wallack, 2016). However, this essay analyzes this issue since it is one that cannot be ignored. Even the opponents must agree to consider what legalization of cannabis achieves, given that public support for it is only growing. It also seeks to lay out the negative implications of the legalization and finally balances them off against the benefits and makes its conclusions based thereon. Proponents argue that marijuana has been proved to have the ability to influence life positively. This is best captured by the medical use of marijuana in treating diseases. The drug has been proven to have palliative qualities and it has been accepted as a palliative agent in civilizations such as Canada on prescription. Additionally, opinion polls discovered that more than half of the American population would vote in support of using the drug for recreational purposes among adults (Ghosh, 2010). It would be imprudent to ignore the opinions of such a big proportion of the population for political leaders. The widespread...
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