In recent years, the legalization of bhang has resulted in a heated debate as supporters and opposes of this move locking into debates as each focus to ensure their side takes the day. However, the debate has left the different state governments, nations and lawmakers at crossroads as to which is the best side to adopt. The debate has been divided on the ground of ethics, legality and health impacts that the drug being has on its users. According to Palali and Jan (1751), the use of bhang has had a long history, its first time used in 1945. Being one of the highly addictive drugs, bhang has been regarded as one of the high traded products in the black market. With different seeing its legalization as the best way to ensure perfect control over its use, the opposing side of this development has argued its wide use would result into an addictive society that is full of health and social related problems. Due to increased medical advancement, use of bhang in the medical field has led to a positive review of the benefits of the drug. Nevertheless, legalization of the drug would mean increased social degradation in the society. This essay provided an argumentative review as to whether weed should be legalized.
Comparing the two sides of the argument, the use of bhang should remain illegal. Despite the economic gain that would be obtained from its trade, medical benefit in relation to the treatment of cancer, reduced expenses for criminals in the justice system court in the illegal trade and reduced crime rates, the arguments against this development banks on the facts that; the drug remains addictive, more people will suffer from medical problems related with being use, increased cases of social vices as well as increased criminals relate as to why the legalization process shouldn’t be approved by the governments. Drawing from the use of drugs, its history, and current research was done on how it impacts peoples intellectual development, the legalization of the drug shouldn’t be adopted into law but rather ensure it remains illegal whatsoever its benefits are. Despite some states in the US legalization bhang (13 states) use of it, many of the global nations and other US states have remained illegal (Palali and Jan 1754). The Netherlands was the first nation to decriminalize the drug, but despite the argument behind the legalization, weed, hang or marijuana should remain illegal as its downsides outweigh the benefits attributed to its use among people.
Different arguments have been adopted in support of the reason as to why weed shouldn’t be legalized whatsoever, and instead remain an illegal drug always. Drawing from history, the use of weed has led to more harmful to the human body. This is compared to the different help or gain the body draws from its usage. According to Lamonica (426), the use of bhang has been associated with the deteriorated health. Some of the negative related impact of weed on the human body includes; declined IQ, poor performance, impaired thinking, addiction, financial problems, lung problems, paranoia, anxiety disorder, memory loss and heart problems among much other related health, physical, psychological and social problems. “Heavy cannabis use in adolescence causes persistent impairments in neurocognitive performance and IQ, and use is associated with increased rates of anxiety, mood, and psychotic thought disorders (Lamonica 428)." This, in turn, indicates that use of marijuana subjects its users to future related health problems. Despite the problems being more pronounced for those who have used it for a long time, Knopf (4) in his article identified that even a short period use of weed can impact an individual’s perfect intellectual development and performance. With the increased adverse effects of being, people have been subjected to strain financially as they fight downsides of smoking weed. Use of weed results in a chain of problems and in turn shouldn’t be legalized. This is due to the fact that, its legalization would mean more people can access the drugs easily, and in turn, within a couple of years, there would be a higher rate of people with weed-related health problems which in turn would mean an extra-governmental cost to cater for the medical help needed. Weed should hence remain illegal, as its harmful effects would increase tremendously ruining the overall health status of the community.
The legalization of marijuana has been related to the increase in the aspect of social degradation in the countries or within the Asian communities. Use of drugs not only weed greatly relates to social vices such as increased cases of crimes, insecurity, development of slums, and poor development of the town. With the drug being controlled by cartels, there have been endless wars between trading cartels as each fights to remain relevant in the chain of production and selling weed. Despite the high-end consumers, weed is commonly used by middle-class earners living in middle-class conditions. The society changes when addiction bites in and the users have to stay high. For example, the users of being have been related to poorly developed slums and aspect that compounds their problems and in turn, resulting to social degradation aspects such as; prostitution, increased cases of drop out, teenage pregnancies etc. According to Moreno (11), it is more likely for users of marijuana to abuse other hard drugs. Moreno in his article found that an estimated 30% percent of people who uses weed, ends up consuming harder drugs in their life. This trend, in turn, indicates that legalization of weed not only would is posing a threat to health, social setting of the community but also provided a pathway to harder drug users. This negative realization in terms of influence should, in turn, be avoided by ensuring the availability and use of bhang are minimized as much as possible. This can, in turn, be done through ensuring the drug remains illegal.
