Legalization On Marijuana Essay, Research Paper

Marijuana has been a really controversial issue. Many speculate that alterations in the Torahs refering the ownership of marihuana ( see Appendix A ) are long delinquent and our society can no longer prorogue this determination. Three possible alterations to the jurisprudence ( legalisation for medical intents, decriminalisation for medical or general grounds, and full legalisation ) are being considered. Harmonizing to an Angus Reid study in October, public support for legalisation is swelling in Canada. A slender bulk of Canadians, 51 % , now believe that smoking marihuana should non be a condemnable offense, up from 39 % in 1987. 83 % agree that it should non be a condemnable offense if used for medicative intents merely. However, marihuana remains illegal while other more unsafe drugs, both habit-forming and harmful, remain legal. Statistics Canada studies that 74.4 % of Canadians over 15 drink intoxicant, approximately 70 % drink java, and some 25 % fume baccy. Alcohol, caffeine, and baccy are extremely habit-forming and to some extent mind-altering, hence if these three are legal it merely stands to ground that marihuana should likewise be legalized.

The medicative utilizations of marihuanas are being seen as a legitimate claim for the legalisation of marihuana.

Judge Patrick Sheppard, the Ontario justice who presided over the Terry Parker epileptic instance of 1997, ruled that marihuana was therapeutically good, that Parker be exempt from farther charges refering marihuana, and that Parker & # 8217 ; s seized marihuana workss were to be returned to him. Specifically, Judge Sheppard concluded that the smoke of marihuana had a curative consequence in the intervention of: sickness and emesis caused by chemotherapeutic drugs used to handle malignant neoplastic disease and AIDS patients ; intraocular force per unit area from glaucoma ; muscle spasticity from spinal cord hurts or multiple induration and muscular dystrophy ; migraine concerns ; epileptic ictuss ; and chronic hurting. Smoking marihuana has besides been proven to hold a curative consequence in battling weight loss in AIDS patients. It relaxes the patient, extinguishing hurting, and brings upon hungriness and thirst, evidently taking to the patients feeding and imbibing more, which builds up the patient & # 8217 ; s immune system. One AIDS patient utilizing marihuanas had blood trials taken last autumn which show that he has a higher T-cell count, and besides carries the antibodies to Hepatitis A, B, and C.

This grounds besides brings the anti-marijuana claims of marihuanas destructing the user & # 8217 ; s immune system into inquiry. The most outstanding anti-marijuana group is the US authorities. Their marijuana propaganda is rather similar to the propaganda used in W.W.II. Marijuana tobacco users are said to miss any aspiration, do saps out of themselves, do ill in sports and faculty members, and have a high hazard of catching AIDS. They besides claim that marihuana causes an copiousness of jobs, chiefly lung malignant neoplastic disease. However, the US authorities has non produced a individual instance where pneumonia or lung malignant neoplastic disease was contracted from smoking marihuana. After reexamining the grounds, DEA administrative jurisprudence Judge Francis Young declared that, & # 8220 ; marihuana, in its natural signifier, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to adult male & # 8221 ; despite the authoritiess accusals.

An increasing figure of influential organisations, such as the Lymphoma Foundation and the Physicians Association for AIDS Care, have been contending the marihuana Torahs because its usage does non traverse a & # 8220 ; sufficient threshold of injury & # 8221 ; and they believe the province should non forbid private behavior that causes small injury to the user or society, and that the jurisprudence interferes with legitimate medical utilizations of hemp. Sheppard, after listening to expert advice for and against the medical usage of marihuana, concluded: & # 8216 ; the ingestion of marihuana is comparatively harmless compared to the & # 8220 ; difficult & # 8221 ; drugs, baccy and intoxicant ; no difficult grounds existed showing irreversible organic or mental harm from the ingestion of marihuana or it induces psychoses and is habit-forming ; marihuana is non & # 8220 ; criminogenic & # 8221 ; and does non do users more aggressive or violent ; the health-related costs of hemp usage are negligible when compared to the costs attributable to tobacco and alcohol ; and regular moderate usage of marihuana causes no physical or psychological injury to the huge bulk of users & # 8217 ; . He besides accepted the fact that marijuana fume is much more efficient than the legal pill signifier of marihuana ( see Appendix B ) and prohibition denies Parker his right to an effectual medical specialty and Parker stands a day-to-day hazard of being deprived of his right to life, autonomy, and security. Sheppard stressed several times in his reference to the tribunal that any individual granted & # 8220 ; medically approved usage & # 8221 ; of marihuana by a physician would be exempt from Torahs that prohibit the ownership or cultivation of marihuana. The opinion is non a declaration of the issue, but it is clearly a first measure. It provides legitimacy to the claim of the medical necessity of marihuana ingestion and can be used as precedency in tribunal. Therefore, the tribunal has shown compassion where the authorities has been wholly unwilling to.

