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Ramos, Beverly
Table of Contents
I. Introduction 3
A. Utilitarianism 3
B. Rights 4
C. Kantian Approach 7
a. Distributive Justice 7
b. Retributive Justice 8
c. Compensatory 11
E. Ethics of Care 11
a. User-Doctor Relationship 12
b. User-Government Relationship 12
c. User-Family Relationship 12
d. User-Manufacturer Relationship 13
F. Virtue Ethics 14
IV. Conclusions 20
V. Reccomendations 21
LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA: AN ETHICAL ANALYSIS 3
VI. References 21
I. Introduction
It is one of the most abused substance in the country. In the Philippines, possession of Marijuana
is subject for penalties. Marijuana is known to cause heart and blood pressure, lung problems,
Some countries have laws that allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes. Some
patients with fatal disease involving chronic pain or seizures are recommended to use marijuana,
A. Utilitarianism
was used. The following includes the societal benefits and societal costs of legalizing
marijuana.
2. Help the people in pain to not be in 3. Long-term heavy use can cause
10. Authorities can concentrate more 12. Overuse can lead to destroy
11. Reduce government spending. 13. Increase in second hand smoke that
marijuana market.
LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA: AN ETHICAL ANALYSIS 5
employment.
dispensary.
B. Rights
On the Legalization of Marijuana, it is said that among adults age 18 and older are the
major users of Marijuana. On Rights it defines the action of policy moral acceptable if it
disregard’s human rights, then it is morally unacceptable. If we were to base the Legalization of
Marijuana on this definition of rights, It is either morally acceptable and morally unacceptable.
First, it is morally acceptable if it is used for medical purposes, or so to heal or prevent chronic
pain, muscle spasms, it doesn’t harm lung capacity, unlike smoking, smokers lost lung function
It also helps control epileptic seizures which cannabidiol, another marijuana compound,
seems to help people with treatment of epilepsy. Cannabidiol or CBD also stops cancer from
spreading, in many cell parts. It alleviates pain, reduces inflammation, and promotes sleep which
LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA: AN ETHICAL ANALYSIS 6
may help relieve pain and discomfort. There are many more positive effects, but with Marijuana,
all of these can be used for medical purposes and that means it promotes good health and
Let’s say it could be immoral, here are the explanations to why it is immoral, and it
violates human rights. Legalizing marijuana would hurt only children and society as a whole.
Crime increased because of marijuana causing to get high and getting delusional, wherein in a
not well being state. Too much marijuana indoors with family can result in cancer, But, on the
other side, marijuana also prevents cancer, because of the compound, cannabidiol or CBD.
Marijuana can also lead to negative consequences, It can seriously affect a person’s sense of time
and coordination.
It results to both short-term and long-term effects. First of all, short-term memory
problems, it can cause very strange behavior, seeing and hearing or smelling things that are not
present in the real world. Not being able to tell what is real and what is imaginary. Causing
panic, hallucinations, loss of sense of personal identity, it also increases heart rate or the risk of
heart attack, increased risk of stroke and many more short-term effects.
Long-term effects will be the decline in IQ, poor school performance when children or
adolescents are involved in using marijuana, relationship problems, intimate partner violence,
which causes physical and verbal abuse to wife or husbands, in which it disregards human rights.
Principle, Rights or Human Rights. Usage of Marijuana should depend on the person’s usage of
not being addicted, and only using it for the greater good for health and medical purposes. Then
C. Kantian Approach
Legalization of marijuana can be good for everybody. It will make the substance readily
available for people that needs to use it for medical purposes. Regulation of the substance will
also create a safer environment for people who wishes to use it for recreation. Legalizing it may
lessen the stigma about marijuana thus making it less intriguing for some people.
countries. Illegal transactions for possession and usage of marijuana creates a relationship
between Users and Pushers mandated by a bigger organization. This relationship gives the
bigger organization and Pushers to use the User’s probable addiction to have more money.
Legalization of marijuana will create regulation and control over the substance. It will create
a legal and safe purchasing process for the product thus making the User-Pusher Relationship.
