Word Count: 1317

Legislation That Kills

In 1971, President Richard Nixon requested and was granted funds for an agency that

would classify and enforce drugs (Nixon); the funds were granted and the Drug Enforcement

Administration (DEA) was created. The classifications created range from a Schedule 1-5

substance. Schedule 1, as defined by the DEA, was for "drugs, substances, or chemicals are

defined as drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse" and

includes drugs such as marijuana, heroin and the party drug ecstasy. Each following Schedule is

less serious than the one before it, with Schedule 5 including drugs with very little potential for

abuse such as cough syrup ("Drug Schedules"). Marijuana should be reclassified from a

Schedule 1 Substance to a Schedule 5 Substance or lesser to allow access to those who can

benefit from its medicinal properties and reduce the healthcare industry's high dependency on

opioids; all while both freeing up and increasing Government resources.

In the eyes of the DEA as recently as August 2016 (Bernstein), marijuana has no medical

use whatsoever. Although this may have been acceptable prior to any scientific research

regarding marijuana in the 1970s, countless experiments and studies have been carried out since.

ProCon.com compiled all the peer-reviewed studies available and found that out of sixty peer-

reviewed articles, sixty-eight percent concluded with evidence of positive medical uses, eight

percent did not find benefits, and twenty-three percent were inconclusive. Marijuana is capable

of everything from inhibiting the growth of invasive breast cancer cells (McAllister) to relieving

chemotherapy-induced nausea (Duran) to reducing the frequency of seizures in those with

epilepsy (Upadhyay). The Epilepsy Foundation reports that in a study of the effects of CBD on

children and adults who suffer from seizures, the participants in the study showed a fifty-four
percent decrease in seizures during the study (Patel). The patients in this study had tried many

other forms of treatment and drugs to treat the seizures and none of them had shown any results

until they tried using CBD-based medicines. Medical marijuana should be legalized and then

regulated by the FDA so that patients are able to access the treatment they need no matter what

state they are residents of and can be assured that the medicine they are getting is safe to use.

There are millions of people with these and other conditions that can be helped by marijuana but

due to its classification, doctors are unable to legally prescribe this natural medicine. The current

federal position on marijuana also inhibits the amount of research that can be done, further

slowing the process towards legalization. This prevents much needed relief and only helps one

group: the pharmaceutical industry.

Although the common perception of marijuana is becoming positive in the U.S., it is the

sharing of unvetted information by those in positions of power that holds back progressive

legislation and directly leads to thousands of deaths each year. United States Attorney General

Jeff Sessions, who said “Good people don’t smoke marijuana” during his confirmation hearing,

prefers sharing his beliefs over the facts, “The DEA said that a huge percentage of the heroin

addiction starts with prescriptions. That may be an exaggerated number; they had it as high as 80

percent,” Sessions. Said “We think a lot of this is starting with marijuana and other drugs too

(Lopez).” The opioid epidemic is the effect of over-prescription, which hit two-hundred and

fifty-nine million in 2012 (Dowell), for chronic and acute pain. Opioids fall under the Schedule 2

classification, yet the Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that nearly two

million people are addicted or dependent on the drug they were prescribed (Dowell) and the

Council of Economic Advisors states that over thirty-three thousand Americans died for opioid

overdoses 2015. Opening the door to prescribed marijuana, instead of forcing those who have no
other options to find it on the streets where they could be getting anything, which has a total of

zero recorded deaths by overdose, has the potential to save each of those lives and prevent the

over four-hundred thousand E.R. visits per year relating to misuse or abuse of narcotic pain

killers (Dowell). Furthermore, in the twenty-five states that have legalized medical marijuana,

physicians prescribe an average of over eighteen-hundred fewer doses of opioid pain killers to

their patients (Ingraham) while hospital admissions for prescription opioid abuse and overdose

death drops by fifteen to thirty-five percent (Frances). Opioid manufacturers visibly

acknowledge marijuana’s success by funding anti-pot research and donating to lobbying groups

that oppose marijuana legalization. The economic cost of the opioid crisis in 2015 was five-

hundred and four billion U.S. dollars (CEA), this money is being taken from American citizens,

U.S.-based companies, and the government. It’s time for legally prescribed marijuana to begin

giving that money back.

Since the beginning of the war on drugs, the primary strategy for enforcement has simply

been incarceration. Forty-four percent of all drug arrests per year are for marijuana and those

incarcerated are disproportionately African American (Beckett). Furthermore, faculty researchers

at the University of Washington found that “Decriminalizing marijuana and deprioritizing

enforcement of marijuana laws leads to no significant increase in marijuana use;” despite high

arrest rates, high school seniors in Washington did not report that marijuana was harder to

obtain, effectively showing the redundancy of spending over two billion dollars a year trying to

enforce its illegality. With the average cost of incarceration being just short of thirty-two

thousand dollars a year per inmate, and there being approximately twenty-eight thousand people

serving time for marijuana offenses, taxpayers are left with a hefty fee for marijuana’s illegal

status regardless of if they support it or not. Cutting these costs and allowing for legitimate
businesses to sell taxed marijuana could vitalize the economy instead of hurting it. In a state like

