Tuesday, July 03, 2012

Legalize it?




We've all heard the debate on legalizing marijuana. And I’m here to ask the same question: Should marijuana be legalized? What are the biggest controversies on this matter? Why do you think some states made it legal and others didn't? Why do some people who actually need this medicinal drug have to suffer the pain, or buy marijuana illegally?

-Samantha

14 comments:

English student said...

I believe marijuana should be legalized or at least decriminalized or regulated in some sort of safe way. The way drug dealers deal with this drug illegally is ridiculous. It seems as though a lot of people think of it as a drug that's bad for you, but it's not. It has great medical value with treating all sorts of diseases and disorders. The main reason they made marijuana illegal in the first place was because they realized that they plant could be used for making goods such as paper, clothing, and fuel. Most paper companies and cotton industries didn't like this idea back then because it would run them out of business. The people that could really benefit from this medicine are suffering and even in the states that do have medicinal marijuana legalized in, the Federal government can still come into the state to punish the people using the drug. People getting punished for taking medicine that helps them with their illness? Doesn't seem right to me. I say legalize and regulate.

John

English student said...

I feel they should legalize it. Smoking marijuana isnt a big thing, like how the state make it seem. People who have eye problems really need it.I don't understand why wont they just legalize it especially if everyone smokes it anyway. Also, its a plant that comes from the earth. So really to me its no big deal. Why can doctors sell it, and not go to jail, but if you sell it on the street you can go to jail? It does not make sense, right is right, wrong is wrong. So I highly disagree with the law of marijuana and how they try and make it seem bigger than what it actually is.

Ardell

English student said...

I think it marijuana should be legalized in United States. Marijuana isn’t more harmful than alcohol and cigarettes. There are many benefitted to legalizing marijuana, such as government would earn more tax money, prize for buying marijuana would be less, marijuana related theft and crimes would be reduces, and more. By legalizing marijuana, Drug dealers (including some terrorists) would lose most or all of their business, there would be medical benefits for cancer patients. Besides these reasons, people already break the law and smokes weed, why not just legalize it.

-Nilay

English student said...

Yes, they should legalize marijuana. I have a friend, and her mother has glaucoma. Her mother does smoke illegally, and her eyes improved tremendously to where she does not have to take the eye drops. So, if it helps then why not. Then, maybe they won’t have dealers just for that drug. That is something Mother Nature gave us, and it is not like it was man made. It is a natural herb with many benefits.

Natoka

English student said...

I not real sure about the marijuana issue as a whole but it seems to me that over the years the drug has gotten stronger and stronger. This makes it very hard to prescribe a set amount and the side effects can be very different depending on the strength of the drug, the patient, and the route of administration. However there is a synthetic form for pain, nausea, and lack of appetite called Cesamet that is used in the US as a last resort.
To sum this up the plant itself is to iffy to use in a reliable and responsible way in the medical setting. It is not safe to legalize.

FYI: many forms bought on the street contain other ingredients like boot polish and even other prescription drugs. when you smoke this you really do not know what your putting in your body.

Rebecca Spellmeyer

English student said...

Yes marijuana along with all drugs should be legal. It is a testimony to the ignorance of the American people and the corruption of our government the war on drugs continues. It is a waste of money and a complete failure in every sense of the word. Although I think that other harder drugs like meth or crack are terrible the fact is junkies will always exist. By declaring war on drugs all the government waste trillions of dollars (that don't belong to them) and created a prison industrial complex in a nation that claims to be "the land of the free".

Marijuana however is completely different than any other drug that is illegal. Weed has never in the entire recorded history of the earth dating back 10,000 years been responsible for a human death. Additionally it is never been proven to be physically addictive. So why would something not harmful result in thousands being thrown in jail a year? Why is a product like tobacco with will kill 1 billion (1/6 of the current worlds populations) this century, not only legal but is given government subsidies?

Mainly, because they cannot effectively tax marijuana because it can be produced so easily. Also the more police, DEA agents, judges, lawyers the government can hire the more control it can exert over its people, slowly taking away your civil right using laws like the "patriot act", or executive orders to rewrite our constitution to use people as modern slaves.

The government fears marijuana because they are afraid of people using drugs like marijuana because they fear people thinking outside the box; People who can realize what they have done to our country, why they have spit on our past, robbed us blind, and will leave nothing behind.

Quick note the first marijuana law in the United States was actually telling farmer that then need to grow hemp, additionally all the founding father used hemp, and pretty much every recent president has admitted to using weed in the past(which makes them a piece of shit hypocrite with no backbone, a coward, not a real leader, but I think everyone deep down knows that about all presidents in our lifetime).

