of Marijuana By Christian Angell

 Marijuana could take a natural turn in the medicinal field and replace many chemical used in modern medicine.  It is a multi-use medicine treating from mild to serious illnesses. A fact about cannabinoids is that is can interfere with pain receptors in the body.  For people suffering from deteriorating diseases and treating pain associated with chemotherapy, postoperative recovery, and spinal cord injury, also neuropathic pain, which is often experienced by patients with metastatic cancer, multiple sclerosis (MS), diabetes, and HIV/AIDS marijuana is awesome.

 “Cannabinoids are also effective in treating nausea and vomiting, which are common symptoms of many kinds of cancers and are side effects of chemotherapy. By stimulating appetite, cannabinoids can be helpful in treating anorexia and other wasting diseases, which can include chronic diarrhea, tuberculosis, and unexplained weight loss. Other conditions for which marijuana may prove beneficial include epilepsy, muscle spasticity, Parkinson's disease, glaucoma, anxiety and depression.” –Peter Katel

 There are many health organizations that endorse the medicinal side of marijuana such as American Public Health Association, the American Academy of Family Physicians, and the American Medical Student Association and many many more.

 The states can put a tax on it like they do with alcohol and tobacco and set an age requirement. A quote from an article.  “Arbelaez pointed out his 32 video cameras. Arbelaez and his partners invested $45,000 in surveillance, meeting state mandates that, by January 2012, will require all marijuana businesses to maintain 20 hours of video feeds that Colorado regulators can access online. "We've waived our Fourth Amendment protections.” Eve Constat

If proposition 19 passed in California, it would have gained, $1.4bn in tax revenue per year, said California's tax collector. The board of equalization said “such a move would also have reversed costs for incarceration, adding up to major potential financial relief for a state in a decade- long budget crisis.” A plus is we could turn to hemp products and use it to turn our economy.

 Various parts of the plant can be utilized in the making of textiles, paper, paints, clothing, plastics, cosmetics, foodstuffs, insulation, animal feed and other products.  Hemp produces a much higher yield per acre than do common substitutes such as cotton and requires few pesticides. In addition, hemp has an average growing cycle of only 100 days and leaves the soil virtually weed-free for the next planting.

Benefits for Citizens We can put less funding into our prisons, by not filling them with the petty pot smokers.  Enforcing marijuana prohibition costs taxpayers an estimated $10 billion annually and results in the arrest of more than 850,000 individuals per year. Far more than the total number of arrestees for all violent crimes combined, including murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault.

 In total, with prosecuting and policing individuals with regards to marijuana, between $7 billion and $10 billion was spent and that’s just last year. Ninety percent of those cases were for possession only. A state-commission Drug Advisory Group asked, are the police resources devoted to marijuana use taking away from other areas of policing? Yes, the decriminalization of marijuana would free up already exhausted resources and save the state millions of dollars. Put it to some better uses.

A 1999 study showed that 60,000 individuals were behind bars for marijuana use. This cost taxpayers $1.2 billion. Now with us paying over $10 billion dollar each year to house in-mates in for marijuana related offenses, wouldn’t legalization make sense? It would put the money that we spend to prosecute and punish those who use, and put it back into the economy plus open a large job market for millions of people to survey the operations, grow, harvest, sell, and distribute.

 Studies have shown that marijuana is beneficial in relieving a person from the uneasy feeling of nausea.  Doctors have made use of marijuana, successfully, in the treatment of neurogenic pain.  Marijuana is regarded to be a 'mind opener' i.e. it can help people broaden their outlook and think creatively.  Marijuana has been used to enhance the appetite of cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.  The people suffering from glaucoma, asthma and spasticity have been found to have benefited from the consumption of marijuana.  Marijuana can help relieve the chronic pain and suffering of people with incurable diseases like cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, etc.

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PROS  There is very little evidence that smoking marijuana as a method of taking it represents a significant health risk.  Although cannabis has been smoked widely in Western countries for more than four decades, there have been no reported cases of lung cancer or emphysema attributed to marijuana.  It doesn’t make sense that it is slanderized when there is no recorded health issues or deaths from the consumption of marijuana.  W.C.S. (worst case scenario) High doses of marijuana, when consumed through food, can cause hallucinations, delusions, impaired memory and disorientation.

 What I have gotten from my research is that the government and major tax payers have a major role in the legalization and decriminalization of marijuana. They know the benefits behind the plant and its real illegalization was because it would destroy the paper industries back in the early 1900’s. Cannabis was one of America’s greatest cash up until early 1900’s. Then the craze of “Refer Madness” the first anti-marijuana campaigns that came about to make it illicit. From the 1930’s till the late 60’s and 70’s there was not much going on in the cannabis business until it came about again as a recreational drug. Then President Nixon banded marijuana growth and made it criminalized. When Bush stepped in he declared a “war on drugs” and made marijuana public enemy number one. As medical studies brought about the benefits behind cannabis it was legalized for medicinal use.

 Since then 14 states have allowed medicinal use of it and seven have decriminalized small possessions it. With the rapid consumption of marijuana amongst the population it is bound to hit the thresh hold and decriminalization will come about. But the real question is when this will happen? What will help it come sooner or what will hold it back? It can be harmful or interfere with people’s social lives but harm comes with everything you do just like driving to work could be fatal. It is a person’s belief on the issue and what they stand for. But holding marijuana back from being used medicinally and for the hemp product is hurting America. With billions being put in the “war on drug” when decriminalizing reduces budgets in areas not needed and giving the country money with the original cash crop.

 Conant, Eve. "Pot and the GOP." Newsweek. 01 Nov 2010: 18. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 05 Nov 2011  Gale, Brian “Medical Marijuana." Current Issues: Macmillian Social Science Library. Detroit: Gale, Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 4 Nov  Katel, P. (2009, June 12). Legalizing marijuana. CQ Researcher, 19, Retrieved from  Strauss, Jesse. "Fear and Loathing Surrounds Decriminalization." Aljazeera.net. 18 Jun 2011: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 12 Nov 2011.