An Anthropological Analysis: Cannabis Legalization in Australia

This anthropology essay analyzes the complex issue of cannabis legalization in Australia. It begins by defining anthropology and its branches, then introduces the context of cannabis use in Australia, highlighting its recreational and medicinal applications. The main body of the essay delves i...Read More

ANTHROPOLOGY

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Advantages ............................................................................................................................1
Disadvantages.........................................................................................................................2
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Anthropology is the study of individuals, their behaviour and society. Anthropology is of
three types. Social anthropology is the study of human behaviour in the society, Cultural
anthropology is the study of values and beliefs of humans, whereas Linguistic anthropology is
the study of language and its effect on the social life of humans. Cannabis is a plant used for
recreational and medicinal purpose in Australia. Over one-third of Australians having age 22 or
above has tried the cannabis once in their life whereas 1 million Australians used the cannabis in
last year. This research essay will identify the advantages and disadvantage of Cannabis
Legalisation in Australia.
MAIN BODY
Legalization of cannabis or marijuana is a major issue in the 21st century. In present time,
the use of cannabis is increasing at a rapid speed in the whole world. Its use is increasing due to
its properties of using it in medicines and recreational purposes. Various arguments are made
regarding its usage (Armentano, 2013). There are people who believes that this plant must be
legalised in Australia whereas there are some people who thinks that this thing must remain
illegal in Australia. Lot of misinformation has been passed from different types of media to make
it legal for medicinal purpose and pressuring the government to make it legal. Whereas some
counter arguments suggests that by legalisation of cannabis, it can provide the link as a gateway
for drugs. Use of cannabis for medicinal purpose is a very important advantage for the citizens of
Australia. Whereas it can also be used as a drug for getting high by smoking which is a major
disadvantage for the people of Australia (Caulkins and et. al., 2015).
Advantages
Using Cannabis in the medical field is not a new discovery, as revealed by the medical
history, this plant is used for medicinal purpose by humans from last 5000 years. Cannabis is
used for treating various untreatable issues and problems such as cancer, stress disorder,
migraines, epilepsy, crown’s disease etc. By using the cannabis in treating patients with such
problems, the pressure on health care system can be reduced which results in improved health of
public. Thousands of people are using cannabis as an effective treatment for treating their
different ailments because of the government who determined the healing power of this plant.
1

This plant is also used for controlling the pain and till now no proof of overdose occurs in
cannabis (Davis, 2012).
By legalizing, It has a large number of socio-economic advantages. First advantage is that
it can dismantle the black market of cannabis. People who use cannabis tends to not involves in
crimes and through this, crimes rate will decrease. In 2015, a whopping 996 billion dollars was
estimated from the legal sales of different cannabis products and the tax which was collected at
the same time was 135 million dollars (Isaac, Saini and Chaar, 2016). This collected money can
be utilised for funding the firefighters, hire more police officers, improving roads etc. Cannabis
can also be used for the production of hemp which is used in textile products manufacturing. In
the present situation, this hemp can become the biggest revenue creator. It is a known fact that
cannabis has less negative effect on the health of individuals than alcohol and cigarettes.
By limiting the utilisation of cannabis, government is limiting the freedom of individuals.
Even the drug is harmful to use but still the decision should be taken by the people whether this
will harm them or not (Lancaster, Seear and Ritter, 2017). It is interesting to know that the
persons who are against the legalisation of cannabis are the drug dealers themselves. Illegal drug
dealers are making huge amount of money from this business. After legalisation ,the black
market of cannabis will be dismantled which leads to huge loss of revenue for these dealers.
Disadvantages
legalisation of cannabis has various advantages but still there are also various
disadvantages too. According to the Hall, & Pacula (2003) The scientists are still investigating
the status of gateway drug and to determine whether it is an addictive drug or not. Some
scientists suggested that the user of cannabis develops dependency with the time. This effect is
same in the case of people who quit the smoking which is legal in countries. Cannabis is a
natural plant who falls in the category of drug and it alters the perception and normal functioning
of the humans who consumes it on a regular basis (Smith, 2013). This also effects the mentality
and thinking of people in taking proper judgements which often leads to rape, accidents,robbery
etc. There are evidences which states that regular use of cannabis can lead to low IQ, mental
disorders, anxiety, depression, cancer etc.
Cigarettes and tobacco consists of carcinogen which is pumped into the lungs during
smoking, whereas Cannabis has a huge amount of carcinogen compared to tobacco. According to
the Hall, W. (1998) Smoking of cannabis could also negatively harm cardiovascular system and
2

