William Shakespeare, William Yeats, Stephan King, Salvador Dali, Oscar Wilde, Isabel Allende, George Washington, Tomas Jefferson, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Snoop Dogg all have one thing in common. They have all been users of a plant native to Central Asia. This little, leafy plant has been in use from the third millennium B.C. for recreational, religious, medicinal, and spiritual purposes. And it has grown (no pun intended) to be one of the biggest debates in today’s American culture. This plant is called cannabis, or simply known by marijuana.
Proposition 19 was a ballot initiative on November 2, 2010. This proposition would have legalized marijuana-related activities in California. The use of marijuana is allowed for medicinal purposes, but this bill would have allowed everyday people to posses and smoke marijuana in the privacy of their own home or a public establishment licensed for onsite marijuana consumption. If this proposition had passed then any California citizen could have legally up to an ounce of marijuana on them for personal use. The last thing that this bill would have allowed was for the actual growing of marijuana as well for personal use. This bill as everyone knows did not pass but is regardless still a major issue in today’s society.
Those who were and still are in favor of legalizing marijuana say that this legalization would help lessen the drug trafficking we see from the Mexican drug cartels, because according to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy sixty percent of the drug cartel’s profits come from the sale of illegal marijuana. With this profit gone it would cut more than half of the money the cartel makes. Another benefit would be a saving all the money spent on law enforcement for marijuana-related offenses. If it was made legal then the state could tax it creating millions of dollars in tax revenues. Another benefit that many do not think of is tourism and the sale of pipes and marijuana paraphernalia. If people go to Amsterdam for the legal marijuana, I am sure they would much rather go to California to have legal marijuana in a beachside smoke house.
Of course there are many opposed to this idea of legalizing marijuana. Those parties against it believe that it is a direct conflict with Federal Law that states that marijuana is not to be sold and is illegal. Another reason they have is that with the legalization of marijuana would come numerous complications with trafficking, arrests, and possession. To counter the money that many believe would be created with the legalization those opposed say that the increased government activity would use it all up, leaving the United States coming up even. Opponents also believe that it could create a huge public safety risk, creating more accidents while under the influence, and hospital visits. Another complaint is that it would out the growers of medical marijuana out of business if anybody could grow their own plants.
So we have opposition from both sides and at every different level of government. We shall have to see what happens in the coming years, who knows marijuana could become legal in the next ten years or it could stay illegal forever.
I have always enjoyed the way you write your blogs they are so nice to read. The topic you choose is a very well-known one. It is a difficult to choose a side for this topic, should it be legal or should it not. I sometimes think that marijuana should be legal. The reason why is for medical use. I use to work at a cancer center. Many patients after chemotherapy lose their appetite and have a difficult time maintaining a healthy weight because of that. Sometimes I think a lot of the patients going through chemotherapy do not make it because they are too weak to recover from the treatment. I have seen patients wither away to nothing; they look like sticks walking around. The doctors in the office would prescribe marijuana tablets and also would write the patients a letter stating that it is okay for the patient to use medical marijuana. After a few weeks the patient had a good response and was able to eat more with the help of marijuana. It does help the people that need it. It is hard seeing a patient so sick and helpless.
ReplyDeleteOh, I knew someone was going to do this topic. I’m glad it was you, Monica. I like your points you made for this week. You remained really impartial and just offered the audience the facts; something I’m not going to be able to do with my topic. My big mouth never stays shut for long. As for me? I’m somewhat torn when it comes to this topic. I can understand the reasoning behind both standpoints. I think that if and when the legalization of marijuana ever does pass a bill, that they’re going to have to make some major guidelines and laws for America to follow. As of right now, with the laws that were on the bill to legalize it, it wouldn’t have worked and I’m glad it didn’t pass. Personally, I think that it does get legalized, they should tax the hell out of it and that would single-handedly get rid of the recession. However, with the potential problems you mentioned (the “driving under the influence” situation and such), things have the possibility to just turn out so horribly bad.