Economically, legalisation would ensue in salvaging the money presently spent on implementing the jurisprudence and besides bring forth money from taxing marihuana. Realistically talking, prohibition has been an improbably expensive and inevitable failure. Besides, marihuana does non look to be harmful plenty to warrant the Torahs, doing small injury to the user or society, being a victimless offense. Furthermore, Prohibition criminalizes otherwise jurisprudence staying citizens. Furthermore, suppression Fosters far more socially destructive condemnable activity. Finally, many people believe legalisation will ensue in a safer merchandise, a cheaper merchandise, and fewer resources spent on jurisprudence enforcement.

The legalisation of marihuana in Canada would hold immense economic effects. Criminology Professor Neil Boyd, of Simon Fraser University, estimates the cost of catching, prosecuting, and penalizing marihuana users at anyplace from $ 200 million to $ 2 billion yearly. Professor Eric Single, of the University of Toronto & # 8217 ; s section of preventative medical specialty and biometricss, testified cannabis histories for lone portion of the $ 1.37 billion monetary value ticket for illicit substance maltreatment in Canada, compared to $ 7.5 billion for intoxicant and $ 9.6 billion for baccy. Early in July, a freedom of information petition by research worker Ken Rubin unearthed a series of Health Canada internal memorandum, which revealed that departmental administrative officials are already looking ways to command marijuana & # 8217 ; s strength and revenue enhancement its sale after legalisation. Besides, a November 1996 Health Canada memo revealed that senior administrative officials are sing the possibility of taxing marihuana agriculturists should the drug become legal. These two memos show that the possibility of taxing marihuana is already being considered. If you took the $ 200 million to $ 2 billion that the authorities spends against marihuana users yearly and added the gross collected from marihuana revenue enhancements, in the event of legalisation, the authorities would hold a significant excess of money.

There are besides many people who believe the prohibition of marihuana has been an inevitable failure. The grounds suggests prohibition runs have met with assorted consequences, at best. The grounds is that there is a go oning upward tendency in drug usage despite the harsher punishments and the increased menaces. It is difficult to conceive of a better trial of this theoretical account than the US, which has had enormous additions in resources devoted to enforcement, and really tough sentencing. In 1988-89 they got even tougher and yet they have an tremendous sum of recreational, insouciant, experimental drug usage every bit good as a big figure of nuts. One of the chief grounds prohibition does non work is because people rapidly realized that if they were careful they likely would non acquire caught.

Since people use it volitionally and in secret there is no plaintiff, doing it really hard for the constabulary to observe a offense. So you have a prohibition that is hard if non impossible to implement. However, some people believe that if the constabulary are given greater powers so prohibition will win. Hence we have all the tremendous infr

ingements on personal autonomies and rights in the state around the drug Torahs. A police officer can lawfully confine and seek anyone if they have sensible intuition, a right that can be badly abused. The greatest danger to marijuana users comes non from the drug itself, but from the jurisprudence enforcement functionaries who hunt them down like Canis familiariss. Prohibition criminalizes people who are otherwise functioning and possibly occasional drug users, by drawing them out of their productive function and seting them in prison at great public disbursal. Professor Neil Boyd noted that there have been more than 600,000 people who have received condemnable records for ownership since hemp has been prohibited. There were 29,562 marijuana apprehensions in 1996 entirely, taking up police clip and tribunal clip.

Prohibition seems to negatively consequence merely two groups, drug users and taxpayers. Drug users suffer under a government that imposes unjustly rough punishments on them and taxpayers have to pay for the improbably expensive war on drugs that is really uneffective and counterproductive. It besides generates countless violations on human and civil rights that are non justifiable for our society. The effects marijuana nowadayss does non look to apologize the lengths that the authorities has gone to maintain it illegal.