The Netherlands has been one of the pioneer nations in legalizing weed. However, despite strict rules and the amount that one should possess, the move has exposed the nation’s young generation to the drug user. According to Caulkins and Beau (2084), the country has witnessed numerous cases of student’s unwarranted and unwanted behavior as well as fights related to drug use. Drawing from the manners in which things have been in Holland, it has not been a magnificent case for different nations upholding for a similar move. The instance of Amsterdam hasn't functioned admirably with reference to weed sanctioning. The city has today recorded instances of understudies smoking at school and going to classes high. This has prompted the city hall leader consuming the smoking of weed in schools after the pattern has turned out to be decimated. In spite of being broadly accessible, it has adversely affected youngsters, as they are profoundly presented to unlawful medications. Furthermore, the contentions on the decrease of wrongdoing with the authorization of the medication have been demonstrated generally in Amsterdam as progressive criminal exercises have been recorded around cafés where the item is being sold. Drawing from the Holland, case it is inevitable legalization of the drug it is not the best of options to adapt and in turn should remain illegal.
Despite the list of vices related to the legalization and use of weed, the decriminalization of the drug would be a reprieve to a nation and society in a number of ways. One of the major grounds in which weed advocates for legalization is the medical gain drawn from the marijuana. The breakthrough in the medical field has been a tremendous development towards the establishment of a cure for chronic infections that have affected the human being. According to Knopf (5), medical benefits of weed can be used in the reduction of nausea as well as vomiting during chemotherapy processes. It is also believed to reduce chronic pain and muscle spasms not forgetting improvement of appetite among HIV patients. This invention for the use of medical weed is a major breakthrough in the medical field. However, with no authorized ways to administer the drug among patients, they're high changes of it being abused among the different patients that may result in it. Medical use of marijuana shouldn’t be used as the only ground for legalizing the drug. The minimal number of patients that would be using the drug as a medicine would surpass the number of health-related problems that are as a result of bhang. Instead of exposing the community to an already addictive drug, it would easier and ethical to establish alternative approaches toward treatments of patients who need medical weed. This would greatly reduce the number of people coming into contact with the illegal drug. More so, being illegal, it would reduce cases of drug misuse as people would affiliate their use to medical benefit. Despite the medical breakthrough, in the use of marijuana for chronic infections, the downsides related to use of weed remains, and in turn the product ought to remain illegal. This would reduce people’s access to it, and in turn maintain a sober community.
In addition to medical gain, advocates for the legalization of marijuana has banked on the trade and economic impact that the trading of the drug would yield to the different governments both state and national ones. Trading of weed would give extra revenue from taxes. With current economic times in the US, the revenue from the tax would be a great reprieve for the state governments with reference to financing their budget. Currently, a large portion of drugs, including weed is operated by cartels with revenue obtained remaining in the hands of selected few and in criminal hands. Through the legalization of bhang, it would mean government sets legit ways to produce and impose a tax on the product. The revenue obtained would help in such cases of the economic crisis in recent years. An example of revenue gain is the case of the state of California, which is one of the few states to have legalized marijuana. The state is believed to collect an estimated 13 billion dollars annually a figure that is expected to grow with time. This being revenue for one state, for the entire sates the revenue would be tremendous enough to support their budget. However, the increasing cost of attending to the weed addicts in the healthcare sector, psychiatrist plans, and jails to hold confined bandits in the illegal trade greatly overcomes the economic gain from the sale and trade of weed. The increased demand for care for the addicts and jail system would mean an extra cost that would have been avoided or minimized if the drug remained illegal. The already existing issues related to the user of weed in the community are devastating and legalization of it would mean compounding the problems, and in turn, it would be better to ban to remain criminalized.
