The Social Issue of the War on Marijuana

              Let's talk about drugs. Not just any drug, but let's talk about marijuana. You can do a lot of things with this versatile plant. Historically it was used as hemp to make rope and clothes, but it also is smoked, eaten, and used as medicine to reduce pain or decrease seizures.  What many people do not know is that there is a war going on over this plant. This war is not fought on the battlefield on foreign soil, but here in the United States.  It is a battle that has been going on for over 50 years, do to changing attitudes of both the government and American society as a whole.

      Let’s take a step back and get a little history lesson on marijuana and why this war is going on. Marijuana comes from the hemp plant called Cannabis Sativa. If you do not know about this plant, let me tell you a little bit about it. It is most commonly nicknamed “pot” or “weed” for its dried leaves and flowers. Marijuana is so commonly known that you could go around ask anyone in the United States if they have heard about marijuana and I bet almost every single person you ask will say yes they have heard of it. Marijuana is a drug that can be smoked or eaten for its mind altering chemical called tetrahydrocannabinol or THC.  According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, this chemical alters your state of mind by altering your sense of sight, sense of time, and changes your mood. This drug also impairs your thinking and problem solving skills, as well as your memory. This is why for the longest time this drug was illegal as it gets people 'high' and if you were caught with having any amount on you, you would be charged and arrested. Depending on how the cops felt and how much marijuana you had on you, you could be sentenced to years in prison. Now you probably think, “well if it is an illegal drug then there won’t be that many arrests for it compared to other drugs.” If you think this, then I’m sorry to tell you that there are more arrests made per day for marijuana possession than any other drug in the United States. To be exact, about 52% of all drug arrests are from marijuana according to American Civil Liberties Union. This may sound great as all these people are getting arrested for doing something illegal, but what about can we say about that now in 2016 when public opinion on marijuana has changed so much?

               In 2016, twenty-six states and the District of Columbia have some type of laws that has legalized marijuana. This is happening because marijuana is also used for medical purposes. Yes, I just said that marijuana can be used for medical purposes. As of right now, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, marijuana is being used medically to reduce pain, swelling, redness, seizures, and muscle control. It is also being used to help treat cancer. From firsthand experience, I have seen what this does to a cancer patient as my girlfriends mom had breast cancer and use to take cannabis oil pills to help with the cancer treatment. She would take it to help her sleep at night as she would get hot flashes and would be waking up in pain. This is just one example on how this drug could help our medical studies and medical solutions as there are so much more to the medical treatment side of marijuana that still has yet to be found. Now how can it be right to arrest someone for using a drug that can also be a medicine?

               Let us think about that for a second. We are arresting people for the use of a drug that could potentially help them as a treatment, but because the government said this drug is illegal they are spending money and resources which could be seen as counterproductive.  Now you tell me, do you think it is okay to put a person, who may not be able to afford health care, into jail with violent offenders just because they were trying to treat themselves? I know not all people who use this drug are using it for medical issues, but what about the percentage that are. If you look at this now in 2016, we treated these people like violent criminals and sentenced them to time in prison, but many states are legalizing marijuana for recreational use. Those people who spent time in prison just for a small amount or usage of marijuana will now never get that time they spent in prison back. That could be a year or a couple of years of their life gone for something that is currently no longer illegal. You could go so far to say that it was a waste of money, man hours, and resources that could have been used elsewhere.  Also, what about those people who are still in jail right now for using marijuana? Do you think they will have to still live out their sentences? Personally, I think they will, but only for one reason, and that reason is money.

 According to drug war statistics from DrugPolicy.org says "more than $51,000,000,000 is spent annually in the U.S. on the war on drugs" (2). Now if you are like me, you saw that number and was dumbfounded at the amount of money we spend EACH year on this war on drugs! All this money is being spent because of three reasons: there are too many arrests, these arrests cost too much, and the privatization of prisons. Let’s take a look at the two pictures below from American Civil Liberties Union.