Schnitzel

English student said...

I believe that marijuana should be legal but be highly regulated. I think there should be rules to being legalized such as any drug. It shouldn't just be an over the counter drug. Yes it would contribute to take payers dollars and helps with medical and psychological disorders. Its just the worry of just anyone having this drug at their disposal and just substantially miss use marijuana. I don't agree that people that need it in states should suffer from not being able to have this drug, especially if marijuana could help with their symptoms.But because states see people miss use this product they don't want to consider making this drug legal because of others.

Josue

English student said...

I really don’t think marijuana should be legalized. Marijuana is a drug. A DRUG. Yes, it can be used as a prescription drug, but that is in rare cases for cancer patients or people glaucoma. Otherwise, this is a recreational drug, and it gets abused. Not only do I think it is a recreational drug, but I think it is a gateway drug as well. Once people use this drug, they get a certain high for a while, but then this high isn’t enough, so they eventually move on to harder stuff. (I have had a friend who has done this, so I know it happens.) I don’t really need to read studies about weed. I have been to enough parties to see how dumb weed makes people act. In high school, a lot of my friends didn’t have a place to smoke weed, so they would drive around smoking and acting stupid. On one occasion, one of my friends got busted while smoking and driving and got so many tickets and fines that will always be on his record. This drug makes people make dumb decision, and it doesn’t really benefit anyone, so I don’t see any point in legalizing it.

Chelsey

English student said...

Thanks for bringing up this topic, I have heard debates on legalizing marijuana but I really don’t know what it is. All I know that it was/is a drug that is used for medical purposes. I think this will be a good opportunity to learn about this topic.

Well, it appears that marijuana barely does harm to the user while they are smoking, but it can lead to the hindering of a person’s short term memory and their brain functions. Another problem is that marijuana is something that is smoked, meaning the scent will linger. The smoke can unintentionally affect a large amount of other people. If smoking marijuana became legal, then more people would smoke, both tobacco and marijuana. What people should do is create a marijuana clinic. Where marijuana is in a controlled environment and used responsibly. Otherwise, marijuana should remain illegal.

-Charlie

English student said...

I feel that marijuana should be legalized and if not, decriminalized in all 50 states. I think by doing this, it would decrease the number of people in jail for minor charges. It would also create a safer means of obtaining marijuana for those who use it, since the stuff you buy from John Doe down the street may be laced with a nasty surprise, for all you know. It’s unfortunate that those who could benefit medically are not able to attain it for symptom and pain management for conditions where it’s been proven effective, including glaucoma, cancer, nausea or severe weight loss. It’s controversial because it’s a mind altering substance and like all substances, it comes with its own set of faults. It impacts the brain, so can have an effect on functioning and motivation. It’s not a good thing for young brains that are still developing. I also believe that many factors, including fear tactics, racism, power hungry tyrants and yellow journalism have prevented legalization. If my memory serves me correctly, marijuana became illegal around the late 20s or early 30s due to the fact that major corporations could not profit from it. Now, progressive states like California are more likely to make it legal because they are willing to look beyond the bad publicity it received due to “reefer madness” and such misleading propaganda on the topic.
-sam

English student said...

They should legalize marijuana. There are great medical benefits that come from it, let alone the fact that it's a naturally grown. No one has yet scientifically proven that marijuana causes any sort of fatalities. Why should cigarettes be legal if the only thing they do is kill you over time? If the government was really looking out for this country, they'd stop their foolishness, and make legal something that can actually help the people as opposed to legalizing things that kill them.

-Cherie

English student said...

i think marijuana shouldn't be legalized. if you legalize weed the government will be able to tax it making it impossible to for people to carry around the exact change because they are so high.the weed for medical purposes should stay how they are but if any thing besides that would only help the government in funding things that we don't need.
-Christopher Hodges

English student said...

Legalizing would be best; decriminalizing it would be the alternative. If there was no ban on weed, there would be less inmates in prisons and a lot more happy people. It would no longer be a problem with our society. There would be no drug wars and no behind the counter selling. Marijuana is a drug that does no more harm than cigarettes do, so why should it matter?

Katherine

English student said...

I think it's ridiculous that marijuana is illegal. I know there are some minor health problems that could follow from it's usuage if you smoke it but there are so many other ways to use it. There's even marijuana chapstick! Marijuana helps with many medical problems, such as dealing with the pain and helping you fall asleep. I'm not an expert on the subject but it seems to me that legalizing marijuana would help people way more than illegalizing it does.

Andi