Professional Documents
Culture Documents
English 1010
Prof. Erin Walton
Issue Exploration Essay
Surrender: The Failed War on Drugs
People that consume marijuana are criminals. This is the stance of the federal
government of the United States of America. Many individual states have their own
laws on that reaffirm their position. Federally, the mandatory minimum sentence for
crime at all?
propensity for abuse. However, the United States Patent and Trademark Office lists
patent number 6,630,507. The owner of this patent is The United States of America
the patent optimistically states that The cannabinoids are found to have particular
HIV dementia (Hampson, A., Axelrod, J., & Grimaldi, M., 1999).
difficult to conduct empirical research. On the other hand, the United States
government holds the only patent that has been issued to allowed on marijuana,
agreed upon that each of those drugs are significantly more addictive and
Im not saying marijuana use isnt dangerous. I am saying we dont know how
to the emergency room are increasing. The Wall Street Journal (Letters to the editor:
Pot fears are one toke over the line, 1995) states that this data is misleading. What
was being measured, was people that had been admitted in to the hospital that had
reported recent marijuana use. Using marijuana recently and going to the
emergency room does not equate to visiting the emergency room because of
marijuana. However, any time you inhale smoke you stress your respiratory system.
A report by the Philadelphia Tribune (Blunt facts on marijuana use, 2005) linked
marijuana use to a higher risk of lung infection, daily respiratory problems (excess
phlegm and cough), and certain types of cancer. If given that information and told
choose not to do so. In the case of my brother, Ruben Avilez, a veteran of the United
States Marine Corps that served two active duty military tours in Iraq and one in
Afghanistan, marijuana is a miracle drug. Ruben was medically retired out of the
Marines in 2015 after 12 years of service. He suffers from chronic back pain after he
was struck in the back by a mine sweeper, a traumatic brain injury, severe Post
pharmaceutical drugs that have had severe adverse effects. At one point, he was
prescribed seventeen different medications that he had to take multiple times a day.
We joked that he should take them by putting them in a cereal bowl and eat them
with a spoon. Aside from side effects like weight gain and feeling catatonic, his
medications literally almost killed him. He was preparing lunch for my nephew, Alex,
when he became light headed and collapsed on to the floor. He woke up in the
emergency room with a doctor explaining to him how his heart had suddenly
stopped. Alex, then six years old, had called the ambulance that had saved his life.
Doctors later determined the incident was caused by medications that did not
Ruben Started to hear from some of his friends that he served in the military
with about how marijuana had affected them. Wanting to alter his approach, he
decided to try marijuana out for a month to see if it could help. He has since
cancelled all his medications in lieu of using marijuana exclusively. He asserts that
marijuana has changed his life and allowed him to be a father again. While he still
has chronic back pain, he reports that it is much more tolerable than when he was
Stress Disorder and effects from the chemical exposure. He has lost the weight he
had put on from the medications and has had no other heart troubles. He can be
active instead of catatonic. Mostly he is upset because he feels like he was lied to.
He was always warned about the damage that marijuana causes and researched the
damage that it can do, but he was rarely told about the benefits it could give him.
Given his informed decision, he chooses to use marijuana, proclaiming it has given
him a new lease on life. He lives in California, where marijuana is legal both
medically and recreationally. When I visit him, I must look at it from the perspective
a law enforcement officer. Him using it around me could make me lose my job for
failure to act on a crime at a federal level. As an ordinary citizen, I dont think I have
the authority to tell him what he can and cannot do. After all, he was the person
Lack of research has caused people like Ruben to experiment, which is the
argument that many people make. That he is diagnosing his condition and self-
medicine, this is a very valid argument. If you take excessive amounts of drugs like
opioids, benzodiazepines, even aspirin, the results can be fatal. However, marijuana
marijuana overdose. People have been left to prescribe themselves with varying
research it. For many medical refugees that have uprooted their lives from their
home states in search of more lenient marijuana laws, experimenting is the only
way they can find relief for themselves or family members. That shouldnt make you
Blunt facts on marijuana use. (2005, Jan 25). Philadelphia Tribune Retrieved from
https://search.proquest.com.libprox1.slcc.edu/docview/337760411?
accountid=28671
I like this article because, while being anti-marijuana and more bias, the
research seems to be more representative of facts. A lot of the pro-marijuana
conglomerate focus exclusively on the potential benefits while disregarding the fact
that it can be harmful to users. From acute respiratory issues to higher risks of some
cancers, marijuana is not a substance meant for everyone, nor is it the miracle drug
its purported to be. However, people should be allowed to make their own informed
decisions as to whether it is right for them.
Evergreen: The road to legalization [Video file]. (2014). Retrieved February 16,
wID=102595&xtid=65963
This video would be the nemesis of the last reference listed. Where that one
was overwhelmingly negative but well researched, this one is in the affirmation
while acknowledging the negative side. It provides the positions of the judicial
system, from judges, lawyers, law enforcement right down to the lawmakers
themselves. It paints a vivid picture of people that are all ultimately for the
legalization/legislation of marijuana but dont support specific verbiage in legislation
that is objectionable. Semantics within the legal system can make an enormous
difference in how people respond to a specific objective.
Hampson, A., Axelrod, J., & Grimaldi, M. (1999, October 28). patft Page 1 of 1 .
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?
Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO
%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=6630507.PN.&OS=PN/6630507&RS=
PN/6630507
Letters to the editor: Pot fears are one toke over the line. (1995, Feb 16). Wall Street
https://search.proquest.com.libprox1.slcc.edu/docview/398475752?
accountid=28671
The thing I really enjoyed about this article, is that it illustrated the deliberate
misrepresentation of statistical data. For example, most hard-core drug users,
people that use heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, etc. also use marijuana. That
doesnt make marijuana a gateway drug, because the clear majority of marijuana
users never graduate to harder substances. Additionally, people that go to the
emergency room and report having used marijuana recently does not equate to an
emergency room visit caused by drug use, though that is how it is reported. This
kind of false reporting by places like the Partnership for a Drug-Free America and
National Institute on Drug Abuse has a negative impact on what they are
attempting to achieve.