Potential ethical, moral, or legal issues Essay Example for Free

Potential ethical, moral, or legal issues Essay Evaluate any potential ethical, moral, or legal issues and Cite specific career competencies that are helpful or can be used in debate. Legalizing marijuana could lead to potential ethical, moral, and legal issues concerning its uses. Legalizing marijuana could be both ethical and unethical depending on whether its use is for medical or recreational purposes. While the raw marijuana plant may not be safe, medicinal marijuana is beneficial to cancer and AIDS patients. Marijuana is used to alleviate a lot of medical ailments such as nausea in cancer patients from chemotherapy, loss of appetite due to diseases such as HIV/AIDS; helps relax muscle tension and spasms, and chronic pain (Jacques Luling, 2013). Medicinal use of marijuana would be ethical and moral because it is beneficial to ones health. The main active chemical in marijuana is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, more commonly called THC acts upon specific sites in the brain called cannabinoid receptors that lead to the high that users experience when they smoke marijuana affecting functions in a variety of ways, causing distorted perceptions, impairing coordination, causing difficulty with thinking and problem solving, and creating problems with learning and memory (Office of National Drug Control Policy , n.d.). However, the recreational use of marijuana would be unethical and immoral because it is being using to get high and alter the state of mind. Legalizing marijuana does not keep you out the clear for legal issues, as there are still guidelines, regulations, and laws one must follow. It is important to recognize that these state marijuana laws do not change the fact that using marijuana continues to be an offense under Federal law and state laws do not change the criteria or process for FDA approval of safe and effective medications (Office of National Drug Control Policy , n.d.). Laws have been initiated to control the amount of marijuana a person can have in their possession as well as the illegal distribution and sale of marijuana but keep in mind that laws vary from one state, county, or city to another (Office of National Drug Control Policy , n.d.). The use of marijuana determines whether it is ethical, unethical, moral, or immoral and not following laws could lead to legal issues . Legalizing marijuana has the potential to create jobs and contribute cash  into state and local economies. The Cox (n.d.) website stated that the burgeoning medical marijuana industry is quietly creating thousands of jobs across the country but there is no exact number on how many new jobs have been created by medical cannabis nationwide. 14 jobs available in medical cannabis are recommending physicians, physicians assistants, growers, budtenders, dispensary operators, security guards, dispensary administrators, solar panel specialists, delivery drivers, lab techs, marketing specialists, lawyers, insurance agents, and government jobs (Cox, n.d.). Not only does it create jobs but it also contributes money to state and local economies through taxes and business license fees (Cox, n.d.). Reference Cox, T. (n.d.). AlterNet. Retrieved from http://www.alternet.org/story/152487/14_kinds_of_jobs_sustained_by_marijuana?paging=off ¤t_page=1#bookmar Office of National Drug Control Policy. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.whitehouse.gov/ondcp/frequently-asked-questions-and-facts-about-marijuana#harmless