Below you are going to find my community problem report assignment. This assignment is intended to get use to be writing in a formal genre of the report. Also this assignment is helpful to be better organize and at the same time to give good solutions based on my reasoning and evidence that I gather.
Uzziel Garcia Castillo
ENGLISH 1311
University of Texas at El Paso
Community Problem Report
Abstract
Drug legalization is a common topic now on days because it involves all people living in the United States and that is what I am going to discuss in my community problem report. I will discuss the impact the marijuana legalization could bring to the United States if it is legalized. This doesn’t means it will bring just bring problems, it may also bring many solutions to the country but also to the economy. People know marijuana is a drug and by this most of them think it is something that would affect them but we should not forget that alcohol was once illegal and there were many problems going on because of alcohol but when government legalize everything changed. This proves that after a drug is legalized it will decrease the amount of problems because it was illegal and by being illegal it was more attractive for people but if government legalize marijuana people would look it less attractive. There many facts that government and people of the United States should think before making any decision and I will discuss those facts. There is no correct thought about drug legalization and by this reason I will get deep into the topic.
Cerdá, M., Wall, M., Reyes, M. K., Galea, S., & Hasin, D. (2012). Medical marijuana laws in 50 states: Investigating the relationship between state legalization of medical marijuana and marijuana use, abuse and dependence. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 120(1-3), 22-27. doi: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/ S0376871611002742
Cox, L. (2012, Nov 05). Effects of marijuana. Retrieved from http:// www.livescience.com/24558-marijuana-effects.html
Danovitch, I. (2012). Sorting through the science on marijuana: Facts, fallacies, and implications for legalization. McGeorge Law, 12(6), 92-108. Retrieved from http://0- web.a.ebscohost.com.lib.utep.edu/ ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&sid=90856771- a2a1-4d87-8588-63b03ae6139b@sessionmgr4005&hid=4101
Devinsky, O., & Friedman, D. (2014, Feb 12). We need proof on marijuana. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/13/opinion/we-need-proof-on- marijuana.html? ref=marijuana&_r=0
Hartnett, E. (2014, March 2). Drug legalization: Why it wouldn't work in the united states. Police Chief Magazine, Retrieved from http:// www.policechiefmagazine.org/magazine/index.cfm? fuseaction=display_arch&article_id=533&issue_id=32005
Incardi, J. A. (2004). The drug legalization debate. 2(4), 151-173. Retrieved from http:// books.google.com/books? hl=en&lr=&id=xlmD7orlKlsC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=druglegalization &ots=qb_O608Gez&sig=zzR2WdFip5fy6X7xGbChgQQFSh0
Wilking, R. (2014, Jan 6). DEA admits marijuana legalization scare us. Retrieved from http:// rt.com/usa/dea-against-marijuanalegalization-734/ !
Introduction
There are many problems and issues going on because of the fact people wants government to legalize marijuana. Now on days medical marijuana is legal in 20 states & the District of columbia. Here are include two states that have legalized marijuana for self use. These two states are Colorado and Washington. There is an issue in the legalization of marijuana because it has been approved by the state government but it remains illegal by the federal laws.
‘In NESARC(National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions), residents of states with medical marijuana laws had higher odds of marijuana use (OR: 1.92; 95% CI: 1.49–2.47) and marijuana abuse/dependence
(OR: 1.81; 95% CI: 1.22–2.67) than residents of states without such
laws.’ (Cerdá,Wall,Reyes,Galea,Hasin, 2012) Justice Department is doing nothing if state does not mess with federal priorities. This report investigates the problem of drug legalization in the united states. Here it will be address the 4 main points and these are going to be the effects of marijuana, how do we interpret drug legalization, what are the effects/social implication of legalizing marijuana and what rules should we make if marijuana is legalize.
There are many things people need to be aware of if marijuana is legalized. They are not just health problems but also problems that may involve the government. If marijuana is legalized, the government is not well prepared for this because they are afraid of the consequences that this will bring to them. Legalizing marijuana will help them by making a profit since there will be many people interested in buying it since it will be legal and more important they are going to know where to buy it but they don’t know the reactions drug dealers may have because they are not going to like to be out of business
1-. What are the effects of marijuana?
