Why medicinal and recreational marijuana should be legal worldwide (a short article)

Hello fellow Steemians,

As my first post here, I would like to talk about a subject that I’m personally very passionate about, which is the legalization of marijuana. With this post I want to touch upon what I think are the most logical and most important arguments as to why the current policies in most countries don’t make sense. This text will probably be applicable to the majority of the readers’ countries, unless you are one of the lucky few who live in a country where it is very decriminalized or in one of the legal weed states in the US.

First a little context; I live in Belgium, where cannabis consumption and possession of low amounts is decriminalized. This means it is technically still illegal, but it has the lowest priority of all arrests. If a user is caught with, say 3g, he will most likely have to pay a fine but other than that he will be let off with a warning. A weed dealer however, will have to appear before a judge and will get a harder punishment (nothing too extreme, it is Belgium after all). Also it is important to know that Belgian laws do make a distinction between soft drugs (weed) and hard drugs (cocaine, heroin, XTC, etc.) as opposed to the USA where weed is a schedule I drug, the same category as heroin, and a higher category than methamphetamine, which is schedule II (absolutely absurd if you ask me).

My inspiration for this post comes mostly from my frustration with the current policy. I’m thankful that punishments are much softer than in the USA, but still it sucks to see how close we are to legalization without it ever happening. Even medicinal marijuana is extremely limited here: only MS-patients who have tried every other possible medication without success are allowed to try it.
Anyway, I’ll stop my rambling and get to the real arguments. Chances are you already know what I’m going to say and which arguments I’m going to bring up. This wouldn’t surprise me because the fact that you are here on Steem already tells me you are an out-of-the-box kind of thinker. 😉

The medicinal properties of the cannabis plant have got to be the most important reason for legalization. Like I mentioned before, medicinal weed is very restricted in Belgium. This does not make sense because cannabis has a whole bunch of uses in the medical world. A variety of symptoms and diseases can be treated with cannabis. They include, but are not limited to:

• lowering eye pressure for glaucoma patients
• anti-carcinogenic effect on the lungs
• controlling seizures, such as with epilepsy
• easing painful symptoms of multiple sclerosis (the only thing it is used for in Belgium)
• decreasing anxiety
• treating post-traumatic stress disorder
• pain relief and appetite stimulation for chemotherapy patients
• …

The list goes on and on. Just imagine what other possible benefits we could discover in the future. This cannot happen however, if cannabis continues to be stigmatized and criminalized as in most countries.

The arguments for legalization of recreational use are usually about moral and logical consistency. It is mostly a syllogism concerning the legality of alcohol. A number of arguments can be made in this manner, and I will give 2 examples.

1. Consider that in the US every year an estimated 88 000 people die of alcohol related causes, whereas there have been no deaths linked to marijuana in recorded history. Then the syllogism would go as follows:

Drugs are illegal when they cause more deaths than alcohol.
Weed causes a lot less deaths than alcohol (none).
Therefore, weed should be legal just like alcohol.

1. Domestic violence is known to be often fueled by alcohol, whereas domestic violence figures are lower among weed smokers. Again, the same type of argument can be made:

Drugs are illegal when they cause more (domestic) violence than alcohol.
Domestic violence figures are lower among weed smokers than alcohol drinkers.
Therefore, weed should be legal just like alcohol.

I would like to clarify that I’m by no means against alcohol. I also want to point out that I don’t want to glorify cannabis as some sort of miracle drug. Cannabis consumption does pose risks, as does any drug. With this post I merely wish to point out the double standard that is still present in many countries to this day. Most of these policies are dated and were the result of stigma, propaganda and disinformation. Now that we know better, it is time to let go of these laws and accept marijuana in our societies the same way we accept alcohol.

Sources:

http://uk.businessinsider.com/health-benefits-of-medical-marijuana-2014-4?r=US&IR=T
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-01/ways-medicinal-cannabis-might-be-good-for-you/7979426
https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-health/overview-alcohol-consumption/alcohol-facts-and-statistics
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/which-is-worse-booze-or-pot-a-doctor-weighs-in/