LEGALIZING MARIJUANA

Legalizing Marijuana

Legalizing Marijuana

Introduction

Marijuana (also called pot or cannabis) is a drug which obtained from a plant. The drug is used for various purposes and has been used by human beings in all cultures and civilizations since thousands of years. Although, marijuana is considered a drug as it is an addictive substance, people throughout history have been using it as medicine to gain relief from much health related problems. The drug or medicine for that matter is smoked; it could be chewed or even rubbed into one's skin for consumption. In the United States, marijuana is extremely popular not only as a drug, but patients suffering from diseases like HIV/AIDS, cancer, and number of other diseases use marijuana to gain relief from pain (Garofoli, 2005). I will apply the classical theory of utilitarianism, to resolve the issue of legalization while also using the perspective of ethical egoism that this issue brings up and include my own view of these theories concerning the legalization of marijuana.

Discussion

Many people believe that marijuana is a gateway drug with extremely harmful side effects. On the contrary, this is a serious misconception, as Marijuana research over nearly half a century has proven that there are no harmful side effects, nor is there any possibility of health problems or death related to recreational or medicinal marijuana use. The technical term to use would be cannabis; however, the word marijuana has been used since the 1920's. While its use is most widely known as a recreational drug, its use for medicinal purpose has been used as far back as the 1970's. In an article, from the Palm Beach Post, (1972) scientists even then stated that the use of marijuana could be beneficial to patients who suffered from high-blood pressure, depression and glaucoma. Marijuana has been used for recreation. Dronabinol, which contains cannabis, is used to treat anorexia in appetite loss associated with AIDS and for cancer chemotherapy induced nausea.

Thesis Statement

“The use of marijuana as medical drug is justified as it provides relief to thousands of patients. Therefore, marijuana's medical usage should be legalized under drug laws.”

Identify, specifically, the ethical issue and the ethical problems it presents. Drawing on various sources, explain how one of the classical theories (utilitarianism, deontology, virtue ethics) would resolve the problem.

Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that assumes the following three proposals: what is intrinsically valuable for individuals, the best state of affairs is one in which the sum of what is valuable is as high as possible, and what we do is something that gets better state of things as this. Thus, the morality of any act or law is defined by its utility for sentient beings as a whole. Net is a word that relates what is intrinsically valuable. In neoclassical economics, utility is called to the satisfaction of preferences, moral philosophy, is synonymous with happiness, whatever the manner in which this is understood. These consequences normally include happiness or preference satisfaction. Utilitarianism is sometimes summarized as "the greatest welfare for the ...