Legalizacion de marihuana

9 July, 2012
Legalization of Marijuana
Cannabis sativa is the name of the plant where Marijuana comes from. The plant contains a chemical called THC (Delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol) which is a mind-altering drug. Marijuana is the dried leaves and flowers of cannabis sativa plant. It is usually smoked as a cigarette, or it can also be eaten if combined with food. This drug has a lot of differentnames like weed, hemp, Mary Jane, mota etc. It is by far the most commonly used illicit drug around the world. However, there are many states protesting to legalize it because they see it as a medical substance, or because the government can get more money from taxes. This issue has been a big controversy in the United States because many people support it and many don’t. The problem is that alot of people don’t realize that marijuana it is in fact a drug that harms a lot more than what it cure or help people. It cannot be legalized because it is considered as a getaway drug, and people would in fact like other drugs to be legalized too and so on.
The chemical in marijuana, THC is a depressant drug which slows the brain down if taken in higher doses and can cause hallucinations or makeyou feel sleepy; it can also act as a stimulant. Many people believe that Marijuana can be used as a medicine to treat some illness, but the only useful evidence they have found is that “marijuana could be useful for pain relief, control of nausea and vomiting, and appetite stimulation” (1) because of the effects of the THC. They have proved that is effective in the treatment of glaucoma becauseits use lowers pressure on the eye (2). This does not mean that it cures an illness, but only that it may help the people forget their pain, since THC is a depressant drug. Marijuana would only make you worse, because it will never stop an illness, and if become addicted, it would lead the person to use other drugs Marijuana is a gateway drug which means that it will make you want more potentdrugs; this is why it’s been called one of the most dangerous drugs. They think that marijuana is one of the safest therapeutically active substances there is because alcohol, cigarettes and even most over – the counter medicines or prescriptions are more dangerous than marijuana (2). This drug is classified as a Schedule I control substance by the U.S. law (6), which means it has no acceptablemedical use. Women who make use of this drug during pregnancy might give birth to a smaller baby, or to a baby born with a deficiency. “A nursing mother who uses marijuana passes some of the THC to the baby in her breast milk” this can impair the motor development of the baby (4).
But medical-marijuana is not only the reason they want to legalize this drug, but also because the government can imposeheavy taxation on it. People think that because the United States spends billions of dollars annually on the war on drugs, if marijuana was to be legal “it could reasonably place high taxes on it because people are used to buying marijuana at higher prices created by the risks of selling marijuana illegally” (2). They think that if marijuana is legal there will be fewer crimes because “The crimerate in Amsterdam, where marijuana is legal, is lower than many major US cities”. Legalizing marijuana is not going to stop criminals from doing what they do. Legalizing the drug would not lower the crimes, but it will increase them instead. If criminals do whatever they do with the drug using it illegally, imagine if it becomes illegal, the crime rate will increase. Despite this reasons for why thepeople want this drug to be legal, they don’t realize that this drug in the most dangerous one of all. This is the so called gateway drug. A drug that once you tried it several times it will make you crave for a drug more potent. “Marijuana is often used as a stepping-stone drug, leading to heroin, cocaine, or other harder drugs (3).” The Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia...