Legalizing Marijuana

Legalizing Marijuana

Marijuana is appears that no matter what adult I have asked they tell me that they have tried it at least once. According to Knickerbockers' interview with President Obama he states, "The future president rode in a VW van and hung out at a favorite island spot up Mount Tantalus on Oahu, smoking pot and sometimes drinking beer".(Knickerbocker, 2012 p. 1). As early as 2004, Barack Obama declared the war on drugs an "utter failure" and promised the federal government would back off if states wanted to permit their residents to use medical marijuana (Fruedersdirf, 2011 p.513) So far President Obama, George Bush and Bill Clinton all have stated that they all have smoked marijuana at one point in their life. Rather with a group of friends or by themselves many people have smoked pot. So what's the big deal with smoking pot? In this article I will discuss my own values, how they are applied to a nursing situation, and why I feel marijuana should be legalized.

Marijuana can be called many things to name a few it is referred to as pot, Mary Jane, lettuce ,weed, bud, ganja, reefer and several other names, so what is it that makes people want this drug? In the United States Over two million marijuana arrests have been made during the past three years, and over six million have been made over the last 10 years. At the federal level, marijuana remains in the most prohibited category as a "Schedule 1" drug, which is reserved for highly addictive, dangerous drugs with no legitimate medical uses. According to Mosser, Utilitarianism argues that , given a set of choices, the act we should choose is that which produces results for the greater number affected by that choice" (Mosser 2010 sec. 107 p 2). When you look at how many people are in prison for selling marijuana it is clear that if this became legal many people would be realized from prison thus helping out the greater number of people.

Depressing prices and driving out existing suppliers would not be all bad. Marijuana accounts for roughly 20% of Mexican drug export revenue. Shrinking those revenues may help shrink trafficking-related violence in Mexico (Kilmer, Caulkins, 2010). I have heard over the last 10 years don't go to Mexico because the drug cartel is so bad and if you go you may be killed. Young children of Mexico are being uses to smuggle drugs and guns to American. If we legalize marijuana not only are we cutting some of the crime that Mexico is doing we are also helping the children. Children should be in school learning not on the streets hustling drugs.

This does not only happen in Mexico it happens here in the United States. I was on vacation in New Jersey and when the sun went down the streets were full of young kids about 14-17 years old just selling drugs and shooting dice. We ask ourselves why the United States has such low test scores throughout the schools. Well after seeing these young kids on the streets there was no wonder why. These kids are up all night selling drugs and when they should be in school in the morning, they are not. If we found a way to make this drug legal and have it sold from stores like alcohol then maybe these kids would attend school and get a better education.

I would have to disagree with the statement that says it doesn't have a legitimate medical use. I know several patients that have cancer and we give them a pill called Marinol. It is a pill form for marijuana and it works by increasing the appetite. When you have cancer you lose the will to want to eat. I don't know if it is because of the chemotherapy or the radiation. In order to help you maintain energy and keep your lab value stable we give you a pill to increase your appetite. If we can have a prescription for this medication then why can't we just legalize it like alcohol? The other thing that patients have mentioned to me is that it helps with their pain. It has a calming effect on people thus decreasing the amount of pain you feel. It can be compared to as taking an Ativan. Which is another medication used to calm your nerves.

Let's take a moment and compare alcohol which is legal to marijuana. First alcohol not only can kill you as the person drinking it. Alcohol can also kill other people. I have not heard of anyone being in a car accident that was high on marijuana yet time in and time out you read the paper of someone getting killed by a drunk driver. I was at the high school graduation here in Fresno and they had a video playing at the end of the video were three teenage kids that were killed by a drunk driver.

A mother against drunk drivers (MADD) is another organization that promotes teens from drinking alcohol. I have never heard of any group out there that makes a bigger statement then MADD. They actually bring the cars that some of the children were driving when a drunk driver crashed into their car and killed them. They show picture of these kids. I don't know if this is an organization around the world or not but it is big here in California.

Alcohol consumption, particularly heavier drinking, is an important risk factor for many health problems and, thus, is a major contributor to the global burden of disease. In fact, alcohol is a necessary underlying cause for more than 30 conditions and a contributing factor to many more. The most common disease categories that are entirely or partly caused by alcohol consumption include infectious diseases, cancer, diabetes, neuropsychiatric diseases