To determine the legalization of marijuana in terms of it being just and fair, it must undergo
the three tenants of Justice and Fairness. The analysis of each is discussed below.
a. Distributive Justice
Up to this day, legalization and personal medical use of marijuana is still under decision
and debate for it still lacks research, accepted safety and medical supervision especially here
in the Philippines. In spite of that, in present there are 28 states that already legalized marijuana
These states have implemented legislation which allows marijuana to be regulated like
alcohol, with its purchase and possession limited to individuals over 21 years of age.
Restrictions are also set to control where marijuana can be smoked, with public spaces and
schools being prohibited. Whether or not it is decided to legalize marijuana, it is evident that
historical methods are no longer effective in combating it. It also appears highly inefficient and
unjust to imprison such a large number of individuals for a crime as simple as possession,
which does nothing but raise costs for the taxpayer (Ty, 2016).
In this case, the question of distributive justice lies between the fair and just distribution
of benefits and burdens to the society. Are there equal distribution of rights in the acquisition
of the drug and equal arrest of users? The restrictions set by the state cannot generalize the
whole society for each person doesn’t have the same needs, in terms of dosage and in terms of
the age. So in this case, it will fail the just distribution of rights in acquiring the drug. For
instance, the government only permits persons aged 21 and above, what if the person needing
the medical marijuana is under the age requirement and his dosage needed exceeds the required
like the patients who suffers from epilepsy, there is a challenging part in addressing this kind
of circumstances. Fair distribution of privilege can also be hard to achieve. In this part,
Albano II have proposed a bill on legalizing the use of marijuana as a medicine and not for
recreational purposes called the House Bill 108, and had been approved by the Philippines
House Committee on Health. If adopted, the centers will be allowed to dispense cannabis to
qualified patients or caregivers through a pharmacist (Luci, 2017). However, the government
aims to achieve a fair balance in the national drug control program so the people with the
LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA: AN ETHICAL ANALYSIS 9
legitimate need of the drug will not be prevented from using it. If the balance of fair distribution
of privilege to the drug and prohibition is achieved then it will pass the distributive justice.
However, in the case of legalization in the Philippines, the decision of it is still under research
On the other hand, the legalization would benefit the public and the government equally
in terms of the financial aspect, for prohibition of marijuana is very costly, unfair and
unsuccessful (Scotti, 2017). In New Jersey, the government arrests more than 22,000 people
every year for the possession of the drug costing the taxpayers more than $125 million.
According to Ty (2016) the current system in the marijuana prohibition is biased that only cost
the government and the taxpayers millions while preventing what could be potentially
lifesaving and can contribute much on the field of medicine. And that both studies agreed to
use these money wasted in the prohibition of the said drug to more research about the medical
use of marijuana and to spend on projects that would support families and communities, and
lessen the continuously growing incarnated population that burdens both societies and
government. In this sense, legalization would pass the distributive justice. The Philippines also
adhere to this benefit and burden for millions are being imposed on financing the increasing
b. Retributive Justice
In the aspect of Retributive Justice, many researches have argued about the unjust
imposition of punishments and penalties given to those who possess marijuana illegally.
Reverend Charles Boyer, Pastor of Bethel A.M.E. Church in Woodbury argued that the
approach to legalization of the said drug should be viewed in a moral perspective. He added
LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA: AN ETHICAL ANALYSIS 10
that he had viewed how disproportionately the punishments of drug conviction is to his
community even though all communities had used marijuana at similar rates, and thus have a
long term consequences on the convicted for it can affect the person’s employment, housing,
loans, or even driver’s license. He stands that marijuana policies are a failure. Katy Wright,
Executive Director of New Jersey Parents’ Causus, had also agreed on this claim, that the
imposition of punishment under the possession of marijuana can completely ruin the person’s
Moreover, in 2007, police in California made over 60,000 felony and misdemeanor arrests
on individuals possessing marijuana. The possession of marijuana would carry a fine of $500
or up to 20 years imprisonment in the US and would also have a criminal record that could
prohibit them from privileges as to schooling, housing, and employment. For instance, the case
of a patient needing a liver transplant from the Journal of Social Work Values and Ethics, the
patient cannot undergo transplant if he cannot assure housing for the next year. The best option
he has is to attain housing from the federally funded program which requires negative results
