Kerrigan Canzano December 21, 2010 Philosophy 104 Makinster Marijuana The illegality of marijuana is a moral issue because

there simply is not a strong enough basis of scientific fact or statistical evidence showing that it should be illegal. Therefore to prohibit peoples use of the drug is unethical. We trust our government to make laws based on what is good for our nation and our communities, laws that protect us from harm and keep the well being of our nation in check. But it has been proven in many studies that pot is not a harmful substance. And there is also evidence that shows that it was made illegal for all the wrong reasons in the first place. To make something illegal based on a prejudice is immoral, and so is keeping it illegal for the same reason. There have even been many studies showing that the illegalization of any drug is inefficient and when drugs are decriminalized, drug addicts can live much more productive lives while coping with their addiction in their own ways. Therefore to illegalize something that has no basis in being illegal is unethical, especially when it has been proven that decriminalization is more effective anyway. Marijuana became outlawed in this country first in California despite the fact that there was no evidence of a Cannabis problem in this state (druglib.) Marijuana was then outlawed in Utah because of its use in the Mormon community, so it was being outlawed out of prejudice for a social group(druglib). It was outlawed in south western states for its use in the Mexican community, so again, out of racism, and by

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1937 it is outlawed on a national level (druglib.). Therefore it was originally illegalized for immoral reasons and our countries relationship with the legality of marijuana has been heavily influenced by emotion and minutely influenced by reason. One of the most crucial arguments in the debate for the legalization of marijuana is its comparison to alcohol, which is a legal drug. First of all, alcohol accounts for nearly 80,000 deaths in America each year, and is a drug that a person can actually overdose on (according to the National Institute of Drug Abuse). As far as anyone can tell, marijuana has never claimed a life in U.S. history and is therefore compared at mortality rate with alcohol as eighty thousand to zero, and tobacco being 390,000 to zero (NIDA). It is impossible to overdose on marijuana and the ratio for overdose in one person is 40,000 cannabinoids to 1 person, compared to alcohol which can literally put one in a coma or kill a person from alcohol poisoning (NIDA). Second of all medical studies show that while marijuana has psychoactive components, it does not cause brain damage, and the following quote provides the evidence. Studies performed on actual human populations will confirm these results, even for chronic marijuana users (up to 18 joints per day) after many years of use [8, 9, 10, 11, 12]. In fact, following the publication of two 1977 JAMA studies, the American Medical Association (AMA) officially announced its support for the decriminalization of marijuana (druglib.). According to NORMLs testimony on Marijuana decriminalization in 1999, the American Medical Association was the only one to agree with NORMLs case for decriminalization and was the lone voice

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against marijuana prohibition before congress (NORML). This in itself speaks volumes and it is interesting to envision an America where alcohol was made illegal instead of marijuana, because clearly alcohol is a much more dangerous substance. However, marijuana has fallen victim to far more myths and stereotypes that allow the government to continue to keep it illegal regardless of the overwhelming evidence showing that there is no reason for it to be illegal. Because there is no real scientific evidence showing that marijuana is a harmful drug, and is accepted by the American Medical Association as a non-harmful substance, the only arguments against it are based on prejudice, stereotype, or misinformation. But since part of this paper has to represent the cons of my topic, lets review some of the arguments based on misconceptions that keep people afraid of marijuana. First of all, there is a lot of propaganda against marijuana that has been reproduced nation wide for decades. This propaganda tries to show that if you smoke pot, you will be a crazed deviant. Also, there are many stereotypes associated with marijuana smokers that they are hippies or losers. This stereotype is instilled at a young age through D.A.R.E. which teaches kids extremely scary lessons and beliefs about drugs. Also, because pot has been illegal for so long, it only seems natural that its illegality is legitimate and to change that would require a lot of pressure, but because it is still a drug with so many poor stereotypes it makes sense that its proving to be almost impossible. Abovetheinfluence.com lists these following symptoms of marijuana use: impaired judgment and motor coordination / Shortened attention span and

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distractibility / Anxiety and panic attacks /Increased heart rate / Increased risk of heart attack / Increased risk for schizophrenia in vulnerable individuals / Impaired judgment / Problems with memory and learning / Lowered motivation / Decreased alertness and coordination / Addiction / Withdrawal symptoms from stopping drug use (in a chronic user): irritability, sleeplessness, anxiety, impaired appetite, and aggression. However, all of these combined are not nearly as bad as some of the symptoms that they try and slip by you on many medication commercials for certain illnesses. And they might as well not even list withdrawal symptoms because those are nothing compared to the withdrawal of an alcoholic for instance, who shakes and vomits and potentially has a seizure. Half of the anti-depressants out there have a potential side-effect that can make people suicidal, and people are prescribed the highly addictive medication oxycotton every day, but marijuana is illegal because it might cause a shortened attention span or memory loss? Alcohol kills brain cells, marijuana doesnt, and if one of its side effects is drowsiness then maybe they should prescribe pot instead of chemical sleeping pills. If people have to fight this hard to legalize same-sex marriage in this country than it does make sense that it would be very difficult to re-legalize marijuana after about 80 years of being outlawed. But it is far less dangerous than so many legal drugs in our country, its impressive how strong the power of fear is to keep something so minor illegal. I hope that the fact that this is a moral issue is not getting lost in this paper, but I think that every sentence so far has just made it more and more clear that even those who are opposed to it do not have a good enough reason to make it illegal, and

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therefore the fact that it is, is immoral. Its one thing to disagree with something, to be against it or want nothing to do with it. But to restrict someones use of something that has been proven harmless, to arrest someone for marijuana when it has been proven to cause minimal damage and far less damage than alcohol or cigarettes that are legal recreational drugs. Finally, keeping marijuana illegal has not prevented millions upon millions from trying it in the past and it wont stop people any time soon. People of all walks of life enjoy marijuana and the fact that it is illegal hardly hinders its usage. However, because it should not be illegal in the first place, and was made illegal for all the wrong reasons to begin with, it is also unethical to persecute someone for the possession of marijuana. It is not unethical to persecute them because they are technically breaking the law. However, that law is unjust for many reasons, and sometimes moral reasoning has to extend it self above and around the law, when we know that it is unethical. Therefore it is still immoral that a 25 year old college student could be arrested for a gram of pot in many states, but would be perfectly within his rights if he were found with a keg of beer, a carton of cigarettes, and a prescription for Oxycotton.

Kerrigan Canzano Bibliography Abel, Ernest. Marijuana, The First 12,000 Years (Plenum Press, New York 1980) http://www.druglibrary.org/ http://www.hemphasis.net/History/history.htm

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1887488,00.html http://brainz.org/420-milestones-history-marijuana/ Abovetheinfluence.com http://norml.com/ http://drugabuse.gov/DrugPages/Marijuana.html http://drugabuse.gov/nidahome.html