Daniel Avilez

English 1010
Prof. Erin Walton
Issue Exploration Essay
Surrender: The Failed War on Drugs

People that consume marijuana are criminals. This is the stance of the federal

government of the United States of America. Many individual states have their own

laws on that reaffirm their position. Federally, the mandatory minimum sentence for

a first-time offender of possession with the intent to distribute a controlled

substance (no injury or death involved) is 10 years in prison. By way of comparison,

Sex Trafficking of children carries the same sentence. In my Issue Exploration

Essay I am examining if the punishment fits the crime. Should be considered a

crime at all?

Marijuana is listed as a Schedule 1 controlled substance. That means, per the

Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), it has no medical use and a high

propensity for abuse. However, the United States Patent and Trademark Office lists

patent number 6,630,507. The owner of this patent is The United States of America

as represented by the Department of Health and Human Services. The abstract of

the patent optimistically states that The cannabinoids are found to have particular

application as neuroprotectants, for example in limiting neurological damage

following ischemic insults, such as stroke and trauma, or in the treatment of

neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and

HIV dementia (Hampson, A., Axelrod, J., & Grimaldi, M., 1999).

Given that marijuana is in the schedule 1 controlled substance category, it is

difficult to conduct empirical research. On the other hand, the United States
government holds the only patent that has been issued to allowed on marijuana,

further exacerbating research possibilities. If the government secretly concedes that

marijuana has medicinal benefits, why wont they downgrade it to a schedule 2

substance? Examples of other drugs listed as schedule 2 are, cocaine,

methamphetamine, oxycodone, fentanyl, etc. In the medical field, it is universally

agreed upon that each of those drugs are significantly more addictive and

astronomically more dangerous.

Im not saying marijuana use isnt dangerous. I am saying we dont know how

dangerous it is due to inadequate research. Research shows that drug-related visits

to the emergency room are increasing. The Wall Street Journal (Letters to the editor:

Pot fears are one toke over the line, 1995) states that this data is misleading. What

was being measured, was people that had been admitted in to the hospital that had

reported recent marijuana use. Using marijuana recently and going to the

emergency room does not equate to visiting the emergency room because of

marijuana. However, any time you inhale smoke you stress your respiratory system.

A report by the Philadelphia Tribune (Blunt facts on marijuana use, 2005) linked

marijuana use to a higher risk of lung infection, daily respiratory problems (excess

phlegm and cough), and certain types of cancer. If given that information and told

to make an informed decision on whether I would personally use marijuana, I would

choose not to do so. In the case of my brother, Ruben Avilez, a veteran of the United

States Marine Corps that served two active duty military tours in Iraq and one in

Afghanistan, marijuana is a miracle drug. Ruben was medically retired out of the

Marines in 2015 after 12 years of service. He suffers from chronic back pain after he

was struck in the back by a mine sweeper, a traumatic brain injury, severe Post

Traumatic Stress Disorder as well as other medical conditions because of toxic

chemical exposure. Ruben has been subjected to countless medical trials of

pharmaceutical drugs that have had severe adverse effects. At one point, he was

prescribed seventeen different medications that he had to take multiple times a day.

We joked that he should take them by putting them in a cereal bowl and eat them

with a spoon. Aside from side effects like weight gain and feeling catatonic, his

medications literally almost killed him. He was preparing lunch for my nephew, Alex,

when he became light headed and collapsed on to the floor. He woke up in the

emergency room with a doctor explaining to him how his heart had suddenly

stopped. Alex, then six years old, had called the ambulance that had saved his life.

Doctors later determined the incident was caused by medications that did not

interact well with each other.

Ruben Started to hear from some of his friends that he served in the military

with about how marijuana had affected them. Wanting to alter his approach, he

decided to try marijuana out for a month to see if it could help. He has since

cancelled all his medications in lieu of using marijuana exclusively. He asserts that

marijuana has changed his life and allowed him to be a father again. While he still

has chronic back pain, he reports that it is much more tolerable than when he was

on pharmaceutical pain killers. Additionally, it helps manage his Post Traumatic

Stress Disorder and effects from the chemical exposure. He has lost the weight he

had put on from the medications and has had no other heart troubles. He can be

active instead of catatonic. Mostly he is upset because he feels like he was lied to.

