Marijuana and It'S Legality: A Near Reality or Up in Smoke?

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MARIJUANA AND IT’S LEGALITY: A NEAR REALITY OR

UP IN SMOKE?
By: Laika A. Hernandez

“It’s a killing activity, and I think that at my age — ako hindi


masyado, kasi nagmamarijuana ako eh, para magising. Sa iba,
hindi na kaya,” Duterte said in a speech during the conferment of
awards to the Asean-National Organizing Council officials in
Malacañang.1 Whether in truth or in jest, marijuana laws should be
further scrutinized in order to draw a clear line between the fact
and a fiction that we’ve been all adhering to for years. In this day
and age, marijuana is the mainstream drug and a blistering topic to
our nation especially when progressive countries has taken steps to
do away from a paternalistic and moralistic approach which do not
bring any solutions to the war on drugs. In order to effectively
evaluate the various constitutional challenges which can be raised
with respect to the signed treaties and laws prohibiting the use and
possession of marijuana,' it is paramount to understand the nature
of this drug, the historical and present usage.

Marijuana, or also known as cannabis is the familiar name for a


raw drug made from the plant cannabis sativa - a plant intended for
use as a psychoactive drug and as medicine.2 To state a fact,
marijuana has been used for medical purposes since 2700 BC,
where ancient Greeks and Egyptians used the weed to treat
ailments. It is also believed to be consumed because of its
physiological effects.3 Marijuana can be consumed in many
different ways, such as smoking, using a vaporizer, brewed as a
tea, or by adding it as an ingredient in food.4

Why was it criminalized in the first place? At time it was seen


that there was an influx of immigration from Mexico into states like
Texas and Louisiana. Unsurprisingly, new Americans brought with
them their native language, culture and customs. One of these
customs was the utilization of cannabis as a medicine and relaxant.
Mexican immigrants referred to this plant as “marihuana”. While
Americans were very familiar with “cannabis” because it was
present in almost all tinctures and medicines available at the time,
the word “marihuana” was a foreign term.5 So, when the media
1
Corrales, Nestor. Inquirer.Net. “Duterte Admits Using Marijuana To Keep Him Awake.”
December 3, 2018. Available from: <https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1059499/duterte-
admits-using-marijuana-to-keep-him-awake#ixzz5YoBkqftb> Accessed: December 3,
2018.
2
National Institute on Drug Abuse. “Marijuana.” June 2018. Available from:
<https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/marijuana> Accessed December 1,
2018.
3
Corre, Adam. “Cannabis Has Been Used Medically for A Thousand of Years.” January
2018/ Available from: <https://www.cbdtesters.co/2018/01/25/cannabis-used-medicinally-
thousands-years/> Accessed December 1, 2018.
4
Loc. cit.

5
Tackett, Brittany. “History of Marijuana.” August 17, 2018. Available from:
began to play on the fears that the public had about these new
citizens by falsely spreading claims about the “disruptive
Mexicans” with their dangerous native behaviors including
marihuana use, the rest of the nation did not know that this
“marihuana” was a plant they already had in their medicine
cabinets.6 Simply put, the demonization of the cannabis plant was
an extension of the demonization of the Mexican immigrants. In an
effort to control and keep tabs on these new citizens, El Paso, TX
borrowed a play from San Francisco’s playbook, which had
outlawed opium decades earlier in an effort to control Chinese
immigrants.7 The idea was to have an excuse to search, detain and
deport Mexican immigrants... that excuse became marijuana. This
method of controlling people by controlling their customs was quite
successful, so much so that it became a national strategy for
keeping certain populations under the watch and control of the
government. During hearings on marijuana law in the 1930’s,
claims were made about marijuana’s ability to cause men of color
to become violent and solicit sex from white women. This imagery
became the backdrop for the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 which
effectively banned its use and sales.8 While the Act was ruled
unconstitutional years later, it was replaced with the Controlled
Substances Act in the 1970’s which established Schedules for
ranking substances according to their harmfulness and potential
for addiction.9 In South Africa, Cannabis or Marijuana was wholly
criminalized in 1928 under the Medical, Dental and Pharmacy Act,
for political and moral reasons.10 They painted the drug—and the
communities using it—as a threat to the already crippled country
and began the process of banning it.

