Marijuana should not be legalized

I found very interesting an article called, “So Much To Say About Mary!....” It was published in the “Necessary Change 24/7” blog by unknown author. In the article, the author stands for the legalization of marijuana for economical, medical and mood. I strongly disagree with the author’s point of view related to marijuana. In my opinion, marijuana should not be legalized because it brings social and economic negative effects.

First of all, marijuana should not be legalized because it brings social negative effects. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, “Marijuana is the most commonly abused illicit drug in the United States. It is a dry, shredded green and brown mix of flowers, stems, seeds, and leaves derived from the hemp plant Cannabis sativa.” This sounds very natural, but it also contains many chemicals. According to the Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse, “The main mind-altering (psychoactive) ingredient in marijuana is THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), but more than 400 other chemicals also are in the plant. The amount of THC in the marijuana determines how strong its effects will be.” The consumption of one plant combined with more than 400 chemicals will cause a social breakdown. After legalizing marijuana, it will be cheaper and easier to get, even for children and teenagers because it is well known that many of the consumers are underage. Many people think that marijuana is a harmless plant, but the true is that it has too many chemicals that affect people’s health. According to Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse, "the strength of today's marijuana is as much as ten times greater than the marijuana used in the early 1970s.” Another social negative effect is the crime increase. People acting under drug effects can violate the law without being aware of it. Also, when addicts do not have the money for buying marijuana, they are able to steal or kill. Then many people will feel unsafe walking around their towns or cities.

Second, marijuana should not be legalized because it brings economic negative effects. The article “So Much To Say About Mary!.... says that “all the taxed marijuana we would have to regenerate the economy.” However, if marijuana becomes cheaper, easier to get and people become very use to it will increase the numbers of the consumers. In other words, it will increase the addiction. But how this increase will affect the economy? First of all, the fact that more people would become addict means that more people would get sick, and more people would need medical and rehabilitation treatments which would increase the health care cost. In addition, it would generate a profitable black market among the people who are not authorized to buy it such as children and teenagers. In order to control the social problems, government would have to invest more money in the security such as hiring and training more police officers, buying more guns, motorcycles and cars, and also, government would have to build more jails and more judges. Finally, it would bring environmental problems such as cutting down trees in order to cultivate cannabis, soil overexploitation and soil salinization.

In conclusion, marijuana should not be legalized because it would bring several disturbances in the social and economic patterns. Firs of all, it will increase the numbers of addicts. Furthermore, it would raise crime rates in cities and negative economical effects. Legalizing of marijuana just would increase medical care costs, prevention programs, security system and environmental costs.

Torture

The article “The Torture Debate: The Missing Voices”, published in the editorial of The New York Times on May 6, 2009, criticizes the torture methods for prisoners that President Bush authorized during his administration. To understand this better, it is necessary to define the term torture. According to the article one of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, torture means, “any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession.” Is torture a good method used to get information? Is it ethical that former President Bush has authorized this kind of methods? In my opinion, the answers to both questions are NOT. Torture should not be applied for two reasons: it violates human rights and it can generate false information.

First of all, torture is a violation to human rights. It violates the fifth article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which says, “No one shall be subject to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” Although the human rights standards were created to protect people from abuse from others, they are not being accomplished at all. Today, many people are being victim of torture, especially prisoners who are defenseless and who are under control of government. The article “Terror Suspect Treatment” published by the BBC mentions the most common methods for torture such as sleep deprivation, wearing a hood, exposure to noise, threaten to shoot, exposure to hot/cold, no food or water, punching / kicking, make person go naked, hold under water, threaten relatives, use electric shocks and sexually humiliate. All of these horrible acts are seen as part of the interrogation techniques to get information. But are these techniques a good way to get information? This question is answered in the next paragraph.

The second reason against torture is that it can provide false information. Torture should not be practiced today as it was mentioned before, it violates the human rights. Although it is very clear that nobody, with no exceptions, should use torture, today, it is very common method especially applied in interrogatories processes by terrorists, guerrillas, drug dealer, and even by governments such as the United States. Torture techniques are often used in interrogatories processes in order to get relevant information. However, the quality of the information obtained by these methods can be questionable because a person who is being tortured can say anything in order to stop the pain. The article The Torture Debate: The Missing Voices” mentions that former President Bush authorized to torture prisoners with methods such as waterboarding in order to interrogate them. Also, the article criticizes the declaration made by Ms. Condolezza Rice when she said that torture methods like waterboarding are legal. According to the article, she said, “By definition, if it was authorized by the president, it did not violate our obligations under the Convention Against Torture.” Ms. Rice’s declaration is contradictory. She is accepting that the U.S. government was torturing prisoners –which violates the human rights—but at the same time, she says that it was legal because it was authorized by the president. It is unethical that a country violates the international human right standards. Government is supposed to protect its people, and respect people’s rights.

In conclusion, torture methods are a violation of human rights. They should not apply under any reason, even for interrogatories activities. Through torture, the torturer just will get from the victim false information, which is told in order to stop the pain. Instead of governments torturing prisoners, they should find other ways to encourage prisoners to collaborate by giving relevant information such as offering prisoners reduction of sentence.