THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF CONFLICT BECAUSE SOME PEOPLE ARE IN FAVOR OF
LEGALIZING MARIJUANA, AND SOME ARE AGAINST IT.
Legalizing Marijuana: The Big Controversies
The
battle over the legalization of marijuana continues to be a
controversial subject where the states views differ from the federal
governments. For every argument against the matter there is just as
strong an argument for it. Some argue that legalizing marijuana would
lower the criminal impact on funding of criminal organizations such as
the Mexican cartel. Others argue that putting marijuana in the hands of
corporations would be just as harmful. There are differing views within
the medical field, a battle over the economic impact, as well as the
impact of criminal activity.
In the medical field marijuana is used to help relieve pain for people with ailments such as cancer, glaucoma, and severe back pains. It’s also used to help patients gain an appetite when they have lost the desire to eat. Medical providers also have differing opinions, the FDA may have trouble regulating marijuana, according to the article “The Myth of Medical Marijuana” in Scholastic Choices, “Marijuana comes from the plant Cannabis sativa. It contains more than 400 different chemicals — many with unknown effects — which differ from plant to plant. For something to be a medicine, it must have well-defined and measurable ingredients that are the same each time a person takes a dose. That means one pill has to have the same amount of medicine as the next.” This subject has also become political when President Obama promises to have a more relaxed effort on the marijuana trade than the Bush Administration when he states, "prosecuting and raiding medical marijuana users is really not a good use of Justice Department resources", later stating, "I'm not going to be using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue" (Sullum). But once elected his actions seem to have fallen short of his promises when Attorney General Eric Holder declared, “The policy is to go after those people who violate both federal and state law” (Sullum). For instance, “Less than a week later, the DEA raided a medical marijuana dispensary in San Francisco, reportedly because of irregularities associated with the collection of state sales tax (as opposed to violations of state drug laws)” (Sullem).
Another controversy is how legalizing marijuana will effect the economy with regulating taxes to gain more federal income. An article in the Christian Science Monitor says, “Backers of the November [2010] ballot initiative to legalize marijuana in California are selling the idea based on economics: The state is in dire financial straits; taxing and regulating the drug — much like alcohol — could raise $1.4 billion for state coffers.” But according to Rosalie Liccardo Pacula of the RAND Corporation, “The board's estimate is based on a series of assumptions that are in some instances subject to tremendous uncertainty and in other cases not validated" ("Benefits from a marijuana tax? California is dreaming”). One of the specifics being, “One of the highly questionable assumptions is that a legal market can sustain a proposed $50-an-ounce tax on marijuana. The black market can easily undercut that tax, siphoning sales away from legal distributors and eroding tax revenues” ("Benefits from a marijuana tax? California is dreaming”). Another way legalizing marijuana will help the federal budget is that it would free up the prisoners of nonviolent drug crimes which is one-third of all imprisoned, this would mean subtracting $11.3 billion dollars from the budget (Wolff).
The last controversial subject is regarding the drug trade and how it effects the influence of the younger generation. A study by the RAND corporation explained in Daniel Woods article believes, “…that legalizing marijuana in California would effectively eliminate Mexican DTOs' [drug trafficking organizations] revenues from supplying Mexican-grown marijuana to the California market. … [E]ven with taxes, legally produced marijuana would likely cost no more than would illegal marijuana from Mexico. …Thus, the needs of the California market would be supplied by the new legal industry." But they say thats not the whole story, "Our report shows that legalizing marijuana in California will not dramatically reduce the drug revenues collected by DTOs from sales to the United States, not just in California," says Rand spokesman Warren Robak (Wood). The allure of the drug cartel is the promise of quick money, a sense of belonging and the excitement of rebelling. The Mexican Cartel draws its young soldiers in on the previously mentioned needs. So would legalizing the drug make a difference on the younger generation? According to Brandon Tobman, a motivational speaker on drug and alcohol addiction, “The kids that are going to try marijuana are going to try it no matter what.” He also thinks legalizing marijuana would, “make it easier for kids to get it, just like it so easy for them to get alcohol.”
