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Other articles in Legal > Criminal Law
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| Marijuana |
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| Legal > Criminal Law |
| Written by Haley Michele |
| Saturday, 24 January 2009 18:31 |
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Many people in the United States advocate for the prohibition of marijuana to stay in place on the grounds that it is detrimental to personal health, leads to the use of harder drugs, impairs the ability to learn and retain information, and that legalization will most likely result in greater usage. In reality, all of these claims are based around common misconceptions, hyperbolic scare stories, and insignificant statistics. Because marijuana is the nation’s third most popular drug, surpassed only by alcohol and tobacco, it is time to assess the facts head on and reform our drug policy based on the truth. The argument in question calls to the forefront familiar myths related to marijuana usage. First and foremost is the question of health risks. Although it is said that smoking marijuana can lead to lung cancer, the chance of contacting cancer this way is extremely minuscule. In fact, a study at UCLA concluded that even prolonged and heavy marijuana smoking causes no serious lung damage. Marijuana is also far less dangerous than alcohol or tobacco. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse’s poll of annual American deaths caused by drugs, while around 50,000 people die from alcohol poisoning, 400,000 from tobacco smoking, 2,000 from caffeine and 500 from aspirin each year, there has never been a death attributed to marijuana use in world history to date. Another common misconception is that marijuana is the “gateway” drug, or that it leads to using other illegal substances. There is no conclusive evidence that links the effects of marijuana to the subsequent use of other drugs. In fact, for every 100 Americans who have tried marijuana, there is only one regular user of cocaine and less than one user of heroin. However, if a link does exist between trying marijuana and trying other drugs it is most accurately traced to the prohibition itself. Because marijuana is illegal, it forces buyers to become familiar to the black drug market, and therefore more likely to be exposed to harder substances. This can ultimately lead to a greater chance of experimenting with new drugs. The statistical evidence used to back the claim that marijuana use impairs learning ability and memory is far from sound. First and foremost, it is necessary to point out that these studies are based on people who smoke marijuana everyday, which is less than 1% of all users. Second, the conclusions drawn from these studies only cite subtle, minimal, and temporary impairments. It is also important to note that heavy alcohol use was found to be more detrimental to the thought and learning process than heavy marijuana use. The final point in Gabi’s argument, that legalizing marijuana will result in a greater amount of usage, is also a false prophecy. Government studies have shown that the decriminalization of marijuana has virtually no effect on marijuana use or beliefs and attitudes regarding marijuana. In a study conducted by the Journal of Public Health Policy, it was proven that citizens who live under decriminalization laws consume marijuana at approximately the same rate as those in regions where possession of marijuana is illegal. In fact, a study by the Connecticut Law Review Commission found statistical evidence contrary to this argument when they discovered that states and regions that maintain the strictest criminal penalties for marijuana possession have also experienced the largest increase in use. In the United States today, nearly 80 million people have admittedly tried marijuana in some way. This number includes successful professionals, leaders, businesspeople, and even elected officials, who should not be treated as criminals, deviants, or gangsters. Our state and federal laws should be reflecting this reality rather than denying its existence. The truth of the matter is that enforcing harsh marijuana prohibition laws do much more harm than good. Since 1990, about 5.9 million Americans have been arrested on marijuana charges, and of these arrests 88% were solely for possession of the drug. Shockingly enough, the total number of marijuana arrests in 2006 exceeds the combined number of arrests for rape, robbery, murder, and aggravated assault. This practice costs taxpayers a whopping 10 billion dollars annually. The worst part of shelling out all this money is that enforcing these laws do virtually nothing to deter marijuana use. In their book Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts: A Review of the Scientific Evidence, J. Morgan and L. Zimmer explain that there is no detectable relationship between changes in law enforcement and levels of marijuana use over time. Another study done by the Addiction Research Foundation shows that the majority of people who are charged with a marijuana-related offence continue to use marijuana at the same rate after their conviction. The question of whether or not marijuana should be legalized is not a question of personal morals or public safety. It is a question of common sense. We are wasting billions of dollars in government money chasing around the users of a petty drug that isn’t concretely linked to even one negative side effect, and enforcing rules that do nothing to deter it’s users. And for what? The effort nothing short of a complete waste of time, resources, and money. |
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