Essay - Legalization of Marijuana Introduction the Continuing Debate the Facts Disorders...

Legalization of Marijuana

Introduction

The continuing debate

***** facts

Disorders and diseases affected by marijuana use

Solution

*****

List of illustrations

***** marijuana plant

Legislative History ***** Marijuana

Introduction

***** cult films, two stand out. The Rocky Horror Picture Show, with its audience-participation aspect, is one. The other is Reefer Madness, a 1936 film me*****nt to be a documentary about the evils of the Demon Weed. It possesses, "a dated outlook on marijuana *****" and "focuses on almost slapstick scenes of high school kids smoking pot and quickly going insane, playing 'evil' jazz music, being committed, and going on a murder spree" (Reefer M*****dness Web site, 2004). While it is rare to find anyone who still believes one sniff of marijuana will cause insanity, *****re ***** still a good deal of reefer madness around, but now it concerns whether ***** legalize the relatively harmless drug for medicinal use, or not. For example, in a 2001 report, one observer noted "A controversi*****l assault on the nation's war on illegal drugs started in 1996, when a well-org*****nized and well-funded coalition of drug law reformers ***** grass-roots activists put legalization of 'medical marijuana' on the ballots in California and Arizona" (Frater). It was quite a le*****p to characterize ***** attempt to legalize a ***** at least as useful ***** *****bacco as an "*****." It w***** something of a leap to pin the entire movement on "drug la***** *****," especially in light of research ***** the United States National Academy of Sciences that placed marijuana in a category of useful drugs, ***** mild ones at that. In a 1999 *****, the ***** noted *****, "In general, cannab*****oids seem to be mild to moderate analgesics" (Institute of Medicine, Ch. 4, NAS Web *****).

If the National Academy of Sciences found that ***** substance is a mild ***** moderate analgesic—a description ***** could ***** applied to any number of over-the-counter drugs with much worse side effects than a mild high—why h*****s it not been decriminalized federally for medicinal use, at least?

Figure: Medicinal Marijuana Plant

Source: World Wide Seeds Web s*****e

The ***** deb*****e

It is obvious from the rhe*****ric that Frater's publ*****her, The National Journal, has taken a ***** against legalizing medical marijuana, despite the publication's claim to be non-partisan. It is hard to support the stance that legalization was desired by 'drug law reformers' when, as Frater noted, Bill Clinton's administration mobilized to prevent state approvals of medical ***** in other states after Arizona and California voters both approved such me*****ures (Frater, 2001). Gen. Barry McCaffrey, ***** drug czar, said:

My own solid judgment was that there were a... small ***** of people, a few hundred, who ***** determ*****ed to m*****ke the use ***** smoked marijuana more **********, legal, readily available.... ********** got money, and *****y've got energy (*****, 2001).

Once again, the rhetoric gets in the way of the facts; McCaffrey's judgment is solid according to h***** ***** claims, and certainly not t*****ose of ***** science or o*****ion polls. As f***** having money,