Legalising Marijuana

Marijuana: Demon weed, or deserving to be freed?

A short look into the Australian marijuana debate

Robbie Coombs

Ever since its discovery in north India thousands of years ago, the use of marijuana has been a heated topic around the world in every country that it finds its way into. Since it's introduction it has been used widely in the fabric and textile industry, but with newer synthetic materials being superior for the most part, many now argue for its legalisation for its unique assistance in medicinal pain relievement. On the flip side of the argument though, you would hear about the numerous hazards to the body associated with recreational use of marijuana when taken through any means of smoking devices. There is also the danger to youth in particular respect to the risks linked with schizophrenia, depression, long-term memory and anxiety. Another angle to the debate, is the potential lost revenue over the legalised and controlled sale of marijuana. These are just some of the points being raised in the national debate of legalisation of marijuana in Australia, and are but some of the keys ones I shall focus on in hopes of convincing you of the overall benefit of legalising marijuana in Australia.

One of the biggest arguments made by marijuana reform supporters is that "if tobacco is allowed to be legalised, then why not marijuana?" It's a fair point at surface level for they share many similarities in how much physical damage they both do to the body. However, despite these similarities, there are quite serious psychological long-term side-effects that play a major stake in this argument. Whilst tobacco has few psychological long term side-effects apart from being highly addictive, marijuana's list on the otherhand is rather more extensive. The recent linking of marijuana to schizophrenia is the key argument for a lot of anti-marijuana protestors. It been suggested that marijuana can increase the likelihood of schizophrenia by up to 30%, and up to 1 in every 7 cases of schizophrenia could have been avoided by taking marijuana out of the equation. With close to 300,000 people in Australia suffering schizophrenia, that equates to roughly 43,000 schizophrenics in Australia whos condition can atleast be partially contributed to marijuana use. Other psychological side-effects include depression, increased anxiety and panic attacks. These are undoubtably worrying figures, that deserve the attention and concern they are attracting. When one looks at the phychological short-term effects of marijuana however, the scales begin to tip the other way.

Marijuana has long been hailed by cancer sufferers undergoing chemotherapy treatment. Chemotherapy treatment can take years, with side-effects most noteably including nausea and vomiting. Some patients find this so distressing that they decide to forgo the treatment completely. Due to this, marijuana is taken by many sufferers because of its ability to reduce or stop nausea, and also stimulate the appetite. These effects therefore help patients hold down food to get their strength back, and also to get through the chemotherapy. Similarly, AIDS victims have found marijuana to be beneficial to them especially when undergoing newer treatment drugs such as AZT which side-effects include severe nausea, vomiting and other intestinal problems. These can at the least be partially reduced by the effects of marijuana. Australia has roughly 300,000 people with glaucoma, which is close to being as common as diabetes. One of the most common characteristics of glaucoma is increased pressure within the eye. Prescription drugs relieve and control close to 90% of cases, however these prescription drugs can also be the cause of headaches, kidney stones, burning of the eyes, blurred vision, cardiac arrhythmias, insomnia, and nervous anxiety. As with chemotherapy, these side-effects can be so severe that the patient must stop the treatment completely. In these cases, marijuana has been shown to reduce the pressure in the eye by up to 30%. There are other factors though besides the effects of marijuana on individuals that goverments must consider when debate on the subject is raised.

Even though it may be illegal; out of marijuana, wine, beer and spirits, marijuana acounts for 30% of the money spent on those 4 products. It equates to the combined total spent on wine and spirits and about Ð'Ñ* of how much we spend on beer. Wine,beer and spirits, as legalised products however, raise immense ammounts of revenues due to the levys imposed on the sale of each of these products. With marijuana legalised and regulated, those potential revenues could be used to offset some of the factors that anti-marijuana protestors use for ammunition such as healthcare. If it were legalised, and companies were to produce marijuana, they would be subject to income tax which would further bolster the profits from its sale. Instead of those profits being horded by criminal drug dealers (who quite commonly also deal in coccaine and heroin), the money would be reinvested into the economy where it belongs. When was the last time you heard of a marijuana dealer declairing their plantation on their tax statement, and being taxed on it? If companies were to grow marijuana, it would also make it possible to put in place