Question

Suppose you are a lobbyist fighting against the legalization of marijuana. Upon what would you base your argument/case? Why are some drugs illegal and others not? What characteristics or criteria do we use to determine if a drug's use is legitimate or illegitimate? What would you do to help solve the drug issue in the U.S.?

Drug and alcohol abuse cost taxpayers more than $294 billion in preventable health care costs, extra law enforcement, auto crashes, crime and lost productivity. What are the costs that society pays for illegal drug use? What do you believe are the moral and ethical issues surrounding drug testing? Should all employees be subjected to drug tests or just those employees in high-risk jobs?

Answer 1

People would say that Marizuana legalizing is a better option because it will bring tax reliefs, the cost itself will come down and it helps cancer, glaucama and sclerosis patients. They will also argue that as it is by not legalizing it government is not able to curb its use so why not legalize it and let’s get tax revenues which are estimated to be additionally $60 million for 2017. They may further argue that marijuana has less of a long-term negative health impact than tobacco, and a recent study indicated that marijuana has no long-term negative health effects on an individual’s cognitive ability. But the down side is huge as legalizing it may allow people to freely use it. In addition to making the young generation addictive it has a series of short term and long term negative effects on a person's over health. The short term effects include the inability to concentrate and distortions with sense and time. The long term effects are more detrimental to health and can include respiratory issues similar to smoking tobacco (due to smoking the drug), reduction of sperm and testosterone levels in men, impacts on the ovulation and premenstrual cycles of women, as well as fatigue, decreases in libido, impaired fertility, and changes in body composition (increased fat mass and decreased muscle mass). Right now since the government has not legalized it, the people who think that government is on the right side of the law will always feel that using marizuana is legally wrong also in addition to its medically negative effects on health.

Pro side for debating: Eight states approved the legal use of marijuana for recreational and medical purposes on the historic elections of 8th November. This takes the total number of states in US legalizing limited use of Marijuana to 33; and I strongly feel that New York should also legalize Marijuana for recreational use. Such a move will have lot of benefits- a boost to revenue of the state from taxing marijuana sales, improvement in law enforcement and justice by channelizing the energy of law enforcement agencies to other serious crimes, reduction in fund flow to organized crime syndicates, improvement in product quality and safety control of Marijuana being consumed, apart from further reinforcing the right to recreation of an individual.

Significance: Marijuana is made from the flowering top of the Cannabis Sativa plant. It contains the chemical Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), It is causes mind-altering states among marijuana users. Marijuana plant or its basic extracts to treat symptoms of illness and other conditions.

Conclusion: Using drugs for recreation is morally also wrong and how can government legalize something which is morally wrong only with an intention to get tax revenues. Some things cannot be measured in monetary terms. So Marijuana should not be legalized because the harmful impact to society is greater than any benefits.

Reference:

Flory K, et al. Early adolescent through young adult alcohol and marijuana use trajectories: early predictors, young adult outcomes, and predictive utility. Dev Psychopathol. 2004;16(1):193–213.

Kosterman R, et al. The dynamics of alcohol and marijuana initiation: patterns and predictors of first use in adolescence. Am J Public Health. 2000;90(3):360–366.

Shillington AM, Clapp JD. Substance use problems reported by college students: combined marijuana and alcohol use versus alcohol-only use. Subst Use Misuse. 2001;36(5):663–672.