Now on days there is people that would like to legalize marijuana because they agree that
it would be the best solution into solving the problems, but there are others that want to legalize it so they can be smoking marijuana without being scared of the police. ‘Many legalization supporters believe that property crime, particularly burglary, larceny from persons (purse snatchers, chain snatchers, and pickpockets), auto theft, theft from autos, and shoplifting would decrease by 40-50 percent if drugs were made legal’ (Hartnett E, 2014). Most of the people think that marijuana has negative effects but this is because they follow people’s words but they have not look into the real consequences or befits of using marijuana. There are many effects that marijuana have cause in people who are sick and they get better because they were using this drug.
There are many problems related to this one in which kids were having problems but their parents take the hard decision to gave them marijuana as a treatment and they were afraid because they knew it was a drug. If they haven’t try this treatment their children would get worst but thanks to the fact that they give this treatment, they get better in an incredible way. “Many people have heard the story of Charlotte Figi, a young girl from Colorado with severe epilepsy. After her parents began giving her a marijuana strain, Charlotte reportedly went from having hundreds of seizures per week to only two or three per month” (Devinsky & Friedman, 2014).
This is a real story taken from The New York times that specifies very clearly that this girl was having series epilepsy problems but after their parents gave her this marijuana treatment he get a lot better. These facts are telling us that marijuana is not as bad as we think. There are many things we should first think before making a decision and here we have no more that good benefits. This is a problem that affects the community. This because we need to know and understand the way people may interpret drug legalization
2-. How do we interpret drug legalization?
This is a common question that has many meanings. Drug legalization interpretation is something that needs to be exactly the same for all of us. There is people that interpret drug legalization of marijuana as if they may do what ever they want because it will now become legal. There are specific federal laws that Federal government make as that people over under 21 years cannot consume marijuana but they think that because it is going to become legalize they could be using marijuana and this is not true because it remains illegal for all those teenagers.
“Marijuana legalization would likely increase the availability of marijuana, and decrease the perception of harm associated with it. This would result in increased use. Thus, the number of people impacted by adverse effects, even if only a small percentage, would likely grow.”(Danovitch ,2012) These facts are telling us that if government legalize marijuana this means this will seriously improve the marijuana effects. This means that people will finally understand there is not such danger of legalizing marijuana as they think.
The problem in this situation is that people should have the common understanding about drug legalization but also the restrictions it will still have. This is related to the community because people who are in favor think they can do whatever they want after marijuana legalizes but this is not true. People should understand the social implications of legalizing this drug.
3-. What are the effects/social implication of legalizing marijuana?
Something people needs to be aware of is that they will appear many effects in our society if they legalize marijuana. The effects will vary a lot because government does not know the exact reaction of people of the United States. They have make marijuana legal in countries as Colorado and Washington. First they start with Colorado because they wanted to know the reaction that this may have cause in that country but the results were no more than just a big profit for the government.
‘James L. Capra, the chief of operations at the DEA, was responding to a question from a senator Wednesday when he admitted authorities are nervous about the prospect of legalization measures, which are becoming more popular throughout the US after decriminalization initiatives passed in Colorado and Washington.”(Wilking,2014)This quote is showing us that government is afraid of the things that may happen if marijuana legalizes. At the same time they are stating that there would be a big amount of money from the profits of marihuana distribution.
If government decides to legalize marijuana there will be a big chaos. This is because government have many rules against the use of marijuana and their distribution. Government will have a hard time in changing this rules because since it may become legal they should be less severe in the punishments. There are many things that government will need to change in order to legalize marijuana if that is what all people in the United States wants.
4-. What rules should we make or change if marijuana is legalize?
