Should marijuana be considered a drug or a plant?

Taylor Alfonso

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, in an interview with the British edition of GQ magazine on October 22, said "[Marijuana] is not a drug. It's a leaf."

Although Schwarzenegger's Press Secretary, Aron McLear, said the Governor was being "lighthearted," his comments raise the question, "Is marijuana accurately defined as a drug?"

We have repeatedly heard that marijuana is not physically addictive and is less harmful than alcohol and even cigarettes. But the question isn't whether marijuana is less dangerous than other drugs, but whether it is accurately classified as one.

According to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary, a drug is "something, often an illegal substance, that causes addiction, habituation, or a marked change in consciousness." So of course, marijuana should be considered a drug; it alters consciousness.

It is unsafe and illegal to drive while under its influence because it slows reaction time and changes a person's natural state of mind.

Brown University's Health and Education Web site states that "Both animal and human studies show physical and psychological withdrawal symptoms from marijuana, including irritability, restlessness, insomnia, nausea and intense dreams." Many who smoke marijuana regularly and habitually do so. It is used to relax, to escape, to aid sleeping, to increase appetite, to cure nausea and used for a variety of other reasons.

Regardless of the Governor's "lighthearted," silly comments, marijuana is accurately defined as a drug. Just because it is natural and merely a plant does not erase the effects and consequences it has on users and abusers, including a chronic cough if used regularly, laziness, short-term memory loss, and some sources still say, infertility. These explanations all classify marijuana as drug and it is risky to define it otherwise.

Trevor Owens

By almost any definition, marijuana is a drug. Perhaps Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is on to something, though. He told the British version of GQ magazine that marijuana is "not a drug. It's a leaf."

The plant grows in the ground naturally, and is indigenous to much of the world. Without any treatment, it has the potential to be a powerful relaxant and pain reliever. Why deny this boon given to us by the planet on which we live by designating it an illegal drug?

California should lead the nation and make the plant legal for all purposes, recreational or medicinal. The state shouldn't stop there. A distinction should be made between drugs that grow naturally on earth, and those that are synthetically developed or undergo an extensive refining process.

Cocaine, methamphetamines, heroin, ecstasy, and mescaline are all artificially made by chemists in a laboratory. These drugs are dangerous and are rightly illegal. Marijuana, hallucinogenic mushrooms, peyote and opium all occur in nature without the need for man's interference. Marijuana, peyote, and hallucinogenic mushrooms are comparative to alcohol in many ways, and should be readily available at places like grocery stores.

The classification of certain drugs as legal and others as illegal seems arbitrary and thoughtless. Marijuana is a drug, but it's a benign one, with many potential benefits for users. Most of those who use the plant do so for strictly recreational purposes, but many use it to escape pain. It should be sold at pharmacies as a natural painkiller, and new laws should restrict its use to the home, hospitals or hash bars.

If it takes a new designation as a legal substance for marijuana to be considered similar to alcohol, and sold with similar restrictions, then that is what should happen.

Classify marijuana a legal recreational leaf so that the plant can finally benefit all of those who really need it, and help regulate those that use it for personal enjoyment.

Opium could be made available in place of morphine in hospitals, as a natural alternative to the synthesized drug.

It is time this society grew up and looked at the situation objectively.