Marijuana: Agent Of Destruction?

As popular belief stands, marijuana is an addictive drug with numerous negative effects on both physical and psychological health. According to widespread ideas, it causes long-term memory loss, significantly impairs psychomotor functions, and may have severe effects on hormonal aspects of the body. Many have suggested that marijuana is a gateway drug, causing, for whatever reason, the illicit use of more dangerous drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and other stimulants, sedatives, and even hallucinogens. Some people imply that marijuana is carcinogenic, causing cancer of the lungs, neck, and brain, and even going so far as to say that a single marijuana cigarette is equivalent to four tobacco cigarettes. Some of these beliefs do have some truth behind them. However, as my research will show, many of them have been blown somewhat out of proportion.

The argument over marijuana has been a major issue for many, many years. Marijuana was banned in the United States in 1937 and still remains outlawed by federal law today. Many states, however, including California, Arizona, and Maine to name a few, have chosen to overlook this federal law and instate their own policies about the use of marijuana for medicinal reasons. One state, Nevada, even considered legalizing marijuana completely. While the federal government is very stern in their policies about marijuana, they are fighting a difficult war to win. The federal government must defeat the "100 million AmericansÐ'--including more than half of those between the ages of 18 and 50Ð'--[that] have tried marijuana at least once" (Nadelmann, 28). This extremely large portion of American society can be quite a battle for the government.

Conceding the fact that this is not an easy task, the United States government puts their all into winning this war on marijuana. The government pours money into funds for the advertisement of "anti-drug" organizations, urging that marijuana is a dangerous gate-way drug that leads to a horrible dead-end life. However, in 1988 Francis Young, administrative law judge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, stated that "marijuana in its natural form is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man" (Nadelmann, 30). Other research, including that found in Great Britain's leading medical journal, The Lancet, shows that marijuana is much safer to the human body than both tobacco and alcohol, both of which are legal and even highly publicized in the United States.

So a few questions emerge: Is marijuana really safe? What kinds of effects does it have on the body?

Every drug on Earth has potential for death from an overdose. Some drugs have a much higher fatal overdose potential. While it is theoretically possible to die from an overdose of marijuana, there is not a single documented case in more than 5,000 years of history. Perhaps this is due to the fact that an average-sized man would have to inhale the smoke of almost 1,000 joints in a single sitting to produce a lethal effect (Cloud, 62). While it would be virtually impossible to die directly from an overdose of marijuana, it can still have some negative effects, although they may not be as severe as once believed. First, there is a chance that marijuana affects the immune system. Studies have been unclear, constantly contradicting themselves. However, many AIDS patients use the drug to stimulate appetite and chemotherapy patients use it to help relieve nausea, and there has been no observation of the marijuana making them more susceptible to illness. Next, extreme users of the psychoactive drug (i.e., regular users for more than fifteen years) may experience a slightly higher risk of some certain types of cancers, moderately lower scores on particular tests, and somewhat shorter attention spans. However, there has not been a single study prove that marijuana was the direct cause of these observations. Also, these observations are much more moderate than would be the observations of users of alcohol to this extremity. Furthermore, it is widely known that, while a person is intoxicated, they can experience much shorter attention spans, have a difficult time focusing, and be nearly incapable of retaining new information. However, all of these side effects disappear when the person comes down off of the high. In 2001 a finding showed the risk for a heart attack in the first hour after smoking marijuana is five times greater than before smoking, "though statistically that means smoking pot is about as dangerous for a fit person as exercise" (Cloud, 62+). With proof that marijuana is not nearly as harmful as it as portrayed, the federal government not only holds a strong prohibition on marijuana for recreational use, it greatly restricts scientists from doing most any research with the drug.

Through the years, a countless number of doctors have tried to get approval through the government to research the possible benefits of the drug; the government denied these doctors time after time again. The federal government has classified marijuana as a Schedule I drug, along with heroin, PCP, and a number of others. This means these drugs have no medicinal value whatsoever. So, as a scientist, to imply the drug might have medicinal value by conducting research is "to bite the hand that feeds you." Currently, marijuana is the only drug in which the sole legal supply is controlled by the U.S. government. After research has been properly cleared, researchers may obtain any other drug (ex., Ecstasy, cocaine, and morphine) from laboratories. This is a highly confusing fact that generates another question: Is the government too strict on marijuana?

The punishment for possession of even small amounts of marijuana can become extreme. Each year, approximately 700,000 people are arrested for marijuana offenses in the United States, about as many as are arrested for every other illegal drug combined (Nadelmann, 28). The enforcement of the marijuana laws, including all the arrests before any incarceration or conviction is made, costs the United States tax payers billions of dollars each year. Much of the harsh punishment and wasted tax dollars hits close to home. "Alabama currently locks up people convicted three times of marijuana possession for 15 years to life" (Nadelmann, 28). Most of the states will suspend or even invalidate a person's driver's license when they are arrested on a marijuana charge, regardless of whether they were driving at the time of the arrest. The federal government, through the federal Higher Education Act, will even deny a person who has a drug offense on their record a student loan, while every other criminal offense leaves a person eligible. Some argue that the government is entirely too harsh on these minor offenses.