to three drug tests. He obtained a positive result to marijuana drug. He then was not granted of
the housing and the operation did not push through either. The punishment from the view of
fair judgment is not equal to the wrong done, and as the argument of Reverend Boyer and
Another unfair imposition of punishment is the racial discrimination where Black and
white Americans use marijuana at similar rates, but black people were 3.7 times more likely to
Thus, in the retributive justice the prohibition policies fail to comply with the just
imposition of punishments
LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA: AN ETHICAL ANALYSIS 11
c. Compensatory Justice
In the aspect of compensation, people who are affected from the taxes imposed to them in
funding for the finances for the continuously growing incarnated population are not
compensated, thus legalization could be an answer to lessen the taxes imposed on people in
Based from the above analysis, the legalization of marijuana would fail in the eyes of
justice and fairness, for the distributive justice fails to give equal distribution of benefits and
burdens to the society. While on the part of retributive justice, the current prohibition policies
fails to impose just punishments to the convicted users, the same goes with compensatory
justice where the taxes and finances lost in financing the increasing population on incarnated
E. Ethics of Care
a. User-Doctor Relationship
As an ethical analysis, patients have the right to know about the benefits and risks of
marijuana as a treatment option in his/her disease. Physicians also have the right to provide
competent medical care, with compassion and respect for human dignity and rights like the right
to use and make informed decisions about their medical care. Therefore, medical practitioners
should be able to recommend marijuana and present its risks and benefits when used as a treatment
or pain reliever. However, one of the principles of medical ethics is that, a physician shall respect
the law and recognize a responsibility to seek changes in those requirements which are contrary to
LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA: AN ETHICAL ANALYSIS 12
the best interests of the patients and since marijuana is not yet legalize in most countries like the
Philippines, a violation in the law will be made if a physician does such action of recommending
marijuana as a treatment option in his / her patient. On the other hand, there are some cases and
researches that has backed up the issue that marijuana can be used as a medical treatment to
somehow reduce the pain for some conditions and illnesses like cancer. In this case, it is ethically
moral in the eyes of ethics of care for the physicians to offer all alternative treatments as the
patients are depending on the physicians on all other possible solutions and recommendations that
b. User-Government Relationship
The federal law for most countries states primarily that the use of marijuana is illegal. The
relationship connecting a marijuana user and the federal does not show any dependency and
kindness, therefore, with the principles of ethics of care, it is immoral to legalize marijuana.
Marijuana legalization doesn’t have any accounts to secure the safety and protection of a marijuana
user, thus, making them more disposed to imprisonment. Also, some advocates believe the state
should not be involved in the distribution of substances that are considered unhealthy. They believe
it is the state’s job to protect each citizen's health and not contribute to exposing them to risky
items.
c. User-Family Relationship
The use of marijuana is knowingly illegal for almost all countries except for Uruguay and
recently, Canada. As for this, the use of marijuana can cause the user imprisonment and paying of
fine depending on the what the countries’ law states. For some instances, if a user is found guilty
LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA: AN ETHICAL ANALYSIS 13
and is being searched by the authorities, cases like family member hiding the involved person from
the law is considered morally ethical by the principles of ethics of care. The person has a sense of
dependency on the related family member for safety or intended escape from the violation of the
law. The ethics of care considers giving extra consideration and it can affect the emotional
d. User-Manufacturer Relationship
Advocates believe that legalizing the drug would be a good thing because it forces
manufactures to meet regulation guidelines just like the manufactures of cigarettes and alcoholic
beverages. Currently legal drugs must have ingredients lists, warning labels and purity levels
clearly stated on the containers. It is ethically moral as the manufacturers of marijuana depends on
the legalization of marijuana to meet regulation guidelines where warning, ingredient, and purity
levels lists will be stated on the containers. Also, by providing a legal supply chain of the currently
illegal drug the prices will fall which would theoretically lead to the collapse of the current illegal
drug industry and lead to a reduction in crimes committed by those illegal organizations. It is also
an argument that there will be no change in the amount of demand for marijuana due to the
The use of marijuana mainly has side effects for the user, dizziness, low blood pressure,
and even hallucinations can affect the user and the general public is one who is commonly affected.