regular smoking of cannabis could be dangerous in people suffering from cardiac diseases.
According to the Ferguson, & Horwood (2000) Cannabis is proved as a gateway of drug by the
scientists as they proved with their studies that once this drug is consumed, there are more
chances that they would try high level drug after that. Legalization of cannabis can leads to rise
in number of people who consumes drug and can put pressure on public medical system in order
to provide treatment to these addicts for assisting them to quit consuming drugs.
Illustration 1: Medical cannabis crop in Australia
(Source: Medical cannabis crops in Australia. 2018)
The movement for making the cannabis legal is already active in some regions. Despite
the fact there are both positive and negative aspects of consuming it in the daily life of people.
Various people such as treatment specialist, police, courts and the government are working
together for making a society which is free of cannabis and drug addiction in Australia
(Sznitman and Zolotov, 2015). The drug can be used for treating the patients with untreatable
disease whereas there are also side effects of regular consuming it such as memory loss, weight
loss and various other long time effects which can effect the society in terms of physical, mental
and morality issues. It is necessary to have prior understanding and proved data for legalising
this drug in Australia. Using this drug, chances of consuming other drugs are high which can
pose a biggest threat to the country and society. Legalisation of cannabis or marijuana can be
3

morally wrong due to the harmful effects on the human body and society. Also there are several
other effects of this plant which are still unidentified. Even the available advantages are also not
proved effectively which can leads to rise of other health issues. According to McGeorge, &
Aitken (1997) Legalisation of cannabis can results into rise of number of people who consumes
it daily. Legalisation is not necessary but government needs to adopt some strategies for
regulating and controlling the use of cannabis so that it can be used for both recreational and for
medical purposes. Government needs to implement new laws for regulating the production of
this plant.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the above report that cannabis has both negative and positive
effects on the human body and on the society. But due to having positive effects, it is not fixed
that people will not use it for smoking purpose. Legalisation of cannabis must not be done by the
Australian government. As when the government will legalise this plant, people will start to
consume it and even they can go for high level drugs such as cocaine and heroin. So, cannabis
can be legalised for the medicinal purpose only not for personal use or for entertainment use.
Regular use of cannabis can lead to loss of health and can lead to various personal and social
problems.
4

REFERENCES
Caulkins, J.P. and et. al., 2015. Considering marijuana legalization: Insights for Vermont and
other jurisdictions. Rand Corporation.
Ferguson, D.M.. & L.J. Horwood, 2000. ‘Does Cannabis Use Encourage Other Forms of Illicit
Drug Use?’, Addiction. 95(4): 505-520.
Hall, W., 1998. ‘Cannabis Use and Psychosis’, Drug and Alcohol Review. 17: 433- 444.
Hall, W. & R.L. Pacula, 2003. ‘Policy Alternatives’. In Cannabis Use and Dependence: Public
Health and Public Policy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 183-226.
Lancaster, K., Seear, K. and Ritter, A., 2017. Making medicine; producing pleasure: A critical
examination of medicinal cannabis policy and law in Victoria, Australia. International
Journal of Drug Policy. 49. pp.117-125.
McGeorge, J. & C.K. Aitken, 1997. ‘Effects of Cannabis Decriminalization in the Australian
Capital Territory on University Students’ Patterns of Use, Journal of Drug Issues.
27(4): 785-794.
Smith, H., 2013. Legalizing medical cannabis in Australia. Australian Medical Student Journal.
4(1). pp.56-58.
5