Why is there an increasing number of countries decriminalizing


it? As a handful of states have legalized marijuana for recreational
use, some others have taken less dramatic steps toward
decriminalizing pot by reducing the legal penalties associated with
marijuana possession. Thirteen states have moved toward
decriminalizing marijuana but not legalizing it — so possession of
small amounts of pot no longer carries criminal penalties like
prison time, but possession of larger amounts and trafficking,
including sales for recreational purposes, remain criminally
illegal.11 Supporters of decriminalization often point to Portugal as
<https://www.recovery.org/topics/history-marijuana/> Accessed. December 2, 2018.
6
Loc. cit.
7
Burnett, M., & Reiman, A. “How Did Marijuana Become Illegal In the First Place?”
October 2014. Available from: <https://blogs.furman.edu/ccross/social-impacts/>
Accessed December 2, 2018.
8
Loc. cit.
9
Loc. cit.
10
Muhammed Zawid Jadwat. “Legalization Of Dagga: Cultivating Harm In The Backyards
of Mzansi.” September 28, 2018. Available from:
<https://www.news24.com/MyNews24/legalisation-of-dagga-cultivating-harm-in-the-
backyards-of-mzansi-20180928> Accessed: December 2, 2018.
11
Lopez, German. 13 States Have Decriminalized — But Not Legalized — Marijuana.
November 14, 2018. Available from:
evidence of the policy’s success. A 2009 Cato Institute report found
that more people with drug use disorders sought treatment
services because the country decriminalized all drugs and, as a
result, removed the fear of arrest.12 According to Miron in his
paper, “The budgetary implications of marijuana legalization in
Masachusetts”, $120.6 million annually in government expenditure
towards criminal justice enforcement. Similarly, the state would
also yield tax revenue of $16.9 million annually.13It’s worth noting
that research has shown alcohol to be more dangerous than
marijuana.14 In addition, cannabis doesn’t really cause superhuman
strength, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s fact
sheet on the drug says that “No death from overdose of marijuana
has been reported.15

In our country at present time, marijuana is illegal considering


its unfavorable effects to the society and environment. Increase of
death rate is one of the reasons why marijuana is banned in the
Philippines. Surprisingly, tobacco and alcohol, the two primary
causes of death in the whole world, are both legal in the
Philippines.16 Meanwhile, marijuana which is considered illegal has
not caused any death. Not a single death has been recorded due to
marijuana use. The government has been facing its war on drugs
since time immemorial. Despite all the efforts, there is still an
influx of drugs. Considering the abovementioned, were the
medicinal and/or recreational use of marijuana be legalized, many
medical issues can be solved, our government will show that it can
still function as the democracy claims to be, and millions of pesos
more will be available to be put towards our nation’s debt. This
“War on Drugs” has been proven to be ineffective, affecting lives on
both sides of the war, blatant violations of due process, and
ultimately undermining the very nature of our constitutional
democracy.

<https://www.vox.com/identities/2018/8/20/17938358/marijuana-legalization-
decriminalization-states-map> Accessed December 1, 2018.
12
Loc. cit.
13
Miron, Jeffrey A. “The Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Legalization in
Massachusetts.” August 2003. Available from
<www.changetheclimate.org/bustudy/mass_budget.pdf>. Accessed November 29, 2018.

14
Perrie Stewart. “New Study Finds Alcohol Damages Your Brain More Than Weed.”
February 13, 2018. Available from: <http://www.ladbible.com/news/interesting-news-new-
study-finds-alcohol-damages-your-brain-more-than-weed-20180213> Accessed December
3, 2018.
15
NIDA. (2018, June 22). Marijuana. Retrieved from
<https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/marijuana on 2018> December 4,
2018.
16
WHO Report: Smoking and Drinking Cause Millions of Deaths Worldwide. Retrieved
from: <https://drugfree.org/learn/drug-and-alcohol-news/who-report-smoking-and-
drinking-cause-millions-of-deaths-worldwide/> Accessed: December 4, 2018.

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