Just in, California has become the first state to legalize pot! Unfortunately, for all
you proud owners of a two-foot-bong or a three-inch bowl, you must have a prescription
from a medical doctor before you light up. Perhaps it's only a crack in the ice, but it
is a start to a long-awaited, controversial issue that needs to be touched upon again.
In the fall of 1996, Proposition 215 was passed in California, legalizing the medical
use of marijuana. Even though the majority (56%) voted to pass 215, opponents plan to
continue to fight the measure. It was also so in Arizona, where Proposition 200, the
Drug Medicalization, Prevention, and Control Act, won 65% of the vote. It says that
Arizona's doctors can prescribe marijuana, heroin, and LSD for patients when there is
"medicinal value" (California 62). The passing of these two propositions has also helped
the release of prisoners convicted of drug possession (---). With jail capacity already
overflowing, if you were to lock up a dealer, you therefore create a job opening.
Bob Randall, president of the Alliance for the Cannabis Therapeutics, a Washington-based
patients' right group, says as many as five-million sick Americans might benefit from the
legal access to marijuana. Marijuana has been found to: relieve nausea and stimulate
appetite in people with cancer and AIDS, control muscle spasms among people with multiple
sclerosis and other neurological disorder, reduce eye pressure among people with
glaucoma, and some
say it also controls seizures, eases chronic pain, and relieves depression. Dr. Ernest
Rosenbaum, a San Francisco cancer specialist, says he and many doctors quietly recommend
marijuana to patients who didn't respond to other medications. A 1991 Harvard study
found that about 40 % of cancer specialists surveyed had recommended marijuana to relieve
chemotherapy nausea, and about 48% said they would prescribe the drug if it were made
legal.
An article was written in the October, 28, 1996 Time issue about a former police
commissioner, Jo Daly, who was diagnosed with colon cancer. Jo started chemotherapy for
her cancer, but the side effects included "nuclear implosion." Then came a burning pain
under the nails of her toes and fingers. The good news was that she eventually found
relief. The bad news was that it came from marijuana. Daly tried Marinol, a substitute
the FDA approved as a synthetic version of THC (marijuana's psychoactive ingredient),
without success before she ended up turning to pot. Even after the positive results and
outcomes of patients using marijuana, not everyone is in favor of legalizing the drug.
Some people are still uptight about the whole issue of legalizing marijuana and continue
to set aside the benefits of pot. "This proposition is not about medicine," charges
Orange County Sheriff Brad Gates, co-chairman of Citizens for a Drug-Free California, the
campaign opposing Prop. 215. "It's about the legalization of marijuana" (36).
Well, wake up, America! There are far more benefits from the drug then just medical.
Making the drug legally available, with tight regulatory controls, would end the black
market and with it, much of the violence; legalization would reduce the number of people
in prison, which in turn would reduce the government budget. For 20 years the
authorities in Amsterdam have simply ignored the use of pot, which is regularly sold in
4,000 coffee shops in amounts up to 30 grams a customer. Their coffee shops sell an
estimated $67,500,000 worth each year (most of which is Dutch-grown) while the Siberia
Cafe sells an estimated $1,000 of hash and marijuana a day. It's all done in the open,
with the Dutch government collecting the taxes on the receipts (Just 114).
It is reckoned that some thirty-million Americans, roughly Canada's population, have
tried marijuana. Of those, about ten-million smoke pot every month, and unlike our
president, most of them inhale. In Glasgow, one-half of all students between the ages of
14 and 25 admit to smoking pot "every day." Marijuana has become the US' 'biggest cash
crop' despite the death penalty for growing the plant. The estimated thirty-two billion
dollar market has spurred many gardeners to make a career out of cultivating the plant.
In a Pensacola Florida News Journal, statements from an article titled, "Marijuana use
rising; foes to blame pop culture." were pulled:
- It Beats crack," said David Spencer, a 24-year-old Pensacolian who smokes two or
three joints a week. "Beats drinkin', 'cause you don't want to get into a fight or you
don't get sick. Smoking weed ain't going to kill you like cigarettes will. Only thing
it'll do is make you chill out and hungry."
- And people in Pensacola are grabbing the T-shirts and other merchandise with
illustrations of giant marijuana leaves on them. "It sells great," said Joyce Smith,
manager of Spencer's in University Mall, about pot- related merchandise. "We can't keep
it in stock."
- "If you're allowed to drink alcohol, there's no reason that you shouldn't be allowed
to smoke something that's natural," says Rick May, 26, a Pensacolian who smokes a few
joints a year. "Marijuana doesn't cause the problems that alcohol does. You don't hear
about people getting stoned and going to pick in a fight or getting in a car and
driving somewhere."
From magazine articles to surveys, it's almost unanimous that marijuana should be
legally available to the public. I took a survey within the school and found out these
results:
* 34 out of 45 people feel that marijuana should be legalized.
* 28 have smoked pot or at least tried it once in his/her life.
* 31 would smoke pot if the drug were to become legal.
How many times must we analyze the issue of marijuana? It doesn't take a rocket
scientist to figure out that legalizing the drug with a heavy and strict tax would
instantly improve the economy, not to mention the medical and social benefits from the
drug. If we were to legalize the drug tomorrow, our national debt could be cut in half
and our taxes might take a dive. America's society is so caught up in believing what is
good and bad for us. If we were smart, we would stop our bitchin', let the drug become
legal, and watch what would happen for a change. Perhaps that is what everyone is afraid
of, change!
WORKS CITED:
"The California Marijuana Vote", National Review, December 23, 1996, 62.
"Just Say Maybe", Forbes, June 17, 1996, 114.
"Marijauna use rising; foes to blame pop cutlure", Pensacola Florida News Journal,
1994.
"Marijuana: where there's smoke, there's fire", Time, October 28, 1996, 36.
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