PSCI 1050.003
Samantha Pettey
February 18, 2013
Medical Marijuana
The opinion of Marijuana during the 70’s was much more definitive than it is today. Approval of Marijuana by 27 states, new medical studies, and its consequences on those convicted from use of the most common illicit drug in the world, is forcing the United States of America to rethink its stance on the matter. In general, the underlying argument about Marijuana in this country is: should Marijuana continue to be prohibited to citizens based on its health effects, medicinal values, and costs to the country?
The reasons why this argument is so important are great. As previously stated, Marijuana is the most commonly used illegal drug in the world, and with millions of people using it regularly and almost 100 million that have ever used it in this country, the laws behind this drug hold great influence. It is because of this and the immergence of new evidence, that the justification behind prohibition of this drug is being rethought scientifically, socially, and economically. The use of Marijuana as both medicine and a recreational drug is being thoroughly questioned in the US. 27 states have Marijuana approved in some form, many of those for medical purposes however those users can still, and do get placed into prison by federal law.
Based on extensive researching and intense analysis of both sides of the argument, I believe without a doubt that there is no reason to keep imprisoning those who use Marijuana in our country. The fact is, that prohibitionists have an outdated ideology toward the matter, and what they believe is either based on false evidence from inferior scientific studies, or simply the result of nation-wide naivety that has rubbed off on them. As we progress and progress into the 21st century it is becoming clearer and clearer that Marijuana is just-as-if-not less harmful than alcohol and tobacco. The government funded studies and advertisements that reach the public eye is misleading and to blatant, more fictional than the comic strip on the back of the Daily Star. I cannot say why the government insists on driving this propaganda machine forward or turning the other cheek as more and more states by way of democracy decide to decriminalize Marijuana, but I can only speculate that it is because of a few key political figures that reap profits from the drug war and that half the DEA would have nothing to do. Science is proving Marijuana to be quite harmless, and if you ask anyone that has broken what is possibly the most ridiculous law of our time and has tried Marijuana, they would probably tell you that they agree. We need to leave be the people that would rather choose to sit down after work and smoke a joint than drink a bear.