Nadelman wrote an excerpt indicating his own opinion about the current drug legislation. He gives three reasons for why we need a change in legislation. The first is because “the current drug policies have failed, are failing and will continue to fail, because they are flawed.” (Not failed done a fantastic job by not allowing more of the population to be hooked.. Give support from WILSON “HAVE WE LOST in methodology Prgrf) The second reason focuses on the costs of the drug control efforts, and the third addresses the idea that repealing drug laws would not lead to a dramatic rise in drug abuse. Nadelman says the price of drugs if they remained illegal would be greater than if they were not. The drugs would also be more potent and less contaminated.
Even using the words 'legalization' and Federalism and Marijuana 'decriminalization' invite debate as one would suggest that the illegalization was right and proper and the other suggests the criminalization was the wrong thing to do in the first place, thereby creating a culture of criminals where there should never have been. The fact remains that marijuana is the drug of choice throughout the country. While average Americans may be hard pressed to find users of narcotics like heroin or even cocaine, nearly everyone at least knows someone who partakes in marijuana use, medical or otherwise. In 2011 less than 2 million people tried cocaine, less than 400,000 experimented with heroin, but 28 million people
Nadelman wrote an excerpt indicating his own opinion about the current drug legislation. He gives three reasons for why we need a change in legislation. The first is because “the current drug policies have failed, are failing and will continue to fail, because they are flawed.” (Not failed done a fantastic job by not allowing more of the population to be hooked.. Give support from WILSON “HAVE WE LOST in methodology Prgrf) The second reason focuses on the costs of the drug control efforts, and the third addresses the idea that repealing drug laws would not lead to a dramatic rise in drug abuse. Nadelman says the price of drugs if they remained illegal would be greater than if they were not. The drugs would also be more potent and less contaminated.
Crack is not a drug it is an epidemic; it has ruined millions of lives and will continue to do so until it is completely removed from out country. Cocaine, while not as highly addictive as crack, also has a steady if not rising demand in our country that will only subside if the supply is completely removed. It can be disputed whether or not morphine is more addictive than cocaine or crack but what cannot is which is more readily available in the streets. On the other hand, I see morphine use on the steady decline. Primarily, since morphine is a pharmaceutical drug, it is a much more difficult for people to come in contact with it.
Both writers disagree on how addicting the Marijuana is, and if the government is part of this. Stanton Peele describes addiction this way. " I have described addiction as a consequence of involvement with absorbing experiences that provide essential emotional satisfactions but that detract from people's ability to cope with their lives". Peele has a valid point, in which the user is in a emotional state in which they want to forget about their problems, and want something to get their mind of problem. That's when they are most fragile to get addicted to Marijuana.
“The Institute of Medicine panel concluded that marijuana has some therapeutic value for pain relief, control of nausea and vomiting, and appetite stimulation, and should be studied further in order to develop new cannabinoid drugs. It also concluded that marijuana has limited effectiveness in relieving the symptoms of glaucoma. No evidence was found that marijuana acts as a gateway drug to more dangerous recreational drugs.” (Levy, 1999) Living with HIV/AIDS can be extremely difficult and very painful. You lose the desire to do anything you stop eating, you get depressed, you are nauseous all the time. “Despite the limited amount of data available on the use of medicinal marijuana in the general population, it has been suggested that persons with HIV/AIDS are the largest group of medicinal marijuana users in both Canada and the United States.” (Furler, Einarson, Millson, Walmsley, Bendayan, 2004) While this may be true there are other minor diseases out there with the same symptoms so why should it be so hard for them to get medicinal marijuana?
It is without saying that Prop 215 was a stepping stone into the future of fully legalizing marijuana. According to Jeffrey Miron author of The Budgetary Implications of Drug Prohibition it costs Californian tax payers $2 billion dollars a year on the enforcement of marijuana. California’s persons are overcrowded and very little money is being spent on addressing the states recidivism rates. In 2011 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that medical care in California's prisons was unconstitutionally poor. The justices ordered the state to reduce overcrowding by some
In this recession, a new source of revenue would greatly help. Americans established that they will never completely eliminate drug use. “Pot legalization supporters have argued for decades that prohibition has failed to curb pot use, and that the policy enriches drugs cartels, hurts casual users and deprives governments of a potentially lucrative source of tax revenue” (“Pot”). Most of all, it wastes time. Recently, a city council distributed scratch and sniff cards to households, in hopes that residents would assist in the war by pointing out smells to the police (Webb).
Ending prohibition on marijuana could save tax dollars and win ‘the war on drug”. (norml, 2013) 1. Enforcing marijuana prohibition costs taxpayers $10 billion annually and results in the arrest of more than 829,000 individuals per year. (norml, 2013) 2. Nearly 25 million Americans have smoked marijuana in the past year, and more than 14 million do so regularly despite harsh laws against its use.
Its main active chemical ingredient is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. Schedule I drugs are classified as having a high potential for abuse, with no currently accepted medical use in the United States. Yet, other drugs such as cocaine, morphine, and amphetamines -- including crystal methamphetamine, or “ice” – are classified as Schedule II substances, thereby implying they are less dangerous than marijuana (“Marijuana Facts”, n.d.). According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy, marijuana use can produce various adverse physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral effects. These effects include impaired perception, impaired judgment, diminished short-term memory, loss of concentration and coordination, and increased risk of accidents (“Basic Facts,” 1999).