The most important thing about legalizing this drug marijuana is that many rules will change. Now on days we have many rules and severe punishments because of marijuana. This means that most of them should be change since marijuana is gaining popularity in its legalization. Federal Government have not oppose in the legalization of marijuana in Colorado & Washington. This is because if the state government continues without messing with the main rules the Federal Government has, everything will be working great.
“Preventing the distribution of marijuana to minors;Preventing revenue from the sale of marijuana from going to criminal enterprises, gangs, and cartels;Preventing the diversion of marijuana from states where it is legal under state law in some form to other states;Preventing state-authorized marijuana activity from being used as a cover or pretext for the trafficking of other illegal drugs or illegal activity;Preventing violence and the use of firearms in the cultivation and distribution of marijuana;Preventing drugged driving and the exacerbation of other adverse public health consequences associated with marijuana use;Preventing the growing of marijuana on public lands and the attendant public safety and environmental dangers posed by marijuana production on public lands; and Preventing marijuana possession or use on federal property.” In order to remain marijuana legal in Colorado and Washington , State government should follow very careful this rules because if they don’t do it there will be big problems.
These facts are telling us that marijuana is not that legal in the states because it was make legal by the state government and not by the Federal. This is telling us that there should be a big change in rules if marijuana is legalize in every country in the United States. Rules have change in those states because of the legalization of marijuana. The problem that is being point out in here is that marijuana legalization would make government have a hard time in the rules of marijuana legalization.
“States that legalized medical marijuana had higher rates of marijuana use. Future research needs to examine whether the association is causal, or is due to an underlying common cause, such as community norms supportive of the legalization of medical marijuana and of marijuana use.”(Cerdá,Wall,Reyes,Galea,Hasin, 2012) This is another quote that needs to be consider. It has been shown that marijuana being legalize such a treatment for ill people has cause them to get addicted to the drug. At the same time people who gets marijuana illegally have show that they become less addicted to this drug instead of those using it as a medicine.There are many times in which marijuana would may be seem as something good but there will be also people who will not think the same. ‘There are many who view themselves as generally within the prohibitionist tradition yet also believed modifications to existing drug policy are needed.’ (Incardi,J.A, 2004). There will be never a correct opinion or decision about this topic because each person thinks different than one another. People should just need to be aware of the effects it could have.
ENGLISH 1311
University of Texas at El Paso
Community Problem Report
Abstract
Drug legalization is a common topic now on days because it involves all people living in the United States and that is what I am going to discuss in my community problem report. I will discuss the impact the marijuana legalization could bring to the United States if it is legalized. This doesn’t means it will bring just bring problems, it may also bring many solutions to the country but also to the economy. People know marijuana is a drug and by this most of them think it is something that would affect them but we should not forget that alcohol was once illegal and there were many problems going on because of alcohol but when government legalize everything changed. This proves that after a drug is legalized it will decrease the amount of problems because it was illegal and by being illegal it was more attractive for people but if government legalize marijuana people would look it less attractive. There many facts that government and people of the United States should think before making any decision and I will discuss those facts. There is no correct thought about drug legalization and by this reason I will get deep into the topic.
Cerdá, M., Wall, M., Reyes, M. K., Galea, S., & Hasin, D. (2012). Medical marijuana laws in 50 states: Investigating the relationship between state legalization of medical marijuana and marijuana use, abuse and dependence. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 120(1-3), 22-27. doi: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/ S0376871611002742
Cox, L. (2012, Nov 05). Effects of marijuana. Retrieved from http:// www.livescience.com/24558-marijuana-effects.html
Danovitch, I. (2012). Sorting through the science on marijuana: Facts, fallacies, and implications for legalization. McGeorge Law, 12(6), 92-108. Retrieved from http://0- web.a.ebscohost.com.lib.utep.edu/ ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&sid=90856771- a2a1-4d87-8588-63b03ae6139b@sessionmgr4005&hid=4101
Devinsky, O., & Friedman, D. (2014, Feb 12). We need proof on marijuana. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/13/opinion/we-need-proof-on- marijuana.html? ref=marijuana&_r=0
Hartnett, E. (2014, March 2). Drug legalization: Why it wouldn't work in the united states. Police Chief Magazine, Retrieved from http:// www.policechiefmagazine.org/magazine/index.cfm? fuseaction=display_arch&article_id=533&issue_id=32005
Incardi, J. A. (2004). The drug legalization debate. 2(4), 151-173. Retrieved from http:// books.google.com/books? hl=en&lr=&id=xlmD7orlKlsC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=druglegalization &ots=qb_O608Gez&sig=zzR2WdFip5fy6X7xGbChgQQFSh0
Wilking, R. (2014, Jan 6). DEA admits marijuana legalization scare us. Retrieved from http:// rt.com/usa/dea-against-marijuanalegalization-734/ !