In summary, taking the historical case of alcohol forbidden in the United States, the move by the government to criminalize the alcohol drink didn't stop the production and use of alcohol. Rather, because of the absence of control increasingly illicit liquor were created which thus influenced individuals unfavorably (Estoup 1883). This case is progressively similar to the pot today. The more it is being viewed as unlawful, the more the administration has no power over its creation and thusly, proceeded with a presentation to poor or low-quality weed. By the by, sanctioning of weed would mean expanding access to one of the profoundly addictive medications on the planet, more individuals will utilize it and thusly a higher number of addicts. For instance, a situation where there is a deficiency in the supply of the item would mean a prestigious instance of wrongdoing as the individual’s battle to approach the officially dependent cannabis. Maryjane ought to stay illicit to spare the greater number of individuals who might fall into the snare of utilizing the medication, basically in light of the fact that the pick has been made accessible through sanctioning.
It is apparent that there exist diverse perspectives with respect to the authorization of weed. Both for and against contentions depend on different perspectives in regards to the utilization of the medication and how it influences the general population. The isolated conclusion over the legitimization of the weed can be credited to an individual view with respect to what should the medication be utilized for. While the utilization of weed in the medicinal field has changed the manner in which it is seen in the general public, government and lawmaking organs, the legislature should control the authorization procedure as it remains a medication with abnormal amounts of the fanatic and related issues. In any case, it remains a riddle with respect to whether pot ought to be authorized? The staggering effect of cannabis utilize is outstanding among the network. The negative impact on mental and physical wellbeing expanded wrongdoing, expanded instances of compulsion and social corruption among others. All things considered, the legitimization has demonstrated again as far as therapeutic cannabis, which remains the profound contention in the help of authorization promotion. Drawing from the exchange above realities from the two sides of the contention, the therapeutic or recreational utilization of pot ought to be controlled, be that as it may, the medication ought to stay illicit as the unfriendly impacts exceed the additions from the authorization of the medication. On the other hand, the medicinal application can likewise be embraced with an end goal to decrease the measure of illicit medication for the sake of weed gets presented to youngsters in the public arena. It should, thusly, be an ideal opportunity to think about this new advancement in light of the fact that as it remains, it is anything but difficult to legitimize the medication, yet not far off, turn into a hard thing to control the utilization of it among the general population.
Works Cited
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Estoup, Ashley C., et al. “The Impact of Marijuana Legalization on Adolescent Use, Consequences, and Perceived Risk.” Substance Use " Misuse, vol. 51, no. 14, Dec. 2016, pp. 1881–1887.
Knopf, Alison. “Marijuana Not Safe for Teens: AAP.” Brown University Child " Adolescent Behavior Letter, vol. 33, no. 4, Apr. 2017, pp. 4–5.
Lamonica, Aukje K., et al. “Gaps in Medical Marijuana Policy Implementation: Real-Time Perspectives from Marijuana Dispensary Entrepreneurs, Health Care Professionals and Medical Marijuana Patients.” Drugs: Education, Prevention " Policy, vol. 23, no. 5, Oct. 2016, pp. 422–434.
Moreno, Megan A., et al. “Marijuana Experiences, Voting Behaviors, and Early Perspectives Regarding Marijuana Legalization among College Students from 2 States.” Journal of American College Health, vol. 64, no. 1, Jan. 2016, pp. 9–18.
Palali, Ali, and Jan Ours. “Cannabis Use and Support for Cannabis Legalization.” Empirical Economics, vol. 53, no. 4, Dec. 2017, pp. 1747–1770.