ReplyDeleteMy brother brought up a good point, though. After I read your blog, I asked him his thoughts and he said that everyone “smokes so much weed as it is” that legalizing it might do no good. Or rather, there would be no difference in what’s going on. I don’t completely agree with this, but I can see his point. However the eventual bill is decided (passing or failing), it should be interesting.
I’ve watched so many documentaries about this lovely leaf. Back then I believed every single word the media told us about the dangers marijuana. I use to have so much negative feelings toward that “drug;” but turns out I was brainwashed like many other people out there. After I caught loved ones smoking I decided to do some research. Like any drug websites, it shows death rates, causes, symptoms, etc. The only thing Marijuana had was deaths from car accidents. And it was also proven that alcohol and cigarettes are the top killers. And after watching documentaries, I never knew how useful that plant is!
ReplyDeleteFrom documentaries, one of their arguments was that the reason why Marijuana is illegal was because of money; but I can’t really remember how the government make money from that. Anyways, what I’m trying to say is, when random people were asked “why is marijuana illegal,” all had similar answers; “it’s bad for you.” The say the exact same stuff that they see on the media. None, of them knew the truth about marijuana and its history.
After gaining a few knowledge about this plant, I still would’nt smoke it. Only because I find smoking unattractive. But I’d probably consider drinking weed tea … for medical purposes lololol. That would probably taste horrible. X_X
Great post! Like you said, the Marijuana debate has developed into the most controversial debate in our American society. I think the drug itself has gained a bad reputation due to reasons that are simply illogical. If marijuana is made legal our society will benefit greatly from it. The marijuana prohibition has done more bad that good in our society. The bad: give rise to black markets, exposure of marijuana to under-aged citizens, and non-violent people sent to jail. The reasons why marijuana is illegal is pretty ridiculous; the prohibition is tied to racism and government campaigning of anti-marijuana. The anti-marijuana period was lead by President. Nixon. Nixon basically brainwashed our nation into believing that marijuana is dangerous and its as harmful as the other hard-substances. marijuana’s reputation has been tainted by the campaigns that were created, and I think this is part of the reason why the movements of marijuana is always failing -- people cannot think critically for themselves. I have to admit I thought marijuana was dangerous, and i had no reason to think otherwise; I blame the hype from all the commercials and anti-marijuana it seems like the campaigning had succeeded and as a society, we are happily following their propaganda.
ReplyDeleteWhat a tricky topic, one the one hand you have those who are stringently for it, they are convinced that marijuana is not as bad as everyone makes it out to be, and on the hand you have those who believe we would be setting our society up for failure. The dilemma continues to this day but I had no idea that some of those individuals you mentioned smoked marijuana. That was an interesting tidbit of info but from the illustration and the mention of Snoop most everyone could figure where this was heading. Now I don't know if you have had some personal experiences with marijuana, I have not but a lot of people in my family has, but they say that marijuana is not worse than say smoking a cigar or a cigarette. I get their point from their argument why can cigarettes remain legal despite the fact that the product kills the users. On average 430,00-450,000 people die every year from cigarettes so why can't marijuana be legal? Whatever you smoke is your preference right? That seems like a logical argument, as an adult you can make decisions for yourself. For example we know that if an adult chooses to they do not have to wear a helmet to ride a bike and they are putting themselves at risk just like a smoker does when they light up. But my point is this if as adults we can make decisions for our preferences why do we choose to ignore the opinions of those who care about us and want to see us in the future but not as a headstone? I have lost an uncle to cancer from his habit of smoking he has left behind a wife and three kids, two of whom are now having grandchildren, that he will never see nor will they ever have the opportunity to share any priceless moments with him. I know marijuana is not the same and that was a drastic example but like alcohol there are some of us who can't handle the effects of intoxication or being high and when we find that out it is too late. A life has been lost and the guilt will remain. Why risk it? Sure the taxation could pull us out of this recession but what if we are wrong? What if it just makes our society worst? I pondered the query, "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions."
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