Introduction
There are many problems and issues going on because of the fact people wants government to legalize marijuana. Now on days medical marijuana is legal in 20 states & the District of columbia. Here are include two states that have legalized marijuana for self use. These two states are Colorado and Washington. There is an issue in the legalization of marijuana because it has been approved by the state government but it remains illegal by the federal laws.
‘In NESARC(National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions), residents of states with medical marijuana laws had higher odds of marijuana use (OR: 1.92; 95% CI: 1.49–2.47) and marijuana abuse/dependence
(OR: 1.81; 95% CI: 1.22–2.67) than residents of states without such
laws.’ (Cerdá,Wall,Reyes,Galea,Hasin, 2012) Justice Department is doing nothing if state does not mess with federal priorities. This report investigates the problem of drug legalization in the united states. Here it will be address the 4 main points and these are going to be the effects of marijuana, how do we interpret drug legalization, what are the effects/social implication of legalizing marijuana and what rules should we make if marijuana is legalize.
There are many things people need to be aware of if marijuana is legalized. They are not just health problems but also problems that may involve the government. If marijuana is legalized, the government is not well prepared for this because they are afraid of the consequences that this will bring to them. Legalizing marijuana will help them by making a profit since there will be many people interested in buying it since it will be legal and more important they are going to know where to buy it but they don’t know the reactions drug dealers may have because they are not going to like to be out of business
1-. What are the effects of marijuana?
Now on days there is people that would like to legalize marijuana because they agree that
it would be the best solution into solving the problems, but there are others that want to legalize it so they can be smoking marijuana without being scared of the police. ‘Many legalization supporters believe that property crime, particularly burglary, larceny from persons (purse snatchers, chain snatchers, and pickpockets), auto theft, theft from autos, and shoplifting would decrease by 40-50 percent if drugs were made legal’ (Hartnett E, 2014). Most of the people think that marijuana has negative effects but this is because they follow people’s words but they have not look into the real consequences or befits of using marijuana. There are many effects that marijuana have cause in people who are sick and they get better because they were using this drug.
There are many problems related to this one in which kids were having problems but their parents take the hard decision to gave them marijuana as a treatment and they were afraid because they knew it was a drug. If they haven’t try this treatment their children would get worst but thanks to the fact that they give this treatment, they get better in an incredible way. “Many people have heard the story of Charlotte Figi, a young girl from Colorado with severe epilepsy. After her parents began giving her a marijuana strain, Charlotte reportedly went from having hundreds of seizures per week to only two or three per month” (Devinsky & Friedman, 2014).
This is a real story taken from The New York times that specifies very clearly that this girl was having series epilepsy problems but after their parents gave her this marijuana treatment he get a lot better. These facts are telling us that marijuana is not as bad as we think. There are many things we should first think before making a decision and here we have no more that good benefits. This is a problem that affects the community. This because we need to know and understand the way people may interpret drug legalization
2-. How do we interpret drug legalization?
This is a common question that has many meanings. Drug legalization interpretation is something that needs to be exactly the same for all of us. There is people that interpret drug legalization of marijuana as if they may do what ever they want because it will now become legal. There are specific federal laws that Federal government make as that people over under 21 years cannot consume marijuana but they think that because it is going to become legalize they could be using marijuana and this is not true because it remains illegal for all those teenagers.