Colorado, where marijuana has been legal for recreational use since 2014, the state has brought

in $506 million in tax revenue from legal marijuana purchases (Smith). Much of this revenue has

been put towards Colorado’s education system, with a small portion also going to drug treatment

programs and regulating the marijuana industry. This is just the tax revenue from one state, if the

federal government reclassified it to Schedule 5 or lesser, legalized use would increase the

resources that could be used to enrich our public school system or fight the opioid epidemic. In

addition to the tax revenue reclassification would bring states, it would also create thousands of

new jobs and stimulate many areas of the economy whose services are required for the legal

growing and distribution of marijuana. Legalized medical marijuana would undoubtedly save the

government billions of dollars per year on enforcement and incarceration as well as provide

funds that could be used for drug counseling and therapy or to fund our schools, instead of trying

to arrest each new dealer and letting the ones who aren’t caught profit substantially, as is

happening now.

For decades the issue of marijuana has polarized American culture but now that public

perception is changing based on valid research, it is time for the federal government to catch up.

Countless times marijuana has proven itself as a way to mediate pain and discomfort in patients

with serious health problems who had no other recourse and is saving the lives of those who

would’ve been prescribed strong o a mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one

considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or

embarrassing.pioids in the states with progressive legislation every day. Our nation would

avoid furthering the opioid crisis, take money from the street dealers of both marijuana and

narcotics, as well as increase tax revenue which could be used for betterment of society and help
the tens of thousands of Americans who are incarcerated for something as small as possession of

marijuana. The evidence is all over and the ways in which society will benefit both economically

and medically from the marijuana plant show that reclassification is simply necessary but is

illogically and unethically denied by the United States government.

Works Cited

“60 Peer-Reviewed Studies on Medical Marijuana” The Leading Source for Pros & Cons of

Controversial Issues, ProCon.org, 2 Oct. 2016, Accessed 2 Mar. 2018.

Beckett, Katherine. Herbert, Steve. “The Consequences and Costs of Marijuana Prohibition.”

University of Washington, Accessed 5 Mar. 2018.

Bernstein, Lenny. “U.S. Affirms its Prohibition on Medical Marijuana.” The Washington Post,

Contributed to by Christopher Ingraham, WP Company, 11 Aug. 2016, Accessed 3 Mar.

2018.

Berkun, Rose. Khechen, Benjamin. Berku, Ryan. “Opioid Addiction: Addressing the Crisis of a

National Opioid Overdose Epidemic.” Journal of Pain Relief, Omicsonline.org, 10 Oct.

2016, doi:10.4172/2167-0846.1000271. Accessed 4 Mar. 2018.

Dowell, Deborah. “CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain — United States,

2016.” CDC, 18 Mar. 2016, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.rr6501e1. Accessed

5 Mar. 2018.

“Drug Scheduling.” DEA, Accessed 2 Mar. 2018.

Duran, Marta et al. “Preliminary Efficacy and Safety of an Oromucosal Standardized Cannabis

Extract in Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting.” British Journal of Clinical

 Pharmacology, Nov. 2010, DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2125.2010.03743.x , Accessed 5 Mar.

2018.

Frances, Allen. “Opioid Companies Lobby Against Medical Marijuana.” The Huffington Post,

TheHuffingtonPost.com, 12 Sept. 2016, Accessed 4 Mar. 2018.

Ingraham, Christopher. “One Striking Chart Shows Why Pharma Companies Are Fighting Legal

Marijuana.” The Washington Post, 13 July 2016, Accessed 5 Mar. 2018.

Kenney, Kathleen. “Annual Determination of Average Cost of Incarceration.” Bureau of

Prisons, Justice, Number 2016-17040, Federal Register, 19 July 2016, Accessed 5 Mar.

2018.

Lopez, German. “Jeff Sessions: Marijuana Helped Cause the Opioid Epidemic. The Research:

No.” Vox, 8 Feb. 2018. Accessed 5 Mar. 2018.

McAllister, Sean et al. Breast Cancer Res Treat, Vol. 129, Springer Science+Business, 22 Sep.

2010, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-010-1177-4. Accessed 1 Mar. 2018.

Patel, Anup. “Medical Marijuana and Epilepsy.” Epilepsy Foundation, Mar. 2017, Accessed 5

Mar. 2018

“Richard Nixon: Special Message to the Congress on Drug Abuse Prevention and Control." The

American Presidency Project, Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, UCSB, 17

Jun. 1971, Accessed 2 Mar. 2018.

Smith, Aaron. “Colorado Passes a Milestone for Pot Revenue.” CNN Money, Cable News

Network, 19 Jul. 2017, Accessed 2 Mar. 2018.

CEA Agency Authored. “The Underestimated Cost of the Opioid Crisis.” Council of Economic

Advisors, WhiteHouse.Gov, Nov. 2017, Accessed 5 Mar. 2018.

Upadhyay, Ruby. “Majority of Epileptic Marijuana Users Perceive Decreased Seizure

Frequency.” Neurology, American Academy of Neurology, 17 Apr. 2017, Accessed 4

Mar. 2018.