Medical MJ

Medical MJ

Persuasive Paper: Legalization of Marijuana
In 2001, Ohio resident Randy Brush began suffering from schemic heart disease, back disorders, depression, high blood pressure, osteoarthritis, spinal stenosis, spondylostenosis, steopenia, Facet Disease, Disc Disease, pinched nerves, and neural foraminal stenosis. Unfortunately for him, marijuana was his only tried method for alleviating his pain. In 2005, police arrested him and the courts sentenced him to three years in prison for growing merely four marijuana plants for his own health purposes. We must ask ourselves; is it right to penalize a man for simply trying to dull his physical and emotional pain so that he can provide for his family? Even for those who do not use marijuana for primarily medicinal purposes, there exist no compelling moral or practical reasons for its illegalization. Therefore, in order to both preserve the quality of the lives of all its citizens and allow its citizens to make their own individual choices, the United States should legalize the use of marijuana.
The government is obligated to balance its responsibility to the well-being of its citizens as a whole, with the rights of the individual. It is only just for the government to act against the actions of an individual when they begin to impede on the safety and rights of others. Until marijuana use begins to affect others besides the individual using it, the government has no right to restrict that individual. The government also may have an obligation to limit individual actions if the actions pose a significant threat to the individual. However, this argument does not logically apply to marijuana as marijuana has been proven to be far less dangerous than some drugs which are legal, such as alcohol and tobacco. While I am not advocating the use of marijuana rather, I am simply noting that individuals who wish to subject themselves to this drug should have the right to do so.
Admittedly, marijuana use has its side effects....