People who use marijuana sometimes when in the state of “high” doesn’t know what they are doing
and with that they can do things that they cannot somehow control and remember. Considering the
LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA: AN ETHICAL ANALYSIS 14
principle of kindness and dependency on the others of ethics of care, it is not ethically moral for a
person to use marijuana as he / she can do some actions that can affect the general public’s safety
and security. Most advocates are very concerned that the marijuana use will be dangerous to others
beside the user. The general public are worried that it will contribute to the rise in health costs,
create more violence that is always accompanied with drug use and most importantly contribute
F. Virtue Ethics
First and foremost virtue ethics is a normative study that questions who or what is the
character of the doer of the action. This study helps distinguish if the doer has specific virtues or
vices. Examples of virtues that the doer could posses are honesty, courage, temperance, integrity,
compassion, and self control. According to Aristotle if the doer possesses these specific virtues
he or she is living his or her life at the middle or mean, in other words he or she is living his or
her life averagely. However if the doer possesses certain vices like dishonesty, ruthlessness,
greed, lack of integrity, cowardliness, the doer is distinguished by Aristotle as living his or her
life at the excess. Moreover if the doer is overly virtuous with dealing with life he or she is
The characters or doers to be analyzed with virtue ethics are the marijuana users, the
government, and the proponents who want to legalize the use of marijuana as medicinal and re
creational use.
excess
exhibit authenticity
for co-marijuana
their drugs.
drugs.
authorities.
courageous to defy
possessing, and
selling marijuana.
This table concludes that the marijuana user's actions were moral because the specified
Government
excess
president's campaign
apathetic uncompassionate
LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA: AN ETHICAL ANALYSIS 17
why marijuana is
the Philippines.
marijuana because
they themselves
and buying of it in
income.
This table concludes that government's actions were immoral because the specified
Excess
marijuana for
purposes because
utilize marijuana's
economy.
their campaigns
about legalization of
marijuana.
marijuana as
medicinal and
business purpose
Republic Act No. 9165 Article II Section 14 states that A person apprehended or arrested,
who is found to be positive for use of any dangerous drug, after a confirmatory test, shall be
imposed a penalty of a minimum of six (6) months rehabilitation in a government center for the
first offense, subject to the provisions of Article VIII of this Act. If apprehended using any
dangerous drug for the second time, he/she shall suffer the penalty of imprisonment ranging from
six (6) years and one (1) day to twelve (12) years and a fine ranging from Fifty thousand pesos
IV. Conclusions
Medical marijuana speaks about the utilization and cultivation of marijuana for
therapeutic purposes. Medical marijuana is often used as a healing treatment for diseases like
epilepsy, cancer, and glaucoma. However, up to this day, its legalization and personal medical
use is still under decision and debate for it still lacks research, accepted safety and medical
As for this paper, the legalization of marijuana was analyzed through the six universal
principles. First, the Utilitarianism. Based from the analysis made, the societal benefits of
legalization of marijuana outweighed the societal cost, which only means that in the eyes of
utilitarianism, legalization of the said drug is moral. Second, it was analyzed through rights. In
the eyes of the usage of marijuana it can be moral or immoral. Moral in such a way that it is
used as a medical drug that promotes good health to human, and immoral in such a way that it
can already cause to consequences in the human health. Therefore the decision will depend on
LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA: AN ETHICAL ANALYSIS 20
the person’s usage, and if used in a good way then it will be moral. Third, the Kantian approach,
based form the analysis it also passed to be legalized and thus is a moral act. Fourth, the justice
and fairness. Based from the analysis, the legalization of marijuana would fail in the eyes of
justice and fairness, for the distributive justice fails to give equal distribution of benefits and
burdens to the society. While on the part of retributive justice, the current prohibition policies
fails to impose just punishments to the convicted users, the same goes with compensatory
justice where the taxes and finances lost in financing the increasing population on incarnated
population where not compensated. Fifth, the ethics of care. From the analysis made from the
ethics of care, the act is also moral because there are more relationships that shows an action
of kindness and dependency on others. Lastly, the virtue ethics and from this made table of
From all the six-analysis made, it only failed to pass in the eyes of Judgement and
Fairness, but in majority it can still be considered morally acceptable, suggesting that its
V. Recommendations
beneficial to further the study. Legalization of marijuana will be successful through effective
controls for regulation of medical marijuana and effective punishment for illicit recreational use.
Punishment for recreational use if to protect those needing the drug for medical reasons.
LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA: AN ETHICAL ANALYSIS 21
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LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA: AN ETHICAL ANALYSIS 22
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