An extremely controversial topic within todays society is the legalization of cannabis. Many people advocate that it can have positive effects on society, particularly within in the criminal justice system. Obviously, we can see some state legislatures starting to become more relaxing with the topic. Mexico has recently had serious debate and consideration regarding the legalization of marijuanna. However, it is not just Mexico that is debating the legalization of cannabis. California, among several others states have laws allowing the manufacturing of marijuanna for "medicinal" purposes. Although no U.S. states have tried to legal marijuanna for purposes other than "medicinal" it is still something people are advocating towards. Undoubtedly, this cannabis does get some to the general public on occassion. How would you feel about Illinois accepting legislature to allow the manufacturing of cannabis for medicinal purposes?
The video above shows a societal take on the legalization of cannabis. The video also suggests that legalizing cannabis would take a heavy burden off of the criminal justice system. Do you see any issues with people like "alex" from the video, using cannabis for personal usage? Do you feel there is already some type of acceptance with cannabis for people like "alex" who are evening or personal cannabis users. I believe we see acceptance within our judicial system as our law's have loosened regarding this topic. We see prosecutors weakening with cannabis users and this such as drug courts being established in leui of incarceration.
Since the "war on drugs" emerged in the 1970's the imprisonment rates have mutliplied nearly 5 times the amount. Many people advocate that legalizing cannabis for personal use would take the strain off of the criminal justice system and help to reduce the amount of people within prison. With the state of Illinois financial issues, do you feel that this could truely be an answer to some of the financial problems and overcrowding within our prison systems?
Although it seems like it could be a potential answer to some issues, I feel there are many more issues that would be affiliated with legalizing cannabis. As a criminal justice student and future police officer, I see many issues with the legalization of cannabis. Whether or not our citizens and police officers want to admit it, cannabis is becoming more socially and legally acceptable. We are seeing this by the societal acceptance noted within talking about cannabis and the increased number of citizens that do not have issues admitting their smoking habits. I feel that will legalizing cannabis, the next drug such as cocaine, will become socially acceptable as cannabis has. Also, I fear that large drug plantations will be formed to satifsy the needs of the users. With drug plantations I feel that violence will emerge due to payments or perhaps bad product.
If cannabis were to be legalized, how would we as future criminal justice professionals manage the usage of cannabis. What kind of legislature would have to be established for this be potentially occur? As a future criminal justice professional, how do you feel about this issue as a whole?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGOYDSoQ-KE&feature=related
http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/node/64
http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/09/07/debate-legalize-marijuana-and-a-look-at-demand-side-policies-in-the-u-s-war-on-drugs/
This was a very interesting post. In my opinion, marijuana should not be legalized; however, I do think a lot of legislation needs to be toned down, including the "war on drugs." I will not deny that marijuana is less lethal than alcohol, but I have seen the long term effects of marijuana use and it can do some very bad things to the mind, something known as being "burnt out." I do not see having a small amount of marijuana on a person for personal use as a bad idea but it usually does not stop with personal use. I liked how you brought up the fact that if we legalize marijuana, what drug will we legalize next? I agree legalizing marijuana would turn into a snowball affect that would lead to other drugs being legalized. There are so many arguments and factors that go into the issue of legalizing marijuana and I do not have the time to go into all if it. But overall, I think it is best to decriminalize it, make personal use possession a non-arrestable offense, instead of completely legalizing marijuana.
ReplyDeleteI very much think that Marijuana should be legalized in the United States. There are a number of reasons I believe this and I will start with how it is really pretty safe. There are absolutely no recorded human deaths from Marijuana, and it is used as treatment for a number of illnesses or conditions. I am also very against the drug war because of how crowded our prisons are and that it is a war that we cannot possibly win. I agree though that if Marijuana is legalized that cocaine use may increase. That is something that I can live with though, and the benefits of legalizing marijuana are way more beneficial than the bad outcomes, in my opinion. I believe that Marijuana can also be taxed heavily and provide a great source of income for this country. One thing that I have never understood too is why the FBI still considers Marijuana to be a schedule 1 drug, which means there is absolutely no medical use for it. Cocaine and Meth are both schedule 2 drugs which means there is some medical use for those two drugs. I am definitely an advocate for letting people smoke marijuana if they want, and someday I hope to see a legalized marijuana bill get passed.
ReplyDeleteBeing in college everyone should be able to relate to this post. Its a very interesting topic and I agree with the fact that legislation needs to "tone it down" as Jory said because the prison population is indeed growing way to fast since the war on drugs movement has surfaced. In my opinion I wouldn't want to see it legalized, because like you said it could potentially led to the acceptance of cocaine or other hard drugs in society. I don't mind seeing it used for medical purposes, but as far as legalizing it, I would say no, however certain laws need to be more lenient as to not blow up our prison population. Its very tempting however because if it was legalized it would easily become one of the top sources of income for this country that is far in debt. Tax equals revenue in the simplest of terms.
ReplyDeleteI find my self on the fence with this topic. On one side I've read all the articles saying that marijuana is less harmful than alcohol and has extremely beneficial medical uses and really is not all that harmful as most of society makes it out to seem. I also feel how it came to be illegal in the first place more of a major concern than all of the other reasons combined. On the other side I think that it is has been dwindled so far into the underworld of the criminal justice system that for it to become legal, would possibly have some very negative effects in the criminal world. Over all i think that small quantities should be punished with a fine over arrest and that should apply everywhere in the U.S. not just some cities. If it were to become legal, as a society I don't think it would have a detrimental effect. Businesses could still apply certain standards and drug tests to prevent employs using the substance, relating to retaining employment not criminal charges. But I dont see it becoming legalized for many years to come if it does at all.
ReplyDeleteNice blog. I agree with Aaron Carlson's response to this topic. The US can tax the hell out of marijuana and it'll take all the small-time drug dealers off the streets and it will free up some space in our prisons.
ReplyDeleteHowever, this means marijuana will be like cigarettes. Will they be smoked at work? This may bring production down quite a bit. Not to mention all the kids that'll get ahold of it.
With the legalization, there will probably be changes to other drug laws. Which will be an interesting issue in its own.
I try to see and understand both sides of this topic. The only people that seem to want to legalize marijuana, ironically seem to be the ones using/abusing it. I hear the arguments of the pro usage side and disagree. If you look at the countries that legalize it, they are still practicing the same rituals as thousands of years ago, and living in huts. If everyone's brain is fogged up with TSH, how much would America as a country grow in the future? I don't like how Mexico's opinion was brought into America's problem because their government has absolute no control, ecspecially over the cartels. In fact the cartels seem to be running Mexico. I also think that Illinois is a super corrupt state and should find better ways of saving money, rather then opening prison doors and letting the criminals go. We would save lots of money if we didn't have the burden of prisons, but that wouldn't help the law abiding citizens of our country at all.
ReplyDeleteI personally do not think we should legalize marijuana. I think it should be able to be used more medical reasons but not for anything else. It does have negative side affects that are long term and can cause other issues for your health. I know a guy who has used for a long time and he mentally is not the same as he was before he used.
ReplyDeleteLegalizing marijuana would be a very smart decision. Its a matter of time but i believe that it will happen eventually. WHether you do smoke or not, the bottom line is that it is everywhere and a large percent of the population smokes so OBVIOUSLY the marijuana laws arnt working. It is putting extra stress on law enforcement, prisons, and courts. It is putting strain on tax payers who pay for all these government regulated processes. The industry if legalized would generate hundreds of millions in taxes and revenue for the states and federal government. Decriminalization and regulation is the only way this so called "problem with weed" will go away
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