NEIL DOMINIC C.

MAHUSAY BSME-1

Legalization of Marijuana in the Philippines

Cannabis, also known as marijuana, refers to the dried leaves, flowers, stems, and
seeds from the Cannabis sativa or Cannabis indica plant. The plant contains the mind-
altering chemical THC and other similar compounds (National Institute on Drug Abuse,
2019). It is a preparation of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug and
as medicine. These are dried leaves and flowering tops of the pistil hemp plant that yield
THC and are smoked in cigarettes for their intoxicating effect. 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.
Marijuana can be consumed in many different ways, such as smoking, using a vaporizer,
brewed as Cannabis tea, or by adding it as an ingredient in food.
In our country today, marijuana is considered illegal. The legalization of marijuana
can bring both favourable and unfavourable effects to the society, and the environment.
Our government is very much aware of this and have decided not legalize the drug, despite
the efforts of the citizens of convincing the government to legalize marijuana.
Tobacco and alcohol, both legal in the Philippines, are two of the primary causes of
deaths. These have caused 10% and 3.8% of all deaths in the country, respectively.
Approximately ten Filipinos die every hour due to tobacco-related diseases (The Manila
Times, 2019). Meanwhile, marijuana which is considered illegal has not caused any death.
Not a single death has been recorded due to marijuana overdose. According to the latest
analysis by the NerdWallet, if all 50 states legalized marijuana today, the country would
gain over 3 billion dollars in tax revenue. This very large potential proft can be extremely
helpful in our entire nation.
Although marijuana has negative effects to the behaviour, health and safety of
individuals who take these, just like any ordinary drug (both legal and illegal), it can still be
beneficial to the society in many ways. In a study on marijuana, it proved that it has
psychoactive and physiological effects when consumed. Some effects of consuming
marijuana are: relaxation and the feeling of being “high”, can relieve pain, control nausea,
stimulate appetite, increase heart rate, dilate blood vessels, fluctuate blood pressure,
decrease short-term memory, result to dry mouth, impair motor skills and can cause
reddening of the eyes. Marijuana has also been proven to treat pain and muscle spasticity.
A recent study also concluded that marijuana could help regrow brain cells and could
improve memory. Definitely, marijuana has many benefits and can be used for several
purposes.
If marijuana is to be legalized, I believe it would have numerous good and bad
effects. Some of the positive effects of legalizing the drug are listed below. First, since
marijuana is a highly addictive drug, the demand of marijuana would drastically increase
causing ordinary citizens to supply or engage in a legal business involving marijuana in
order to cope up with the high demand of the drug. In return, this provides more job
opportunities for the Filipinos. Also, terrorists who are potential drug dealers lose their
business as well as their connection with the citizens, and instead, the cash generated from
the sale of marijuana is now controlled by the law. Taxes aren’t imposed on marijuana since
it is illegal, so the government cannot gain from it or earn financial funding to support
beneficial government programs and projects.
The second point I’d like to mention is that the government’s efforts of prohibiting
the drug has failed to control the production and use of the drug. Millions of Filipinos
continue to use marijuana; hence legalizing the drug would just make it easier for both the
government and the people.
Third, marijuana is a great help to students, workers and even people with
Alzheimer’s disease because it has been said to improve memory. Marijuana has been said
to prevent memory loss, and regenerate dead brain cells and has also been proven to
prevent brain inflammation, which is the primary cause of Alzheimer’s disease(Miron,
2017). In other words, legalizing the drug would be a great benefit to the society and most
especially to patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and other illnesses and ailments.
The negative effects of legalizing marijuana, on the other hand, would include: First,
I think that legalizing marijuana would cause the people’s attention to be directed to the
use of marijuana instead of studying, working or doing something more productive. The
society shifts its attention to the use of the drug instead of working for the development of
the country. Educational systems could possibly be disturbed, as well as the normal
processes and sectors of the country. The Filipinos could become a society of drug users
instead of a group of intelligent, hardworking, and positive-minded fellows.
Second, I believe that the people would not only use, but also abuse marijuana if it
were to be legalized. This wouldn’t be surprizing because the drug would become freely
available to consumers. Moreover, legalization would increase the chances of the drug
falling into the hands of kids who, I believe, are the future leaders and forerunners of our
country.
Third, the legalization of marijuana could eventually lead to the legalization of other
high-end and harder drugs, which could be the possible reason for the destruction of our
society, the youth, and the values and traditions instilled in us.
Fourth, I do not think that legalizing the drug is suitable in the case of our country
where majority of the people live in poverty. Legalizing marijuana could be the reason why
more and more families and children would suffer from hunger, scarcity and homelessness,
lack of education and, even worse, death. I fear that by legalizing this drug, it would only
add up to the several problems our nation would have to face.
If marijuana were not to be legalized for the reasons of it being addictive, harmful to
the health and unsafe, may I also point out that alcohol and tobacco, which are both legal,
also have similar, if not worse, side effects on the behaviour, health and safety of
individuals who take these.  Marijuana isn’t actually a lethal drug and is safer than alcohol.
If the government is accepting the use of alcohol and cigarettes, then there shouldn’t be a
reason why they aren’t accepting marijuana.
I believe that too much of anything is poison and that too much of anything could be
harmful, dangerous and damaging. Growing up, we consider drugs as bad, which is very
true, but not all substances labelled as “drugs” by the government are equally as harmful,
especially when taken in moderation.
The key to building a responsible, civilized, educated and refined society is
discipline. The country, if it were to legalize marijuana, needs to discipline its leaders and
citizens and make them responsible and accountable for their actions. Using marijuana is
acceptable, as long as it is taken in reasonable amounts.
 Although the debate about the legalization of marijuana in our country goes on and
on, I believe that legalizing marijuana is absolutely fine as long as it is regulated. After all,
the drug cannot cause much damage when used in moderation. Yes, marijuana has
damaging effects but regulating the use of the drug would minimize the chance of it being
harmful and destructive. I think that even though the drug has side effects, it still has many
uses in the field of medicine and it is still beneficial to most people, which is why I think
that legalizing the drug isn’t a bad thing at all. The society just has to learn how to balance,
control and use the drug justly. Giving new things a try is one step closer to the
improvement and progress of our nation.