After reading another students post on this topic, i got a bit interested and decided to do a bit of research on my own. We have all grown up to think of marijuana as evil and that it is harmful to the body. Really? From what I've gathered there are much more harmful things on the market that do a lot more to your body. Lets take alcohol and tobacco. Each of these products are linked to causes of many types of cancer. However, marijuana hasn't been linked to cancer. How does this make since? So why are these two products legal and pot is not. Now lets take this to a fiscal prospective. Alcohol and tobacco are a huge part of our economy because of the ability of the Government to tax them. Marijuana is being sold all over the country, but the government cannot tax it because it is illegal. Think of the profit the government could make if they were to legalize this. In an article in the Time paper of
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1884956,00.html
This is a very interesting point. Would our country be willing to lower its drug laws on marijuana to make a profit? i think that this would not increase our GNH though. Partially due to the fact that the majority of America doesn't use the illegal substance, and also due to the fact that people don't want it around because then their children and really everyone is more tempted to take it. The tax would be benificial to our economy, but what about all the other medical companies in the US? now that people can legally take marijuana for pleasure and pain, their sales might go down... On the more positive side, so much violence and money is put into trying to stop marijuana from entering our lives and country. Maybe if we just legalized it we could cut out all the lives lost from drug violence and the money poured into programs to fight it. I think that is what will increase our GNH.
ReplyDelete-Anastasia Romanov
You have an interesting take on this issue. I think that the reason marijuana isn't legal today is because of the side affects it can have; the government doesn't want to have citizens affected by amotivational syndrome, because how efficient could we be under those conditions? However to look at it as the economy saver because it is already being distributed all over the nation is smart. Marijuana is around and being circulated and therefore is hard for the government to ignore. You asked why alcohol and tobacco aren't illegal, but the US tried to make that happen with the Prohibition Act, even though that was a failure. If anything, the government should see from the prohibition act that even if they say no people will find a way to do what they want. Perhaps legalizing and taxing the drug that is already around will save the economy and raise the country's GNH especially for our economic wellbeing
ReplyDelete~Malcolm X
this video sheds some interesting view points to this controvercial subject.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jw8cN9H_T9Q
as it points out in the begenning, marijuana has been illegal for rougly 1% of the time it has been in use by human biengs.
John Morgan, a Professor of Pharmacology, sheds light on the many myths of marijuana smoking in this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KLy150NR_U&feature=related
Mr. Morgan explains that out of all phyco active drugs, mariguana is the safest by far and causes less damage than smoking tobacco. His book sheds light on many other myths that are presented in the debate between the legalization of marijuana.
There are many sides to be taken in this topic but it can be seen that there are points of view that can point towards a boost to the economy with the legalization of marijuana.
~ Bruce Springsteen (The Boss)
I severely doubt that the United States government would even think about legalizing marjijuana simply for an attempt at a profit. Although marijuana should not be illegal in the first place(for it is not as harmful as many other legal substances), the general consensus on marijuana is far too negative to even come close to legalization. There are many firm believers out there that think we are coming close to legalization but the sad truth is that we are not. It would, however, increase the general happiness of the country by leaps and bounds. And malcom X, ammotivational syndrome does not exist and (along with all the other 'side effects") is a completely absurd term made up by the government so our health teachers have a reason to discourage marijuana among students today. Marjuana= widespread happiness in the United States.
ReplyDelete-Guy Fawkes
Although the legalization of marijuana would allow the government to make a lot of money through its taxation and regulation all of the same laws that apply to drinking would have to be applied to marijuana. Marijuana slows reaction time and impairs one's perception of his surroundings so driving under the influence should be illegal. As for its health effects there have been very limited studies done simply cause the governments strict laws so one can simply not know the health effects of lifetime. It is known however that one joint contains 6 times the amount of tar than a cigarette because of its lack of filler and a filter. Also tobacco was never viewed as a harmful drug until the tobacco companies processed the stuff and started adding harmful chemicals. What makes on think that a big marijuana corporation would not do the same thing? As for the GHN it would go relatively unchanged. I think the people who smoke marijuana now will continue to smoke and the people who do not will continue not to.
ReplyDelete-Duncan Hines
In my opinion, I simply cannot see any good reason to not legalize marijuana. As said above, the legalization of this substance will serve the purpose of stimulating the economy and helping the government make money. As for the skeptics, I have to disagree with the idea that legalizing the drug will cause our country to essentially be lazy due to amotivational syndrome. I feel this way because I believe that generally the only people who would "suffer" from this would be people who are already users. Therefore, legalizing the product would make no real difference in the way our population acts. I suppose the most important factor in this discussion is the issue of the effects of the drug. Studies have shown that there is very little to no addiction present in the users of marijuana. This separates marijuana from other more harmful drugs. Alcohol and tobacco are legal yet they are linked to very serious health issues. Not only is alcohol damaging to your body, but it also makes people under the influence of it very dangerous to others. Some may say the same about marijuana however the effects of marijuana are actually calming. Someone who is high on the drug will be mellow, relaxed, and free of stress, making the drug actually beneficial to its users. Despite everything that can be said about the drug, my question is why is it that a product that is already in circulation nationwide is not eligible to be legal when it can help in several different ways?
ReplyDelete-Vanilla Ice
The points that Morgan Freeman makes are very interesting, for the legalization of marijuana would lead to a huge amount or revenue generated for the United States. Since the drug is not nearly as harmful of either cigarettes or alcohol, both of which are legal, if marijuana became an alternative to alcohol or cigarettes, the GNH of the United States would definitely increase. It is also frequently said that if marijuana was taxed enough, it could pay off a large portion of the U.S. deficit. The fact that U.S. government would not be deficit spending and could have money to put more funding into programs such as social security or universal healthcare would probably also make people happier. Plus, prisons are already very full, and if we could spend less money sending people charged with possession or dealing that would also be good. Although studies have found a connection between marijuana and testicular cancer, a much stronger correlation between cigarettes and lung cancer and heart disease has been discovered, yet we still let people smoke.
ReplyDelete--Sacagawea