Should America Legalize Marijuana?

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the debate over whether marijuana use should be legalized. The paper notes that, as the public debate continues to grow, so too does the evidence-based movements for the decriminalization of this drug. The author puts forward both the argument against and in favor of legalizing marijuana and concludes that, in the final analysis, marijuana has bona fide medical uses and there is no reason for it to be illegal.

From the Paper:

"In order to investigate the movement towards decriminalization systematically, a summary of the public policy debate on marijuana drug law enforcement is critical. It should be noted that Americans will continue to use drugs, either to decrease their amount of pain or just to feel good, but it is essential to draw the line between the relatively harmless drug, marijuana, and other extremely dangerous drugs such as heroin and cocaine. The informed public is now gradually willing to acknowledge and accept a real and definable difference between marijuana and the more lethal heroin and cocaine; indeed, it is clear that the case for legalizing marijuana is an entire world removed from the prospect of legalizing cocaine. With the recent advances in scientific research involving marijuana, there have been many calls to change its status (legal not medical) from a Schedule I drug (considered to be potentially addictive and with no current medical use) to that of a Schedule II drug (potentially addictive but with some accepted medical use), as M. Leveritt discusses in his article (11-12)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• De Zwart, W M. Key Data: Smoking, Drinking, Drug Use and Gambling Among Pupils Aged 10 Years and Older. Netherlands Institute of Health and Addiction. Netherlands, 1997. 26.
• Downs, Hugh. Commentary on Hemp. ABC News (Nov. 1990).
• Estimates From the 1993 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Rockville, 1994.
• Gillespie, N. "Prescription: Drugs." Reason Magazine (1997). 1 Apr. 2007 <http://www.reason.com/news/show/30148.html>.
• Grinspoon, L., and J B. Bakalar. "Marihuana as Medicine: a Plea for Reconsideration." Journal of the American Medical Association 273 (1995): 1875-1876.

More papers on Should America Legalize Marijuana?:

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• Persuasive Essay # 119100 : "The Legalization and Taxation of Marijuana"

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