Arguments Against Authorizing Marijuana

Socially, legalizing marijuana would create a safer nation and economically, the US has the potential to earn billions of dollars in extra revenue that the economy desperately needs.

Marijuana has been deeply studied in the past few decades and has shown scientist many things that weren’t evident before. Marijuana has been linked to many health issues good and bad. It has shown to reduce stress and anxiety, help with headaches, lower blood pressure and one of the most evident and positive health affects is that it has been shown in many studies to stop and even kill cancer cells in the body. There are however negative effects that have been looked into and studied by scientist. These include, blocking memory formation, psychosis, and an increased risk of depression while using marijuana regularly. Not everything revolving around marijuana is a “health issue” though, the biggest reason that people use marijuana today is because it simply makes people feel good. That is a positive effect.

The use of medical cannabis seems to be extremely effective in treating a wide variety of neurological disorders Without the use of cannabis, the treatments of these disorders have to be altered to accommodate certain needs. Source C is a survey, statistic, conducted in California found that 92 percent of patients claim that medical marijuana worked for their specific issue. The results also found that a significant portion of people who used medical marijuana were for reasons that do not have effective alternative treatments, such as migraine headaches. Source E brings up that cannabis causes some of the same effects that other drugs have on the body, although there are not nearly as many long term effects that the drug has on the body, supporting Source C. The legalization of cannabis for medical use would allow these treatments to occur, and therefore allow more people around the country to have more functionable lives. The legalization of cannabis is not an extreme risk, but rather a positive influential decision for the better health of many in the American

Marijuana has been proven and tested to give a very positive impact on the American society for many different reasons. Marijuana is used for many different medical reasons. It helps people who have ADHD, crohn's disease, epilepsy, glaucoma, insomnia, arthritis, and even people with a lack of appetite. Marijuana is a harmless drug and needs to be legalized for medical use in all states.

For many years there have been many people and organizations that do not want marijuana legalized, and there are also a lot of people and organizations that do want to legalize marijuana. It is has been shown by research that this is a drug, but also has benefits to help with health issues. The plant has been a called a miracle herb, which can help people lose weight, regulate and prevent diabetes, fight cancer, help depression, treat autism, regulate seizers and other benefits (Whitley, 2015) . However, these facts have not stopped many people being against marijuana usage.

As the world advances people’s conceptions on the world change as well. Things that were viewed as bad in the 1900’s are now acceptable, and sometimes encouraged. Almost every aspect of life today as we know it is different from what we wear, to the jobs we have, and especially what we do in our free time. One thing that is was not very socially acceptable even in the last 5 years, and is a major topic all over the United States is marijuana legalization. It has always been used, but only in private or small groups. Marijuana which has been frowned upon for a long time, and users are labeled as “burnouts” and “losers” who are failures in the world. The world is changing its view on marijuana though. In the United States 27 states and D.C. have legalized marijuana

Glaucoma is an eye disease that causes pressure in the eyeball leading to the optic nerve becoming damages and causing vision loss. Marijuana helps the chance of by decreasing the eye pressure and slow the progression of the disease lessening the chance of blindness. Another serious issue that cannabis is showing great help with is presently seizures caused by epilepsy or Dravet’s Syndrome. The tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) controls the brain cells that are responsible for relaxation and excitability helping to rest the body from future epileptic seizures.

are less than that of marijuana. From 1991-2000, arrests for marijuana violations have doubled while arrest for more illicit drugs, such as heroine, have fell to about thirty-three percent. (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana, 2003) Violations of marijuana is said to be the fifth most commonly violated law in the United States. In 2006, FBI databases showed that more than 80% of the 700,000 plus arrested were charged with possession of marijuana; costing taxpayers close to forty billion dollars in criminal justice costs, as well as tax revenue loss. (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana, 2007) Repercussions of a marijuana arrest alone are significant by itself. Some penalties may include, but are not limited to probation and mandatory drug testing, loss of driving privileges, loss of federal college aid, asset forfeiture, revocation of professional licenses, loss of certain welfare benefits such as food stamps and removal from public housing, loss of child custody, etc. (Armentano, 2005) Regardless of whether marijuana offenders serve time in prison or not, there is a large portion of generally honest- integral individuals whose lives are unnecessarily decimated over a non-violent charge.