The controversy over legalizing marijuana continues throughout our nation. Families, business leaders, medical doctors and politicians have differing views. State to state there are differing opinions as well. Until the subject is taken on by our nations highest court the controversy will continue. Till that point each person needs to decide for themselves what is best. According to how legalizing marijuana would help the federal budget and people with painful illnesses, it seems to be a good idea to do so. However, the drug cartels will most likely still have some authority over distribution, so there may still be some criminal activity. But in the future the biggest competitor for the drug trafficking organizations just may be corporations.
http://www.divinecaroline.com/life-etc/culture-causes/legalizing-marijuana-big-controversies
In the medical field marijuana is used to help relieve pain for people with ailments such as cancer, glaucoma, and severe back pains. It’s also used to help patients gain an appetite when they have lost the desire to eat. Medical providers also have differing opinions, the FDA may have trouble regulating marijuana, according to the article “The Myth of Medical Marijuana” in Scholastic Choices, “Marijuana comes from the plant Cannabis sativa. It contains more than 400 different chemicals — many with unknown effects — which differ from plant to plant. For something to be a medicine, it must have well-defined and measurable ingredients that are the same each time a person takes a dose. That means one pill has to have the same amount of medicine as the next.” This subject has also become political when President Obama promises to have a more relaxed effort on the marijuana trade than the Bush Administration when he states, "prosecuting and raiding medical marijuana users is really not a good use of Justice Department resources", later stating, "I'm not going to be using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue" (Sullum). But once elected his actions seem to have fallen short of his promises when Attorney General Eric Holder declared, “The policy is to go after those people who violate both federal and state law” (Sullum). For instance, “Less than a week later, the DEA raided a medical marijuana dispensary in San Francisco, reportedly because of irregularities associated with the collection of state sales tax (as opposed to violations of state drug laws)” (Sullem).
Another controversy is how legalizing marijuana will effect the economy with regulating taxes to gain more federal income. An article in the Christian Science Monitor says, “Backers of the November [2010] ballot initiative to legalize marijuana in California are selling the idea based on economics: The state is in dire financial straits; taxing and regulating the drug — much like alcohol — could raise $1.4 billion for state coffers.” But according to Rosalie Liccardo Pacula of the RAND Corporation, “The board's estimate is based on a series of assumptions that are in some instances subject to tremendous uncertainty and in other cases not validated" ("Benefits from a marijuana tax? California is dreaming”). One of the specifics being, “One of the highly questionable assumptions is that a legal market can sustain a proposed $50-an-ounce tax on marijuana. The black market can easily undercut that tax, siphoning sales away from legal distributors and eroding tax revenues” ("Benefits from a marijuana tax? California is dreaming”). Another way legalizing marijuana will help the federal budget is that it would free up the prisoners of nonviolent drug crimes which is one-third of all imprisoned, this would mean subtracting $11.3 billion dollars from the budget (Wolff).
The last controversial subject is regarding the drug trade and how it effects the influence of the younger generation. A study by the RAND corporation explained in Daniel Woods article believes, “…that legalizing marijuana in California would effectively eliminate Mexican DTOs' [drug trafficking organizations] revenues from supplying Mexican-grown marijuana to the California market. … [E]ven with taxes, legally produced marijuana would likely cost no more than would illegal marijuana from Mexico. …Thus, the needs of the California market would be supplied by the new legal industry." But they say thats not the whole story, "Our report shows that legalizing marijuana in California will not dramatically reduce the drug revenues collected by DTOs from sales to the United States, not just in California," says Rand spokesman Warren Robak (Wood). The allure of the drug cartel is the promise of quick money, a sense of belonging and the excitement of rebelling. The Mexican Cartel draws its young soldiers in on the previously mentioned needs. So would legalizing the drug make a difference on the younger generation? According to Brandon Tobman, a motivational speaker on drug and alcohol addiction, “The kids that are going to try marijuana are going to try it no matter what.” He also thinks legalizing marijuana would, “make it easier for kids to get it, just like it so easy for them to get alcohol.”
The controversy over legalizing marijuana continues throughout our nation. Families, business leaders, medical doctors and politicians have differing views. State to state there are differing opinions as well. Until the subject is taken on by our nations highest court the controversy will continue. Till that point each person needs to decide for themselves what is best. According to how legalizing marijuana would help the federal budget and people with painful illnesses, it seems to be a good idea to do so. However, the drug cartels will most likely still have some authority over distribution, so there may still be some criminal activity. But in the future the biggest competitor for the drug trafficking organizations just may be corporations.
http://www.divinecaroline.com/life-etc/culture-causes/legalizing-marijuana-big-controversies
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