Throughout history, marijuana has been used by many civilizations dating back to over five thousand years. One of its earliest recorded uses dates back to four thousand years ago where Chinese farmers grew cannabis for its oil and fiber. The earliest recorded use of marijuana for psychoactive purposes was back in 500 B.C.E. where cannabis with highly concentrated THC (specifically delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol; its powerful psychoactive component) was once burned in the enclosed tombs of the elite, so that mourners could inhale it. In the 1830s, Anglo-Americans and Europeans knew of the medical benefits that came from marijuana through findings of cannabis extracts relieving cholera symptoms. In fact, many Americans had the ability to buy cannabis in pharmacies to alleviate pain in the late 19th century.
The attitude towards marijuana changed at the turn of the century, motivated by Mexican immigration to the United States in the 1910s. White Americans feared Mexican immigrants and their ways of life. Police officers claimed that marijuana incited violent crimes, though there is no evidence of this. This led to marijuana being outlawed in 29 states between 1916 and 1931, opening the door to legislation passing the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 which placed nationwide prohibitive tax codes and strict regulations on marijuana. In effect, federal restrictions led to the economic blacklisting of marijuana, which led to its generationally compounding negative reputation. The Controlled Substance Act of 1970 officially banned the use of marijuana both recreationally and medically.
The legalization, or rather re-legalization, of marijuana is a very controversial topic. There are generally two sides, people that are pro-legalization and people that are anti-legalization. The anti-legalization side focuses a lot on the stigma surrounding marijuana, whereas the pro-legalization side has more of an open mind around marijuana.
Anonymously, I interviewed my brother. He is a full-time student at Tulane, studying in Neuroscience and Cell and Molecular Biology, with the intention of becoming a doctor and working in psilocybin research. Outside of school, he works as an aircraft hydraulics technician for the U.S. Air Force. He also works in the emergency room as a patient care technician at Touro Hospital in New Orleans. Growing up, I’ve always listened to my brother go on and on about science, which is a partial reason why I feel so passionate about it. With his vast medical knowledge and studies on psychoactive components, he was the perfect voice for this topic.
“There is scientific evidence that corroborates the clinical usage of marijuana,” he says when asked about his general thoughts on legalization. “I think that prohibition of marijuana is profoundly idiotic cause I don’t know what other word is a synonym for stupid.” he continues, “marijuana is a naturally occuring wonder drug that just so happens to facilitate a lot of the biochemical responses that do numerous things, from fighting cancer to helping people with epilepsy, so on and so forth. I’m glad that it’s coming out now.”
This is true, there are a multitude of clinical effectiveness trials that have been conducted on marijuana to suggest the treatment of various forms of cancer, treatment of particular mental disorders, nervous system disorders, and pain. This use of marijuana for health and prosperity has been used for a long time, and possibly since the beginning of time.
At the same time, weed is also a double-edged sword. Marijuana in its effectiveness has a social impact, but the social impact that weed has in society is better than that of alcohol. My perspective is that young people are exposed to it at a really early age because of its prevalence and how innocuous it is as an entry level drug and people say that it's a gateway drug, but I believe that it isn’t, at least in my case, but for many it is.”
A gateway drug is defined as a habit-forming drug that may lead to the use of other drugs. Marijuana is considered a gateway drug because people who take other addictive drugs have taken marijuana before them. I would not consider this to be an end-all argument for criminalization of marijuana because, as mentioned in the interview, alcohol has more of a harmful societal impact than weed. Alcohol, contrary to common knowledge, is in fact a drug. A highly normalized and fully legal drug in the United States. Many people have consumed alcohol before branching out to other addictive drugs, yet alcohol is not considered a gateway drug. Marijuana simply is because of how it is stigmatized. The use of alcohol is also highly problematic for society. According to the CDC, six people die from alcohol poisoning everyday, 88,000 annually, and there are no recorded cases of people dying from marijuana use. My brother reveals that in the emergency room at Touro, many people come in intoxicated and under the influence of alcohol, but there are never people high on marijuana coming in for medical emergencies. In fact, the only time people die from marijuana is when it is laced with other drugs, such as fentanyl.
“The commercialization of weed opens the door to all this other type of usage and just like anything else, risks are associated. But I've never seen the clinical benefits of alcohol.” When asked about his personal experiences with marijuana, he mentions that he tries to keep his own personal experiences separate from his arguments because he does not want his experiences to influence and bias him towards whether or not marijuana is good or bad societally.
“I think that legalization of marijuana will have negative unintended consequences as well as positive unintended consequences, the government shouldn’t be able to tell people what to do with their bodies and the government shouldn’t put limitations on people’s consciousness. The way that it affects students in school, in my opinion, is bad because students should not be exposed to things that could potentially deviate them from pursuing the path of academic achievement, and that goes for everything, not just weed.”
As students, we have the responsibility of maintaining our education, and not allowing external factors to take away from it. Regardless of legalization, many students will still have access to marijuana, as they have had for a very long time. Legalizing the drug will not make a difference on teens using it. At least with legalization, the drug would be regulated and off the streets, with less of a chance of being laced with truly harmful drugs, which is more of a risk. In conclusion, as human beings, the government should not have the authority to dictate what we put into our bodies and limit our consciousness.
Scholastic Award Winner
Honorable Mention in Journalism
“I was impressed that Mireya chose a controversial topic, legalizing marijuana, and took a scientific approach. Her piece called, ‘Pro-Legalization and Why You Should Be’ takes a strong stance. Her writing was sophisticated and confident. I can easily imagine her getting published in medical journals in the future.”
— Rebecca Cavalier, faculty sponsor