It seems every decade marijuana studies show that it has no side effects on users, in turn it become more available like when some states in America had legalized it. Dr Kevin M. Gray believes that the only side effect of smoking weed is the physical addictions it causes, he believes that over 51% of all teens have used weed at least once and the biggest problem we are facing with this rapidly growing drug use is only addiction. Dr Marshall M. Gay believes that the health effects of weed isn’t that much as smoking cigarettes and doesn’t see it a threat to people’s health. “More than half (51%) of adolescents reported that marijuana is fairly or very easy to obtain.2 this ease of availability may have contributed to a recently reported "reverse gateway" from cigarettes use to marijuana”. The more ignored belief is that marijuana can lead to a variety of developmental, mental and physical side effects. The effects of smoking weed can extend to those of smoking cigarettes “studies show regular marijuana use can lead to many of the same

But only 9 percent of marijuana users develop a dependence” (Boffey). Even still, of those 9 percent that develop a dependence, marijuana addiction is dissimilar to that of heroin, alcohol, or nicotine, from which withdrawal is often an extremely painful, physical experience. In addition, the long-held belief that marijuana is a gateway drug has been debunked, and even quietly removed from D.A.R.E’s list of gateway drugs. As far as medical research is concerned, the clear consensus is that marijuana use is less harmful to human health than most other banned drugs. While tobacco causes cancer, and alcohol abuse can lead to cirrhosis, there is no clear causal connection between marijuana use and any deadly diseases. Furthermore, it is less dangerous than highly addictive but legal substances like alcohol and tobacco. Marijuana use cannot, in and of itself, lead to fatal overdoses, and there is little evidence that it causes cancer. Like tobacco and alcohol, public policy concerns support the notion that it should be kept out of the hands of minors. The downsides to marijuana use are less compelling as reasons to foist criminal penalties on its possession, especially not in a society that allows nicotine use and celebrates

The use of marijuana can cause serious medical problems for users and those around them. Smoking marijuana is believed to be a contributing source in users developing anxiety, depression, social withdrawals and other mentally related health disorders. (CNN.com, 2014) An Inductive Argument can have a premise that is false and still have strength. Inductive strength is about the degree of connection between premises and conclusion; it does not depend upon the premises being

In recent years we can see that many states in the United States like Colorado, California, Washington and many more in the process, voters have accepted to legalize marijuana for recreational purpose. Legalizing was supported by a majority of people due to its positive effects such as an increase in tax revenue, freeing up law enforcement resources and making trade more open. Given those arguments, the question is will the U.S be better off when it legalizes drugs? The supporters of legalization have argued that due to the unfair judgment of drug enforcement, minorities have been targeted a lot, which has led an increase in the number of people in juvenile and probation

Next, let’s examine groups that support marijuana becoming officially authorized. These groups dispute that it has medical benefits for patients that have cancer or AIDS. It helps relieve pain, relaxes, and may help the patients get their appetites back. Marijuana is also known to help slow down the progression of the disease in Glaucoma patients. People suffering from epilepsy use marijuana to prevent the epileptic seizures. It’s also known that marijuana helps with the treatment of people who maybe clinically depressed.

Marijuana has been found to alleviate symptoms of serious diseases. Asthma, glaucoma, and muscle spasms are just a few. It has also been proven to help a

in “Marijuana Facts” 1). From an outsider’s perspective, one has to ask why is there so much tension and hesitation in legalizing marijuana? If alcohol is the direct cause of many deaths, while marijuana has not been responsible for any, it only makes sense that our health would not be our greatest concern in legalizing the drug. Also, it is important to understand marijuana consumption is less susceptible to overuse than alcohol or other drugs (Marijuana 10:477). Despite this, critics often argue that marijuana is a gateway to other more potent and harmful drugs. According to Dr. Halbach of the World Health Organization there is no pharmacological link between cannabis and opiates (Marijuana 10:477). This demonstrates the physiological unlikelihood of marijuana being a stepping-stone to other more potent drugs containing opiates. Marijuana does have drawbacks and side effects, as any other drug whether medicinal or recreational. However, putting the drug in perspective helps one to understand the contradiction in legalizing other drugs while continuing to ignore marijuana even though it can beneficial in different capacities.