Michael J. Arenson-
Many people hold extreme views regarding drugs, especially illegal drugs. Anti-drug people often present a view of all illegal drugs as horrible and without any redeeming qualities. Often they use the word “abuse” rather than “use,” which is sometimes a sneaky way to indicate disapproval and condemn those who do not conform to their wishes.

The topic of marijuana legalization has been a topic of debate for many years. There are different sides to almost any issue. It is very confusing to determine who is telling the truth in today’s society. One source is saying that marijuana is not any worse than alcohol, but at the same time others say that it can be detrimental to one’s state of physical wellness. Personal discretion is a major factor that must be considered when dealing with this issue. I mean, one has to consider what is right for the individual. There are many positive aspects which have been proven to result from the use of marijuana, and it is less dangerous to the human body than many things that are legal in this country. As a result, I believe that there is no harm in the legalization of marijuana based on social and scientific factors.

Marijuana has had a lot of bad press over the last 70 years. One of its effects is to heighten the user’s awareness of bullshit, so it's little wonder that the people trying to oppress it are so frequently the very same people who are trying to manipulate, exploit, and poison people’s minds.
I am taking this position because I think that marijuana is not comparable with hard core drugs such as cocaine and morphine, therefore, the underlying assumption that this is a paper that says the use of all drugs are okay must be dismissed. It is possible to overdose on cocaine and morphine, however, it is a proven fact that there has never been a proven case of a death due to a person taking too much marijuana into his system. Moreover, cocaine and morphine change the regulation of dopamine in the brain, which makes the person feel like these drugs are a necessity. Marijuana does not due this and this does not classify it as a drug that can be abused. These facts show that marijuana can be legalized without serious repercussions.

It has been proposed that the use of marijuana can be tied to serious health problems. What about brain damage, damage to the reproductive system, and the negative effects on the immune system? There was a study done in the 1970s by Dr. Robert Heath which “claims to show brain damage in the rhesus monkey”, but this study was reliable because of “insufficient sample size (only four monkeys)” and the “misidentification of normal monkey brain structure as ‘damaged’”. Also, in 1977 the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) said that people who used marijuana a great deal did not experience trauma of the brain. In 1977, the American Medical Association (AMA) said marijuana use should not be a criminal offense. The findings that marijuana damaged the reproductive system and the immune system were dealing with situations in which the experimental animal was given “near-lethal amounts of cannabinoids (i.e. the intoxicating part of marijuana).” (The intoxicating part of marijuana would include the carbon monoxide inhaled by pipe and bong users; This could easily be avoided using a vaporizer. In fact, studies in 1978 and 1988 demonstrated that it might have positive effects on the immune system. These health problems can be disregarded by the inaccurate and manipulated results such as the ones described and statements by JAMA and the AMA.

The argument that marijuana is bad because it will “hook” or cause people to become addicted is foolish. “Marijuana is less addictive than caffeine” and the issue of such addiction is pale in comparison to that of smoked tobacco, “with a 90% addiction rate”. I think the issue of addiction has been disproved.

Some say that statistics are worth a million words. Such statistics were provided in Exhibit A. There are an average of 340,000 to 425,000 deaths by tobacco users, 150,000 attributed to alcohol consumption, 1,000 to 10,000 to caffeine, and 3,800 to 5,200 to unlawful drugs, but no deaths resulting from the use of marijuana. These numbers overwhelmingly support my point that marijuana is less dangerous than legal things, such as tobacco, alcohol, and caffeine. Should it be legal to drink a Coke and illegal to smoke a joint when there are less deaths resulting from marijuana use? Correct, one would probably have to drink a metric ton of Coke to die. This gigantic proportion of consumption leading to death is also true of marijuana. It has been shown that, in order to die, one must take in “40,000 times as much marijuana” as one needs “to get stoned”. This is literally impossible, and the idea that a person could perform this amazing task is absurd. Why then should marijuana be treated so harshly?

References to the cultivation of the Earth’s flora can be found in the Bible. Genesis chapter 1, verse 29 reads as follows: And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth.” This verse says that it is okay to cultivate all plants, which I believe, also includes marijuana. Why then would it be wrong to harvest marijuana and put it to medical use? Is it wrong to heal? This statement also implies that the plants of the Earth should be utilized by man. If this was not true, then why would God have given man the seeds to plant? Therefore, the use of these plants to fulfill the needs of man is not wrong.

However, something that must be stressed is that just because I believe that marijuana should be legalized doesn’t mean that it is the right answer for everyone. This is where individual discretion enters into the formula. After all, we are talking about the “issue of legalization” not whether the use of marijuana is right for every person. I think the facts are undeniable: marijuana should be legalized in the United States of America.

There is one reason why marijuana is oppressed. Every person who uses it believes this is the only reason that it is oppressed. That reason being is that the only reason it is illegal is because of the fact that the government can’t tax it. The government couldn’t tax it because you could grow it in your own home in whatever abundance that you would like. Therefore the government wouldn’t want anything that they can’t tax. Let’s look at the synthetic alternative to marijuana- Marinol. It gives you the exact same effects but you just don’t smoke it. Marinol is legal. However it is also pricier because it is supported by the government. Marinol is available to your local pharmacy- however it is not an over the counter drug. Being a “behind the counter” drug you would presume that it would be hard to get. Just go to your doctor and say that all the headache medicine in the world couldn’t help your headaches. More than likely- you can easily get Marinol.
Anheuser-Busch, brewers of Budweiser, hair-test employees to be sure that they are not using any drugs less dangerous than the one they make. Alcohol, being legal, is responsible for 80,000 deaths per year- more than all the illegal drugs combined.

Interview with person actually using medical cannabis: http://www.marijuana-uses.com/essays/061.html