Decriminalizing Marijuana Research Paper

As soon as someone smells smoke that smells sweet and sour, they know that it is definitely marijuana smoke. It can be used in many ways such as smoked, usually in joints, bongs, and blunts. Some people even put it on their food and brew as tea! The two most common types of marijuana plants are Sativa and Indica. The only differences are the Indica grows short and wide and are better suited to grow inside. The Sativa are thin and tall and are suited to grow outside because they can even grow to reach twenty five feet in height. Some popular types of marijuana are White Widow, Sour Diesel, Bubblegum, Vortex, and Holland’s Hope. All of them give the user the “high” feeling, which leaves them happy and dizzy at the same time.

The legalization of recreational marijuana is an important debate, one that could really cause drastic changes in societies. Marijuana has entered a dark stage in the pathway of legalization, and it is correlating with the prohibition stage that alcohol rested in. The debate can often reach a nasty level between individuals taking sides with the topic. Legalization of marijuana can be very beneficial under regulated circumstances, therefore making all of the negative views less important.

Recent laws that regulate marijuana have been a hot topic of debate. On on eland, people argue that legalizing marijuana will result in more use of the drug and crime. On the other hand, people who favor marijuana reform laws suggest that marijuana actually improves health and decreases crime rates. This topic caught my attention because as a college student in an urban area, marijuana use is very prevalent. Although marijuana is illegal, it is still bought and sold on a regular basis underground or on the black market. In these circumstances, crime rate continues to rise. Therefore, my purpose is to compare crime rates in places where marijuana is legal, such as Colorado and Washington, to places that marijuana has yet to be legalized.

The first recorded reference to a cannabis product and its psychoactive effects dates from 2737 BC, in the writings of the Chinese emperor Shen Nung who was considered to be the father of Chinese medicine. It is unclear exactly how Cannabis got to the New World, some believe it was the Spaniards around the 16th century while others speculate that it was as late as the 18th century.

Since the 1930s, cannabis has been illegal in the U.S. It is classified as a Schedule I drug. It was believed to have a high potential for abuse, no medical use, and was deemed not safe for use under medical observation. Today, it is being approved for patients with severe health problems, and it’s being used to treat pains, nausea, etc. Even though it has been proved to help many people, the government takes a very different stance on cannabis.

Cannabis, formally known as marijuana is globally the most commonly used illicit drug. Classified as a controlled substance, marijuana is a mood-altering drug that affects almost every organ in the body (Davis). Marijuana was first prohibited in 1937 with the Marijuana Tax Act.

Nowadays marijuana is not only sweeping the nation; it has become a worldwide sensation, and it is making appearances everywhere on the globe. Marijuana is the most commonly abused illegal in the US and around the world. No matter how one looks at the combination of words marijuana, depressant or hallucinogen, there is no positive projected outcome or connotation. If it is true that a depressant reduces functional and nervous activity and a hallucinogen causes perception-altering hallucinations, then Marijuana is a drug that causes hallucinations, while reducing motor and sensory activity, essentially leaving the user a dysfunctional, temporary victim of Panic and Generalized Anxiety Disorder. The most prominent effects of legalizing Marijuana

My legal paper will talk about how employees are taking other substances to reduce their physical pain. Recently in the news, an American football player smoked some synthetic marijuana and turned himself in at a police station with no shirt and his hands up. Currently, synthetic marijuana, or “spice” as it is commonly known in the streets, is legal in all states, even though it is worse than marijuana on all accounts. Stigma of marijuana varies in the United States, there’s a current trend where the people that are pro-marijuana are starting to be the majority. Certain states have legalized or decriminalized marijuana all together and with many other states following their footsteps. Do employers think it is okay that their workers take more dangerous substances in order to reduce their physical pain?