He was always warned about the damage that marijuana causes and researched the

damage that it can do, but he was rarely told about the benefits it could give him.

Given his informed decision, he chooses to use marijuana, proclaiming it has given

him a new lease on life. He lives in California, where marijuana is legal both
medically and recreationally. When I visit him, I must look at it from the perspective

a law enforcement officer. Him using it around me could make me lose my job for

failure to act on a crime at a federal level. As an ordinary citizen, I dont think I have

the authority to tell him what he can and cannot do. After all, he was the person

that defended the very country that now condemns him.

Lack of research has caused people like Ruben to experiment, which is the

argument that many people make. That he is diagnosing his condition and self-

prescribing medication, or over-prescribing medication. In terms of conventional

medicine, this is a very valid argument. If you take excessive amounts of drugs like

opioids, benzodiazepines, even aspirin, the results can be fatal. However, marijuana

is not a conventional medicine. There have been zero deaths attributed to

marijuana overdose. People have been left to prescribe themselves with varying

doses of marijuana since we do not allow medical institutions to adequately

research it. For many medical refugees that have uprooted their lives from their

home states in search of more lenient marijuana laws, experimenting is the only

way they can find relief for themselves or family members. That shouldnt make you

a criminal, it should make you a patient.

 Bibliography

Blunt facts on marijuana use. (2005, Jan 25). Philadelphia Tribune Retrieved from

https://search.proquest.com.libprox1.slcc.edu/docview/337760411?

accountid=28671

I like this article because, while being anti-marijuana and more bias, the
research seems to be more representative of facts. A lot of the pro-marijuana
conglomerate focus exclusively on the potential benefits while disregarding the fact
that it can be harmful to users. From acute respiratory issues to higher risks of some
cancers, marijuana is not a substance meant for everyone, nor is it the miracle drug
its purported to be. However, people should be allowed to make their own informed
decisions as to whether it is right for them.

Evergreen: The road to legalization [Video file]. (2014). Retrieved February 16,

2017, from http://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?

wID=102595&xtid=65963
 This video would be the nemesis of the last reference listed. Where that one
was overwhelmingly negative but well researched, this one is in the affirmation
while acknowledging the negative side. It provides the positions of the judicial
system, from judges, lawyers, law enforcement right down to the lawmakers
themselves. It paints a vivid picture of people that are all ultimately for the
legalization/legislation of marijuana but dont support specific verbiage in legislation
that is objectionable. Semantics within the legal system can make an enormous
difference in how people respond to a specific objective.

Hampson, A., Axelrod, J., & Grimaldi, M. (1999, October 28). patft Page 1 of 1 .

United States Patent: 6630507. Retrieved February 11, 2017, from

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?

Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO

%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=6630507.PN.&OS=PN/6630507&RS=

PN/6630507

In researching my topic, this was a big discovery. Patent Number 6,630,507

was granted to the United States of America as represented by The Department of
Health and Human Services outlining specific medicinal benefits to marijuana. This
is entirely contradictory, as the Drug Enforcement Administration lists marijuana as
a schedule 1 controlled substance. That means it has no known medicinal benefits
and a high propensity for abuse. Why speak against marijuana with such fervor
when research that you ordered has shown such promise in helping ailments within
your citizenry? Furthermore, the patent states No signs of toxicity or serious side
effects have been observed following chronic administration of cannabidiol to
healthy volunteers even in large acute doses of 700 mg/day. It is reckless to
penalize people on the premise that marijuana is dangerous, when you already have
that data to prove otherwise.

Letters to the editor: Pot fears are one toke over the line. (1995, Feb 16). Wall Street

Journal Retrieved from

https://search.proquest.com.libprox1.slcc.edu/docview/398475752?

accountid=28671

The thing I really enjoyed about this article, is that it illustrated the deliberate
misrepresentation of statistical data. For example, most hard-core drug users,
people that use heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, etc. also use marijuana. That
doesnt make marijuana a gateway drug, because the clear majority of marijuana
users never graduate to harder substances. Additionally, people that go to the
emergency room and report having used marijuana recently does not equate to an
emergency room visit caused by drug use, though that is how it is reported. This
kind of false reporting by places like the Partnership for a Drug-Free America and
National Institute on Drug Abuse has a negative impact on what they are
attempting to achieve.