Ethical Issues In Legalizing Marijuana

When analyzing the use of drugs, the first theory that resonates with my thoughts and view point is conflict perspective. The legalization of drugs would benefit the powerful such as local and state government. Retail and medicinal weed generated more than $60 million in tax and licensing revenue for the Colorado in 2014, the lion’s share of which is helping to pay for school construction and the regulatory system that legalization requires (2015).

Legalizing marijuana is a concept that can potentially benefit the public as well as the local economies. There has been a nationwide debate on whether marijuana should be legalized or not. The major consensus is that marijuana is not only bad for one’s health, but it is also dangerous to the community. These allegations are not true. Marijuana actually has health benefits that most people overlook. The following essay will address these health benefits in an attempt to present this concept in a way that the audience can better understand how legalizing marijuana can beneficial to an individual health, how it can give an increase to the economy.

The topic of legalizing recreational marijuana in the United States has been a very controversial one. States such as Colorado and Washington have gone on the offensive and have legalized recreational marijuana and have enjoyed the high revenues brought in from cannabis sale. On the other hand other states have kept low profiles because they are wary of the possible negative outcomes of legalizing recreational marijuana and are using the states of Colorado and Washington as guinea pigs to see what their next course of action on this controversial topic should be. This is not only a highly debated topic among politicians, but also by the people. According to a poll conducted by the Pew Research Center 52% of Americans

The debate on Medical marijuana has been a controversial subject mainly because people have an abundance of opinions and very little scientific research to back up either side of the debate. The most important question here is “will medical marijuana be used for medical purposes or will it be used inappropriately?”

In 1545, the Spanish brought marijuana to the New World. It was introduced in Jamestown in 1611, where it became a major commercial crop grown as an innocent source of fiber (specifically, hemp). By 1927, the production and possession of marijuana had been outlawed throughout the United States, causing a prohibition that is still in effect 80 years later. Since then, the world has seen the violent rise of drug cartels and the high price of fighting illegal marijuana use (Narconon). Marijuana should be legalized because significant research shows that legalization will benefit our society socially and economically.

My team and I evaluated a case where legalizing drugs would bring a greater happiness to society and that a small population of drug users would get addicted. We believe that legalizations on hard drugs would lead to bad behavior and a spike in addiction rates. Specifically, on drugs like Alcohol, Cocaine, or Heroin, etc. As what Jeremy Bentham would say, “It is the greatest good to the greatest number”. We want everyone to be happy by having a healthy society and peaceful world. My group follows Bentham’s utilitarianism theory which it benefits the society. Making drugs illegal would benefit society as hole. Legalizing drugs would terminate families, increase crime, and money, health would take a sudden decline.

Within this paper I will ask the reader to consider different ethical aspects of the legalization of marijuana, utilizing data provided and studies from the past, attempting to further convey my stance as being pro-legalization of marijuana.

Legalization of marijuana has been an extremely controversial topic in the united states, as well as many other countries, for years. There is evidence that marijuana has been consumed since around 2700 B.C. It often served as a substitute for alcohol in the middle east, as the Quran banned followers of Islam from drinking alcohol. Marijuana was first introduced to America in 1545 by the Spanish. The colony of Jamestown used hemp, a variety of marijuana, as a means of creating paper, clothes, and many fibrous materials, creating a fair amount of jobs and income. The production of cotton took over as a cheaper and faster means of making those goods, replacing marijuana. Marijuana was then mostly used for recreational use, sparking clubs called “tea pads” to pop up. The increase in popularity of reefer in the 1920s is often argued to be the spark that birthed jazz music. In the 1930s, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Narcotics (now the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs) intended to give marijuana a bad reputation, stating that it is highly addictive, and would lead users into doing other narcotics. It was made illegal in the 1930s to give the alcohol market much more room to grow. Marijuana is now considered a schedule 1 substance, meaning it is very easy to abuse and has no medical value, despite the evidence that it has many potential uses in medicine. It is considered as dangerous as heroin, despite

The controversy of legalizing marijuana has been raging for quite a while in America. From some people pushing it for medical purposes to potheads just wanting to get high legally. Marijuana has been used for years as a popular drug for people who want to get a high. All this time it has been illegal and now it looks as if the drug may become legal. There has been heated debate by many sides giving there opinion in the issue. These people are not only left wing liberals either. Richard Brookhiser, a National Review Senior editor is openly supportive of medical marijuana yet extremely conservative in his writing for National Review (Brookhiser 27). He is for medical marijuana since he used it in

Should medical marijuana be legal across the United States? Imagine a world where individuals who have chronic pain did not have to suffer anymore. Envision a cure for cancer, a disease many Americans are killed by daily. Picture people with severe, violent mood disorders being treated. Most people think the answers to these problems are simple and could be solved by over medicating patients. Today, there are twenty states in America who have legalized medical marijuana for specific health and medical related conditions (Medical Marijuana 1). The United States should legalize medical marijuana so patients who suffer from chronic pain can be treated, cancer could be cured, and mood disorders can be treated.

The process by which society detects and interprets information from the external world in a utilitarian theory claims: one should always do the greatest good for the greatest number of people. When one has the motivation to reach goals for the benefit of one’s self it is known as ethical egoism. In this paper we shall consider a brief history of cannabis, the parallels of legalizing medical marijuana and prohibition of alcohol in the 1920’s with regard to ethical egoism and utilitarian theories.

A Time Magazine article reported that a new study found 44,000 U.S. drivers involved in a fatal single-vehicle car crash between 1998 and 2009. Of those 44,000 drivers, 25% tested positive for drug use; the most common drugs being marijuana, cocaine and amphetamines (Melnick, 2011). This means on average (between 1998 and 2009) there were approximately 1,000 U.S. drivers that tested positive for drug use who were involved in single-vehicle car crashes. Ethical relativism says that right and wrong are only a function of what a particular society takes to be right and wrong (Shaw & Barry, 11). Just based off of the information reported in this paragraph, I would say that alcohol should be a banned substance before marijuana

Marijuana is the third most popular recreational drug in America behind only alcohol and tobacco, and is estimated that nearly 80 million Americans use it at least one occasion.   According to government surveys, some 20 million Americans have smoked marijuana in the past year, and more than 11 million do so regularly despite harsh laws against its use. Being used for medicinal purposes or simply for recreational, there are not only laws to consider when the topic of legalization comes up but also ethical concerns as well. For this paper I will outline some of the uses for this drug and some of the benefits of its use. I will apply the

The debate over whether or not marijuana should be legalized has been active throughout the United States for nearly a century with arguments from both sides, pro and con, posing quite valid points. Research has proven that cannabis, in various forms, has been used for hundreds of years for recreational, medicinal and industrial purposes. Contrary to common misconception, cannabis, or marijuana, is not smoked in all forms. Only the flowers, or buds, and leaves are harvested for recreational use. Some believe that the legalization of marijuana could save the economy and would lower crime rates in certain areas. Marijuana can also be prescribed medically in certain states across the U.S. and is a Schedule I controlled substance, but THC, the

The medical use of marijuana has been a discussion that has been in the news and all around us recently. This is currently a hot topic of interest. There is an enormous amount of evidence that marijuana could be effect against many things. For example evidence shows it could be used to help relieve pain during chemotherapy, but along with this there is also evidence that at times marijuana can cause harm to someone as well. As nurses we must see each side of the debate to make our care for our patients sounder. One quote that directly applies to this topic, which is very important, was written in the Journal of Clinical Nursing: