Should Cannabis Be Legalised In Australia?

Cannabis is a plant that is grown using organic fertiliser, other names includes marijuana, marihuana, hashish, hemp and ganja which is made from dried leaves and small green flowers from the cannabis plant itself, it contains narcotics and tough fibres that are used to make ropes, medicine, furniture and many others. Cannabis is known as a soft illicit drug that is commonly used. It is usually smoked but can also be eaten to get the immediate intoxicated effect but each person experiences different effects reasons being how strong the drug is, if they are an experienced user, the mood of the user and many other reasons within the individual. The chemical compound CBD found in cannabis has been found to have various medicinal benefits, without out the down sides of the pshycho-active element - THC. You find more information about the uses of CBD here.

Earls and Robert studied marihuana and came with “while opium kills ambition and deadens initiatives, marihuana incites to immorality and crime” (Earls and Robert Rowell, 2003).

Short-term effects may include; brain slowing, intoxicated which is also known as ‘stoned or high’ and happy and relaxed feelings. Others may experience negative effects such as being paranoid, feeling anxious and panic attack.

Some physical effects include short-term memory, heart rate increase, bloodshot eyes, coordination which can cause unsafe driving and increase in appetite often known as ‘the munchies’.

Long-term effects may include; increase risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease due to the raise in heart rate, lung disease, ability to learn because of short-term memory, sperm count for males decreases and females experience irregular period patterns.

Cannabis is illegal in Australia and most other first world countries and by law it is not to be grown, sell or possessed, it is a crime to do so and penalties will be given according to “The Australian Drug Misuse Trafficking Act” (1985).

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Cannabis is illegal due to many reasons such as; addiction, where people are hooked on to the drug and which will eventually ruin their lives through excessive usage, this is the same as alcohol which is a totally legal drug. The government claims that cannabis is more and highly addictive compared to alcohol which is why it is not legalised. Users would become aggressive and have a psychotic effect when taking the drug which leads to criminal activities. Cannabis is not accepted for medical use, even though it helps pain relief and benefits others in medical use but still caused a lot of diseases which the government is trying to help decrease, such as lung cancer, and cancer itself.

Other reasons include that cannabis was linked to narcotics together with other illicit drugs, heroin, morphine and cocaine in 1914; these drugs are highly illegal and has brought cannabis along the line with them. Cannabis is now used by people all over the world illegally and legally and now it is not seen as an ethnic drug. The American governments started to look into Cannabis and came up with ideas on making it illegal, hemp was common and is used in making ropes, cloth and paper was considered dangerous and was a treat to people, people were being violence after smoking cannabis and led them to commit crime. Cannabis was announced illegal by (The Marijuana Tax Act of 1937).

Cannabis should be legalised in Australia because it will benefit the government and country in many ways, some advantages on legalising cannabis include; government making money on tax, which will be better for the economy as cannabis is a billion dollar industry.

Cannabis is grown with organic fertilizer and is an organic plant unlike other illicit drugs such as heroin and cocaine when many other chemicals are used to make the drug. Tobacco is considered more dangerous compared to cannabis as tobacco uses 4000 different chemicals such as nicotine, tar, rat poison and many others which are harmful to the users as cannabis is an organic grown plant. This will benefit people with healt issues as it does not contain many other chemical like tobacco.

Cannabis is a valued plant and is expensive since growing the plant takes time and organic fertilizer must be used. Pricing around the illegal market on cannabis is $200 to $300 and ounce (28grams). Through research founding’s on cannabis users increases dramatically every year, in the US it is estimated that 2million people will try the illicit drug every yeah and 1 percentage of the population estimated to try cannabis every year and become addicted. Cannabis was a legalised drug back in the 1920’s – early 1930’s, but since the US government came up with ideas to ban the drug due to their reasons of the drug threatens and is dangerous.

Cannabis is now the most illicit drug used all over the world illegally and legally, in certain parts of Canada cannabis is legal where they have marijuana pubs and bars where people can come in for a smoke with friends and to relax. If cannabis was legalised in Australia it will stop people smoking illegally, being paranoid and decrease in illegal activities such as smuggling cannabis from other countries or states, drug trafficking and trades. This highlights that society accepted the fact that view on marijuana is to be socially accepted.

Legalising cannabis will allow the nation to gain instant and long term benefits also give benefit in medical use, where it could be used to assist in pain relief and cure other diseases that prescription drugs might now be able to do. Victims suffering from diseases such as glaucoma and the people who needs treatment for antinausea will be able to find the drug easily This will benefit chemists and can help with increasing the market share and income. Ideas that the government may look into is that proper education should be involved in training users on the drug itself, how to use the drug and the recommended amount of usage each time to prevent from overdose.

Cannabis should be a prescription drug if it was to be legalised and doctors only allow certain amount each time for the patient or user.

Disadvantages on legalising cannabis include; people not claiming tax as they can grow the plants from home, which will become an illegal activity since they are hiding from the government to turn away from tax. Financial issues since education for cannabis users which will cost a lot of money and time for the government if they decided to legalised the illicit drug. Crime rates may arise as the drug may have different effects on the individual, it may cause aggressiveness, psychotic and criminal activities. This will have a huge impact on safety for the society as it may affect users on unsafe driving and lose of memory in short-term use. Legalising cannabis will also have an impact on creating more diseases such as lung cancer, heart disease, and learning abilities as users experience short -term memory.

Advantages on criminalisation if cannabis was legalised include; a decrease on criminal offences such as smuggling drugs into the country, trading and selling the drug to people. It will allow the government to fight other drug related crimes that are more important and a risk to the society such as heroin and cocaine dealers, fraud and murderers. If cannabis was legalised users would stop being paranoid about using or buying the drug as they would become more relaxed and free. The war on drug isn’t accomplishing much as people are still out there illegally smuggling, trading and selling drugs so this can be decreased if cannabis was to be legalised as it will reduce the government on spending large amount of money on enforcements every year which will help in increasing the country’s revenue.

It is prohibited but people are still out there making money and doing illegal business, there was an increase tax on alcohol so if cannabis was to be legalised it should have a higher tax on it as well. It is impossible to stop drug dealers as they always got an way to deliver their goods, they are always one step ahead and if one criminal is caught there is others out there doing the same, it just continues and it is something the government cannot stop. “In 1987, 10 billion dollars were spent alone just on enforcing drug laws. Drugs accounted for about 40 percent of all felony indictments in the New York City courts in 1989. This figure quadrupled since 1985. Forty percent of the people in federal prison are drug law violators” (Long 114). As it raises every year that money could be spent on other things that will benefit the economy such as schools, roads and homeless. The black market would vanish and illegal traders and dealers would be out of business since productions would become licensed only.

Disadvantages if cannabis was to be legalised include; people would still do illegal business to make money, since they want to keep away from tax. Legalising cannabis will eventually make the good people become bad, as they will be addicted to the legalised drug and it will affect their daily lives due to the effects on the drugs such as short-term memory, it allows people to be violent and aggressive, become psychotics and will put the society at risk, crime rates will rise and the roads will be more dangerous than it is now as to drink drivers. Cannabis effects people’s coordination so unsafe driving is a major risk, leaving it risky to others on the roads.

The government will have to spend more money on stoping drug users from committing crimes or death rates will increase as is allows people to experience being aggressive, and psychotic behaviours with the use to the drug if it is legalised.

In conclusion cannabis should be legalised as it will benefit people with medical use, help in decreasing crime rate, reduce and die out the black market, improve the country’s revenue and allows the government to make money on tax just like the high tax they gain from alcohol. At the same time it may disadvantage the country in a few ways such as crime rates due to the drug giving side effects of aggressiveness and psychotic, where that is easier to prevent unlike the black market.