According to Drugs, Society, and Human Behavior by Charles Ksir, Carl L Hart, and Okley Ray, the definition of a drug is “any substance, natural or artificial, other than food, that by its chemical nature alters structure or function in the living organisms”. So why it is that marijuana is not legalized, decriminalized, or at least available to those in need? When Shen Nug’s Pen Ts’ao, the first medical text, was written cannabis was classified it as an herb. Even today people who have chronic pain use cannabis products to treat their condition. The legalization of medical marijuana is a social justice issue because once it is legalized it will make the streets safer, act as a safer painkiller, and help the American economy.
This injustice affects people who suffer from chronic pain and youth who live in neighborhoods where marijuana is trafficked. People who suffer from cancer have to take prescription drugs that are prescribed to them, when they have the option of medical marijuana. Most pharmaceutical drugs like vicodin and duiludido have a high potency which produce strong effects like nausea on people especially people with a low body mass. However, cannabis can be controlled by the amount of THC, and that can be determined based on a patient’s body mass. There is also the risk of an overdose with most pharmaceutical drugs compared to there never being an overdose in history. Youth are affected because the same streets that the so-called “illegal marijuana” is trafficked on are the same where they live. It is possible for a ninth-grader like me to witness a “narcotic” transaction of marijuana, going to and from the school. This can influence children to use or sell drugs especially when it’s out in the open. If cannabis was legalized it would be a private matter, and there would be no need to worry that children are being exposed to drugs.
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