Leglization of Marijuana

Aaron Lamb

Professor Calabrese

Hum 1020

29 November 2004

Legalization of Marijuana

Imagine that your only father is lying in a hospital bed with one of the many life-threatening ailments. The disease has left him with nothing but agonizing pain and he only has a short time to live. Wouldn’t you like to see him live the last weeks of his life not having to deal with the pain? Sure you would, however, this would only be possible by the use of a drug called marijuana. Cancer patients smoke marijuana to dispel the nausea and vomiting they get from chemotherapy and to alleviate pre-treatment anxiety. The drug was first recorded as a medicine in Chinese pharmacopoeia in 2727BC (CNN Interactive). An AIDS patient might use marijuana to improve their appetite, while it also reduces the muscle pain cause by Multiple Sclerosis. It is also helpful in preventing seizures in people that have epilepsy and reduces pressure on the eye in people with glaucoma. There are synthetic forms of THC such as Marinol that are legal but are insufficient because they often put patients to sleep before their appetite increases. Yet marijuana remains illegal while opium based pain relievers such as oxycodone and codeine remain Schedule 2 drugs and continue to be sold as prescriptions (soyouwannaknow.com). Is it because of the gateway theory that pot smokers are much more likely than non-users to use harder drugs in the future such as cocaine and heroin? Or do a majority of Americans simply find marijuana morally offensive, although, if the studies are correct, a third of them had to try it a few times before they were sure.

The drug was legal in the United States until 1937, when the Marijuana Tax act of 1937 established the federal prohibition of the drug in America. It wasn’t until the 1970’s that this law was questioned and medicinal uses were rediscovered due to the increase in number of recreational users. On September 6, 1988, the DEA’s chief administrative law judge, Francis L. Young, declared that marijuana in its natural form is “one of the safest

therapeutically active substances known to man. The provisions of the Controlled Substances Act permit and require the transfer of marijuana from Schedule 1 to Schedule 2.” Judge Young’s order that the marijuana be transferred to Schedule 2 was rejected by the DEA (Nida Info Facts). If that’s the case then how come in California they are protected under a proposition 215 and in Arizona a proposition 200. These propositions permit the use of medicinal marijuana by those in which it is prescribed and if you don’t have a prescription you can get caught by the police with a small quantity without going to jail. Critics of the Proposition 215 in California say its wording is so vague it virtually legalizes