Marijuanapolicies

Yes No The drug generally isn't more harmful than alcohol or tobacco if used in moderation. Limiting the use of the drug intrudes on personal freedom. Legalization would mean a lower price; thus, related crimes (like theft) would be reduced. There are medical benefits such as the those for cancer patients. Street justice related to drug disputes would be reduced. It could be a source of additional tax revenues. Police and court resources would be freed up for more serious crimes. Drug dealers (including some terrorists) would lose most or all of their business. The FDA or others could regulate the quality and safety of drugs. Like sex, alcohol, or cigarettes, marijuana is one of life's little pleasures for some people. Drug busts often trap young people in a flawed system that turns them into lifelong criminals. Marijuana is often used as a stepping-stone drug, leading to heroin, cocaine, or other harder drugs. Stoned driving and other dangers would be increased. Some consider use of the drug as morally wrong. Legalization would increase the chances of the drug falling into the hands of kids. Because of drug-related arrests, people who have committed or are likely to commit more serious crimes can be taken off the streets. Physical damage would be done to users that abuse the drug. More widespread use would increase the dangers of secondhand smoke-damage to bystanders.

"[T]here is very little evidence that smoking marijuana as a means of taking it represents a significant health risk. Although cannabis has been smoked widely in Western countries for more than four decades, there have been no reported cases of lung cancer or emphysema attributed to marijuana. I suspect that a day's breathing in any city with poor air quality poses more of a threat than inhaling a day's dose -- which for many ailments is just a portion of a joint -- of marijuana."

"ACP urges review of marijuana's status as a schedule I controlled substance and its reclassification into a more appropriate schedule, given the scientific evidence regarding marijuana's safety and efficacy in some clinical conditions...ACP strongly supports exemption from federal criminal prosecution; civil liability; or professional sanctioning, such as loss of licensure or credentialing, for physicians who prescribe or dispense medical marijuana in accordance with state law. Similarly, ACP strongly urges protection from criminal or civil penalties for patients who use medical marijuana as permitted under state laws."

People have used marijuana as a medical treatment for thousands of years. Marijuana has been hailed as a prescription for many ills and physicians once used it to stimulate the appetite, relieve chronic pain, and treat asthma and migraines. Many people are not aware of the fact that this has been so even in modern America as this plant was listed in the US Pharmacopeia, a list of the approved drugs in the United States, up until the 1940s.

Unnamed Florida college student On June 6, 2003, a 19-year-old Alachua County, Florida, college student was raped by his cellmate as he served the first of four weekend sentences for delivering marijuana, a felony offense. (The student's name has not been released.) He had been placed in a cell with a violent offender who had been in the county jail for 11 months awaiting trial on sexual battery charges. The two men were sharing a cell because the jail was overcrowded. Typically, inmates are classified according to offense, criminal history, gender, and/or age, among other factors, when assigned to their cells. Because certain offenders need to be isolated for safety reasons, a jail's capacity is in reality much lower than the number of beds it houses. While the Alachua County jail could theoretically hold 920 inmates, in reality it could only accommodate an average of 782 inmates on any given day because of the need to separate certain offenders. On the day the college student was raped, the jail contained 918 inmates, far exceeding capacity. Such overcrowding had been typical in the jail since 1998. Though the two men would normally have been separated, they were grouped together because delivering marijuana and sexual battery are both considered felonies. According to Alachua County Sheriff's Sergeant Jim Troiano, "If there was space available, absolutely we would rather keep the weekenders in a pre-designated area. But because we don't have much space available we have to do with circumstances on hand."