“Marijuana legalization would likely increase the availability of marijuana, and decrease the perception of harm associated with it. This would result in increased use. Thus, the number of people impacted by adverse effects, even if only a small percentage, would likely grow.”(Danovitch ,2012) These facts are telling us that if government legalize marijuana this means this will seriously improve the marijuana effects. This means that people will finally understand there is not such danger of legalizing marijuana as they think.
The problem in this situation is that people should have the common understanding about drug legalization but also the restrictions it will still have. This is related to the community because people who are in favor think they can do whatever they want after marijuana legalizes but this is not true. People should understand the social implications of legalizing this drug.
3-. What are the effects/social implication of legalizing marijuana?
Something people needs to be aware of is that they will appear many effects in our society if they legalize marijuana. The effects will vary a lot because government does not know the exact reaction of people of the United States. They have make marijuana legal in countries as Colorado and Washington. First they start with Colorado because they wanted to know the reaction that this may have cause in that country but the results were no more than just a big profit for the government.
‘James L. Capra, the chief of operations at the DEA, was responding to a question from a senator Wednesday when he admitted authorities are nervous about the prospect of legalization measures, which are becoming more popular throughout the US after decriminalization initiatives passed in Colorado and Washington.”(Wilking,2014)This quote is showing us that government is afraid of the things that may happen if marijuana legalizes. At the same time they are stating that there would be a big amount of money from the profits of marihuana distribution.
If government decides to legalize marijuana there will be a big chaos. This is because government have many rules against the use of marijuana and their distribution. Government will have a hard time in changing this rules because since it may become legal they should be less severe in the punishments. There are many things that government will need to change in order to legalize marijuana if that is what all people in the United States wants.
4-. What rules should we make or change if marijuana is legalize?
The most important thing about legalizing this drug marijuana is that many rules will change. Now on days we have many rules and severe punishments because of marijuana. This means that most of them should be change since marijuana is gaining popularity in its legalization. Federal Government have not oppose in the legalization of marijuana in Colorado & Washington. This is because if the state government continues without messing with the main rules the Federal Government has, everything will be working great.
“Preventing the distribution of marijuana to minors;Preventing revenue from the sale of marijuana from going to criminal enterprises, gangs, and cartels;Preventing the diversion of marijuana from states where it is legal under state law in some form to other states;Preventing state-authorized marijuana activity from being used as a cover or pretext for the trafficking of other illegal drugs or illegal activity;Preventing violence and the use of firearms in the cultivation and distribution of marijuana;Preventing drugged driving and the exacerbation of other adverse public health consequences associated with marijuana use;Preventing the growing of marijuana on public lands and the attendant public safety and environmental dangers posed by marijuana production on public lands; and Preventing marijuana possession or use on federal property.” In order to remain marijuana legal in Colorado and Washington , State government should follow very careful this rules because if they don’t do it there will be big problems.
These facts are telling us that marijuana is not that legal in the states because it was make legal by the state government and not by the Federal. This is telling us that there should be a big change in rules if marijuana is legalize in every country in the United States. Rules have change in those states because of the legalization of marijuana. The problem that is being point out in here is that marijuana legalization would make government have a hard time in the rules of marijuana legalization.
“States that legalized medical marijuana had higher rates of marijuana use. Future research needs to examine whether the association is causal, or is due to an underlying common cause, such as community norms supportive of the legalization of medical marijuana and of marijuana use.”(Cerdá,Wall,Reyes,Galea,Hasin, 2012) This is another quote that needs to be consider. It has been shown that marijuana being legalize such a treatment for ill people has cause them to get addicted to the drug. At the same time people who gets marijuana illegally have show that they become less addicted to this drug instead of those using it as a medicine.There are many times in which marijuana would may be seem as something good but there will be also people who will not think the same. ‘There are many who view themselves as generally within the prohibitionist tradition yet also believed modifications to existing drug policy are needed.’ (Incardi,J.A, 2004). There will be never a correct opinion or decision about this topic because each person thinks different than one another. People should just need to be aware of the effects it could have.