The legalization of marijuana is a widely controversial topic. There are many pros and cons to the legalization of it but one aspect is the economical standpoint of legalization. If legalization did occur in pennsylvania how would this affect the use and sales of the drug. In washington state’s first year alone they grossed over 70 million in tax revenue more than doubling their original estimate at 36 million. "These impressive numbers are likely to catch the eyes of policymakers in other states that could use a little help closing their budget gaps," Tom Angell, chairman of the advocacy group Marijuana Majority, told The Huffington Post.

The new generation of pot entrepreneurs are move motivated by cashing in on this growing industry unlike their past generation counterparts who had the “toughest most reputable seller on the block,” mentality. Legalization and decriminalization are turning these shunned drug dealers into seasoned business professionals. Besides contrary belief there is more to the cannabis industry than just the growing and selling of it. Along with sale and production come many spinoff industries such as the paraphernalia business, packaging business, distribution/transportation business, and edible/topical business, with the vaporizer/concentrate sub market. The ability to legally cultivate up to six mature plants also benefits businesses that sell lighting and hydroponic equipment to growers. Marijuana testing centers that verify potency and contaminants are also being benefitted by legalization. Hemp also finds it way into the industry. This fiber is sustainable and could be used to produce endless products, the most significant being textiles and clean bio-fuel.

A major worry is that decriminalization will produce in more use of marijuana. Even with the criminalization marijuana, it is used by a massive percentage of the United States society. The most up-to-date national survey managed by the United States Government concluded that over 25 million people or approximately one out of ten citizens use marijuana at least once a year and over six percent of the population uses the drug monthly. The lifetime use projection of marijuana is a staggering 95 million, implicating that 47 percent of all adults have tried marijuana at least

Abusive. Inhumane. Harmful. These words are commonly used when Americans talk about the legalization of marijuana. Americans are instilled in these beliefs of how marijuana is a drug that only causes harm to ourselves, others, and the nation. We are told that marijuana users are inhumane and are criminals whose intentions are adverse. But all of these assumptions are wrong, marijuana is a drug that can heal citizens and provide further financial support for our country. However, many Americans are becoming alienated from this. Especially when the recent 2016 election passed by, what many Americans did not perceive is when they voted no for marijuana, they actually voted against cancer patients who could

Sometimes seen in today’s media is the activity of marijuana enthusiasts and their difficult mission to have their drug legalized for recreational use. Through the efforts of these activists in the United States, decriminalization and legalization of marijuana has been considered and in some cases deemed legal by many states. However, its consideration of legalization is not a spontaneous decision by the United States government nor the individual states, but is the result of ordinary citizens who support the use of marijuana actively disobeying the law and persistently expressing their ideas of how the laws surrounding marijuana should be defined. This large campaign has seen activity in Canada as well with steps being made to decriminalize

Weed. Pot. Reefer. Mary Jane. These are all common street names for Marijuana, a product containing the mind-altering THC chemical that stems from the Cannabis sativa or Cannabis indica plant. Though the herb is not new, the product grew popular during the counterculture movements of the 1960’s and 1970’s, which sparked a wave of concern for many conservative Americans. In light of this conservative movement, and president Richard Nixon’s “War on Drugs”, the United States Congress passed its first federal prohibitory drug statute in 1970 known as the “Controlled Substances Act” (CSA). This act categorized a number of popular drugs into five categories, or schedules, based on their “medical utility, abuse potential, and safety of use under medical supervision”. The most restrictive Schedule I category contains substances with “currently no accepted medical use, high abuse potential, and a lack of demonstrated

However, their knowledge of the intoxicant effects seemed absent and Cannabis was not yet widely utilized for its stimulating or medicinal effects. Nonetheless, diary entries from George Washington show that he personally planted and harvested cannabis for both the hemp fiber as well as the medicinal qualities, and both he and Thomas Jefferson advocated for a hemp-based economy (The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, 2003). By the mid-1800’s, Western Medicine finally started to catch up to what ancient Asian cultures long knew, and over 100 papers had been published in Western medical literature recommending the plant for its therapeutic benefits (Grinspoon & Bakalar, 1997).