Furthermore, lawgivers can non go through Torahs that are arbitrary and freakish. Parliament has no scientific or legal footing or any documented cogent evidence that marihuana is harmful plenty to deserve prohibition. Parliament does non hold the constitutional authorization to criminalize behavior that is comparatively harmless. In fact, Cannabis made it onto the agenda in the mid 20s chiefly because the celebrated first female Canadian justice, Emily Murphy, wrote approximately marijuana as & # 8220 ; a bad, evil new substance that had these improbably immorality, bad effects on people, taking to work forces traveling brainsick and ravishing guiltless immature females & # 8221 ; . We now know that this testimony associating marihuanas to psychotic behavior is wholly untrue as Dr. Diane Riley, an adjunct behavioral scientific discipline professor at the University of Toronto and a policy analyst at the university & # 8217 ; s Canadian Foundation of Drug Policy points out. & # 8220 ; Marijuana largely relaxes its users, doing them friendly and frequently sleepy. The drug does non do its users more aggressive or violent. & # 8221 ; Furthermore, the theory of marihuana being a & # 8220 ; gateway drug & # 8221 ; ( taking to other & # 8220 ; hard-core & # 8221 ; drugs such as diacetylmorphine or cocaine ) is false. & # 8220 ; Current research indicates that approximately 67 % of marihuana users ne’er even seek any type of & # 8220 ; difficult & # 8221 ; drug. In fact, marihuana is one of the safest psychotropic substances and is clearly safer than licit drugs such as intoxicant and baccy & # 8221 ; says Dr. Riley, who besides testified that marihuana is non harmful plenty to justify prohibition. There is no chemical dependence like that of nicotine, diacetylmorphine, and even intoxicant. An nut of any one of these substances shows serious backdown symptoms, while marijuana users seem to be able to walk off from the drug without serious effects. Addiction Research Foundation ( ARF ) senior scientist Patricia Erickson who besides disputed claims that hemp is a & # 8220 ; gateway drug & # 8221 ; , challenged the deterrent consequence of the prohibition on hemp ownership, and argued that decriminalisation was improbable to take to a important addition in usage.

There are strong marks that the dream of legalisation may go world. In May 1995, federal drug prosecuting officer Lindsay Smith sent a missive to Vancouver constabularies, saying that minor marihuana ownership charges would no longer be prosecuted because tribunal and police resources were overtaxed. However, after the constabulary and Vancouver Mayor Philip Owen protested, Justice Department functionaries backpedalled, claiming the memo had been misinterpreted. Besides, in May 1996, the Senate legal and constitutional personal businesss commission analyzing Bill C-8, recommended decriminalisation of marihuana and hashish ownership. Again, a public call ensued and the Senate backed down, retaining condemnable countenances for personal drug usage. They are non entirely nevertheless, the Addiction Research Foundation, Canadian Bar Association, and Canadian Police Association besides want to extinguish condemnable punishments for marihuana.

In add-on, marihuana ought to be legalized because suppression Fosters far more socially destructive condemnable activity. The prohibition of intoxicant in the United States led to organized offense prospering and produced distressing mobsters, such as Al Capone, who made tremendous net incomes by selling intoxicant illicitly and were a reign of panic on society for the continuance of prohibition. The prohibition of marihuana has besides produced such mobsters, called drug trust barons, who escape penalty about endlessly and roll up the net incomes from the sale of marihuana. Ironically, it is the little clip traders and agriculturists who are punished. Some believe that decriminalisation and medical legalisation is non plenty because the black market would still command the market, doing 1000000s for organized offense.

The World Health Organization late released a study on the planetary effects of marihuana. It found that the usage of marihuana worldwide had undistinguished negative effects on wellness and societal public assistance, particularly when compared with the usage of nicotine and intoxicant. Anyone who has experimented with marihuana will by and large state that although there may be better ways to pass your clip and money, it is rather harmless. Abuse and overexploitation of any substance can be damaging to your wellness. Eat excessively much and you get fat. Drink excessively much intoxicant and jobs ensue. The province should non forbid private behavior that causes small injury, to the user or society. Rather it should allow responsible grownups make their ain determinations about the usage of recreational drugs.

In decision, marihuana should be legalized because excessively much money is being spent on an uneffective Prohibition, it is a victimless & # 8220 ; offense & # 8221 ; , and it is medically and economically good.

Citation count: 42

Word count: 2190

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