   So what this is saying is out of the 51 billion dollars of American people’s tax money, about 3.6 billion of it is wasted just for enforcing marijuana laws and every thirty-seven seconds a cop busts someone for marijuana. Doesn’t this seem to be wasting our police officers time? The police are out busting people for marijuana, when they could be using their time to saving someone’s life. Instead they want to  keep being sheep in the system and keep feeding the privatize prisons our tax money. Is a human’s life worth our tax money just for something that twenty-six states have legalized marijuana in some way? Is it worth taking away someone's loved one or friend to prison in one state but if they were in a legalized state where it would be okay? What happens to this person who went to prison for the usage of marijuana and now cannot contribute to society anymore. Now because they have this felony on their record that means nothing anymore in those states who see marijuana as legal substance. They cannot get a good job as most companies would look down upon then for this when it was merely a drug that can be used for medical purposes.  

               Some may say that it is a good idea to send them to prison because it is illegal in those few states, but what about the after affects of prison? Why incarcerate these nonviolent offenders and put them with violent offenders. All this is doing is filling the prisons and taking away room for the real people who deserve to be in this spot. This is kind of like telling child not run by the pool on one side but on the other side it is okay. you are setting a social norm of what is right and wrong when twenty-six states see this as a legal drug.  

               We all know there is a definite line between what is right and from what is wrong, but right now the whole country is split. So why don't we push to legalize marijuana in all states and just tax it like tobacco or alcohol and put an age limit on it. The government still gets our tax money, people of the right of age can still use marijuana in whatever way they need it and the police force can stop spending so much money on this drug and go after the more important things like saving someone's life. This 3.6 billion dollars spent on marijuana could be swapped and the government could be gaining this amount of money from the sales of this drug. This would also allow more medical studies happen on marijuana as more patients could be taking it more freely and not have to worry about getting arrested for this medicine they are using. Now these are my thoughts on this social issue, I would love to hear your thoughts on this as this is a current issue after the 2016 Election. I have linked my sources below for anyone to take a look and read more about this issue.

 My sources:

https://www.aclu.org/gallery/marijuana-arrests-numbers

http://www.drugpolicy.org/drug-war-statistics

https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/marijuana-medicine

My Civic Engagement Experience

       While on Thanksgiving break, my best friend Jackson invited me to attend a Sunday morning mass at Immaculate Conception Catholic church. For my first time going to a church, I wanted to go with a friend who I felt comfortable with talking about it and be able to deal with me questioning it as I have never really been to a mass before as my family is not all that religious and do not go to church. So I decided to give it a try and be open minded to what goes on in a Sunday morning mass at a Catholic church and what my friend believes in. To someone new going to a Sunday morning mass, this was a little overwhelming at first when I did not know how to take it all in. I did not want to be disrespectful and ask questions on what was going on and why but while listening and just observing the families all here for this mass, I couldn't but help be nervous as I was an outsider to all of this and not knowing what was going on. I felt really strange and awkward here as I felt really out of place as I believe in something different than all the people here. It was however,  neat to see how this community comes together and listens and sings as one to something they believe in. When people were singing, I could just see the joy it brought to the ones who actually enjoyed being there and what they believed in. After a while of listening and singing from different versus' from the bible, the priest started to talk about the life lesson message of the day called the Gospel.  This Gospel for this Sunday was LK 23:35-43. This story was very eye opening to me. This Gospel, opened my eyes a little and actually gave me a life lesson. The lesson I took from it was that you need to be willing to accept the consequences for your actions as it was your action and no someone else's.  The Gospel kind of opened my mind to this religion of why everyone here, in my eyes, come to church and believe in this religion.  This gives them a reason to the question to 'why?' that us humans always question.  I take it as a reason to knowing the unknown forces that affect us each day. Close to the end of the mass, we all walked up to receive holy bread and wine that was blessed by the priest. This was where I felt really uncomfortable as an outsider as everyone accepted the bread and wine but my friend told me I could not receive this. I could not accept the bread and wine as I was never baptized or what my friend said was "blessed as a child."  
What I took out of this experience was that it gives people a purpose and sense of reason to what the unknown is. This is important to this community as it can help them make the 'right' decisions in their mind. This is important as it gives everyone a sense of belonging as everyone here believes in the same thing. I believe this is how it must be for other churches with different religions.