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- Essay Name : 1371.txt
- Uploader : christian LeBourgeois
- Email Address :
- Language : English
- Subject : Drugs
- Title : Legalization
- Grade : 89% B
- School System : private
- Country : USA
- Author Comments : Rather interesting in the legalization in Mariquana
- Teacher Comments : Rather controversial issue
- Date : 11/21/96
- Site found at : yahoo
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- Legalization
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- Legalization of marijuana has been a controversial issue in the U.S. for
- the past several years. The people vs. the federal government is just one of
- the main debates over legalization.
- In the past marijuana was required to be grown on most plantations in
- the southern region. It could be purchased in one ounce packages for only
- twenty five cents. Further down the time line we find that marijuana is
- increasingly being used in the inner cities and suburban areas. Marijuana was
- considers legal in the late 1800's but a bill was passed and marijuana was
- quickly considered to be illegal. The federal legislation prohibiting marijuana
- passed at the end of 1937 congressional session was virtually scare enacted.
- people feared the effects of it and wanted to stop the growth and importation
- of it. Congress passed the Marijuana Tax Act, which "requires all persons
- who import, manufacture, produce, compound, sell, deal in, and dispense pay
- a graduated occupational tax." This tax was an attempt to make it harder for
- dealers of marijuana to make money off the export and import of marijuana.
- Attempts that he government has made to pass bills that decriminalize
- marijuana were shot down by legislature and the federal government. A
- survey taken says that although illegality should be maintained, the penalties
- for it should be lessened. There is a theory that marijuana stimulates
- violence, yet it has not been proven as a fact. In several states, such as New
- Jersey, the marijuana regulations and penalties have been lessened. Governor
- Cahill, from New Jersey, recommended that criminal penalties for a small
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- possession of marijuana should be reduced by making it a disorderly person
- offense.
- Several states have lessened their penalties for possession, but none
- have legalized it. Dr. Tod Mikuriya, from the Indian Hemp drug commission,
- proposed a list of regulations for the control of marijuana if it were to become
- legal. It stated that possession without intent to sell shall not be considered
- to be a crime, all growers importers shall be regulated and watched over like
- a typical industry, public places where marijuana is sold for on premises use
- shall be licensed like any alcohol serving bar, and determination of the THC
- potency and purity shall be regulated by the U.S. Drug and Food
- Administration.
- Attempts to legalize have also been made by presidential issued
- commissions. A commission issued by president Nixon researched marijuana
- and reached a conclusion that it would be okay to decriminalize marijuana.
- This, was of course, quickly shot down by the president and the congress.
- Jimmy Carter, another president of the United States, also wanted to legals
- marijuana.
- In the present day there are groups such as, NORML (National
- Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) , that issue petitions and
- bills to the DEA and federal government that try to persuade the legalization
- of marijuana. NORML compared marijuana to alcohol and reached a
- conclusion that alcohol is more lethal than marijuana. Their studies have
- shown that prolonged use of marijuana causes lack of ingenuity severe
- bronchitis, and it lessens reaction speed. Alcohol has been named for
- hundreds of thousands of death in the United States. It causes liver disease, a
- severe mental and physical dependance, and depression. Marijuana is only
- 3
- psychologically addictive and use of it can be stopped easier than alcohol
- abuse. Also no deaths have ever been recorded that were accused by the use
- of marijuana.
- Marijuana is considered to be a Scheduled I controlled substance. that
- means that it is considered to be a drug that can be easily abused. NORML
- has made attempts to get the DEA to reschedule marijuana, but they were
- rejected. If the opinions of major contributors to the illegal view of marijuana
- could be changed, marijuana might be legalized. Too many studies and too
- many federal officials tell us that it is wrong for our country to condone a so
- called "life threatening drug." Legalization of marijuana could bring extra
- income to the country and also help in the decline of alcohol abusers. If
- legalization was to happen the united states would only prosper.
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- Bibliography
-
- "Reefer Madness" Atlantic Monthly; August 1994.
- Eric Schlosses; p. 45-63
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- "Marijuana" Crime and Delinquency Literature; June 1970.
- Linda Whitlock; p.363-382
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- "Pot Law Experience" The Washington Star; May 6, 1975
- Lee Johnson; p.A1-A10
-
- "Marijuana Alert" Peggy Man Copyright: 1985
- p.261, 101, 444
-
- "International Drug Traffic" Edward F. Dolan, Jr. Copyright 1985
- p. 85-86
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