Katie Baird

Health 1050
May 8, 2014
Marijuana
Marijuana is the most commonly available psychoactive drug originating from leaves
and occasionally flowers of the cannabis plant that are first dried and then shredded (p 169). I
will be discussing the history of marijuana, the pros and cons to legalizing marijuana around the
United States of America, and also the effects that marijuana has on the human body both
physically and mentally.
First I will begin with the history of marijuana. The first time there was a direct reference
to a cannabis product as a psychoactive drug, dates all the way back to 2737 B.C. , where Shen
Nung, a mythical Chinese emperor wrote about it (170). Marijuana was used as a medication
for gout, malaria, rheumatism, and absent-mindedness, which is weird, and that was the focus
of the powers from marijuana. While in China the drug was known more for its medicinal
properties, but while in India, the use of marijuana was clearly recreational. The most popular
form used back then and today, is called bhang, which is a syrupy liquid from cannabis leaves,
and has a THC potency equal to a marijuana joint on the United States (170).
In the United States, no one really heard of marijuana until by 1890, cotton replaced
hemp as a major cash crop in southern states. It was not until the 1920s that the social
phenomenon became marijuana smoking. Some historians have related the appearance of
marijuana as a recreational drug to societal changes brought on by Prohibition, when it was
suddenly difficult to obtain good-quality liquor at affordable prices (171). The use of
marijuana recreationally was mostly taken up by jazz musicians and people in the show
business; those with a little more money and influence on others. Reefer songs became the
rage of the jazz world; even the mainstream clarinetist and bandleader Benny Goodman had a
popular song called Sweet Marijuana Brown. Tea pads, which were marijuana clubs, started
popping up in major cities; it is estimated that there were more than five hundred in Harlem
alone, which outnumbered the speakeasies where illegal alcohol was dispensed. There
establishments based around marijuana were largely tolerated by authorities because back
then it was not illegal and patrons showed no evidence of making a nuisance of themselves or
disturbing the community; in the culture of the time, marijuana was not considered a threat at
all (171).
At the end of the 1920s and 1930s, the picture about marijuana was beginning to
change. The drug became widely known as the killer weed. An intense anti-marijuana media
campaign inn print and in the movies orchestrated by the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, had
succeeded in convincing the American public that marijuana was a pestilence singlehandedly
destroying a generation of American youth (171). These efforts were so successful because of
the significant demographic change occurring in the American society at the time; if the
demographic change wouldnt have been going on, I dont think their efforts would have gone
as well as they did.
The cultivation of cannabis plant and the practice of smoking marijuana, had been
filtering into the United States since 1900 as a result of the migration of Mexican immigrants.
In Mexico, marijuana was just a part of their casual life, a mild euphoriant, and was often a fold
remedy for headaches; they didnt know about the dangerous effects that marijuana can have
on the body.
To say short, Americans didnt like that the Mexicans were using marijuana, and rumors
began about the violent behavioral effects that marijuana smoking by Mexicans had. Over time,
the severity of criminal penalties for being involved with marijuana steadily increased. The
option for sentencing a marijuana seller or use to life in prison was a frequent doing for state
judges (172). In Georgia, a second offence of selling marijuana to a minor could be punishable
by death (172). How crazy is that? Using marijuana was a really big issue at this time. I hadnt
known how big of an impact marijuana had on our country until I took this class.
In 1969, the United State Supreme Court rules the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act
unconstitutional, because marijuana used and possession was illegal, and having someone
required to pay a tax in order to have an illegal substance, was a form of self-incrimination,
which would violate that persons rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.
Before 1960, socially, marijuana was a drug that could be comfortably associated with,
and isolated, to, ethnic and racial minorities, and the possession of marijuana and being
arrested or seized for it, was rare and had little or no public attention (172). By mid-1960s, on
campuses of U.S. colleges, and universities, marijuana smoking was suddenly a hug attraction,
which affected a wide cross section of the nation, and this is where I will end with the history of
marijuana.
Now I will talk about the pros of legalizing marijuana. It is said that legalizing and
regulating marijuana will bring the nations largest cash crop under the rule of law, creating
jobs and economic opportunities in our economy instead of the illicit drug market. It would be
considered a new business, therefore creating thousands of jobs all over the country, which
could really help out working class families and those with lower incomes, but it could also help
out those in the middle and upper classes as well.
We have scarce law enforcement, which right now is helping enforce those illicit drug
laws, and legalizing marijuana could help use our police and law resources in different areas
that could be better used to protect public safety, and would be preserved while reducing
corrections and court costs for all of those who have gone to jail for using marijuana. Meaning,
less people will be taking up needed space for those who are actually committing serious
crimes, making for a safer society and place to live.
Our state and local governments would gain significant new sources of tax revenue from
regulating marijuana sales. There is a lot money that already goes into this business, and being
able to regulate it and put a big tax on it, could help lower the taxes of different items, and
make for a better country, at least when considering taxes.
Now I will discuss the cons to legalizing marijuana, and also the negative effects that it
has on the body.
Each state cannot be involved with the distribution of substances considered to be
immoral by a lot of the population; the goal of the state is to protect its citizens health and not
to expose them to any risk, which would make it illegal.
Drugs are addictive, and rob the users free will. A user cannot an rational and informed
decision to continue using the drug, because the drug eliminates the users ability to think
clearly, same goes for deciding if they want to quit the drug or not, and legalizing marijuana
would send a message to children that taking drugs is acceptable when it is not.
There are many health risks that come along with smoking marijuana. A few include:
cardiovascular complications and possibly death, Casual marijuana use changes the brain
researchers say, the heart rate increases up to 160 beats per minute when dose levels are high
enough, blood vessels on the cornea become dilated which results in bloodshot eye peaks
about an hour after smoking a joint, for North Americans, it has been observed that marijuana
smoking makes you feel extremely hungry and crave especially sweet things to eat (which isnt
always a bad thing, but it can be help induce obesity habits), in 2011, approximately 456,000
drug-related emergency department visits in the DAWN statistic marijuana. These incidents
have increased by about 21 percent from 2009 and about 62 percent from 2004.(173),
marijuana causes a decline in the ability to carry out tasks that involve attention and
memory.(174), speech becomes increasingly fragmented and disjointed; individuals often
forget what they, or others, have said.(174), and Marijuana typically causes such a rush of ideas
to come to mind that it is difficult to concentrate on new information coming in. (174)
That was just a couple of the health risks and different things that marijuana can do to
your body; there are many more that I didnt add to the list. In conclusion, marijuana, the most
commonly available psychoactive drug originating from the leaves and flowers of the cannabis
plant, has a great negative effect on the body both physically and mentally, there are many
pros and cons to legalizing marijuana, and the substance has a large background history.













Works Cited
Levinthal, Charles F.. Drugs, behavior, and modern society. 8th ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon,
2014. Print.