Legalization Of Marijuana And The United States For Recreational Use

The well known debate over the legalization of marijuana for recreational use in The United States has been ongoing since 1935. Recently Colorado and Washington have legalized the use of marijuana for recreational use. By doing so, the legalization of the recreational use of marijuana has become more of an issue than it already was and now brings other states to question whether or not they should legalize marijuana (Breecher). Which brings about the question is the legalization of marijuana for recreational use in Texas a good idea? I believe that legalizing marijuana would be a good idea. Just like the use of alcohol people should be able to choose if they want to use marijuana. Advocates of legalizing the recreational use of marijuana would agree, legalizing the recreational use of marijuana could yield substantial tax revenue, save the government money by decreasing the number of arrests and incarcerations, and quite possibly create a safer driving environment.

Cannabis began being outlawed all across the U.S. during the 1900’s and has remained illegal ever since, until recent years when states began legalizing it (huffpost.com). Although many people believe that the reason behind the prohibition of cannabis was based on genuine concern for the possible consequences it may have on the well-being of people if it remained accessible to all, the truth is that the drive behind the U.S.’s prohibition of cannabis was founded on racism. During the early 1900’s cannabis was considered an “ethnic drug” due to the fact that many Mexican immigrants smoked the plant (huffpost.com). With the tension in Western states regarding the migration of Mexicans into the states, laws concerning the use regulation of

In addition to increase public health problems, legalizing marijuana will lead to increase use of the drug among youngsters. Despite the regulatory approaches, legalizing marijuana has the inevitable effect of increasing the availability and consumption of the drug. Under the current prohibitions, the rate of consumption of marijuana among teenagers is already high; however, the rate of use would greatly increase if the drug was legitimately available to the population. For instance, despite the prohibitions against distribution of alcohol to teenagers, many youngsters who are under the legal age drink alcohol today. Similarly, high percentages of the young population are currently smokers even though the law prohibit them from buying cigarettes. Therefore, it is expected that the usage of marijuana among teenagers would increase if marijuana was legalized. Notably, the marijuana use will impair the development process of teenagers, which will negatively affect their health in later life. Thus, the increased use of marijuana among teenagers is a great concern. It will contribute to great dangers on the health of the youths.

Marijuana is the most popular illicit drug used among our teenagers in the United States. Research shows that 42% of high school seniors have smoked Cannabis, 18% within the past month and 5% smoked daily and 1 in 6 are addicts. More than 64% of teenagers reported that marijuana is very easily available (Gary). Unfortunately, some parents live in a world of denial and say “It’s not my kid. My child doesn’t smoke.” Unbeknown to us, there are unfavorable concerns for many young marijuana abusers such as the risk of addiction, poor school performances and a “gateway” to other lethal substances. Smoking marijuana increases respiratory diseases, impaired immune function, cognitive problems and motivational impairment. (National Institute on Drug Abuse). It is the leading cause of abnormal cognitive development which persists long after abstinence. Marijuana is the main drug used by children who seek emergency medical treatments and screened following an arrest or autopsies (Dennis et at).

The article describes how years of U.S. government-prevented marijuana research has resulted in a deficiency of information pertaining to the pros and cons of marijuana use. It also discusses the marijuana legalization movement in America. The article has an excerpt of Scientist Yasmin Hurd and her tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, experiments involving rats. Also the article highlights the effects that marijuana use might have on human genetics and, specifically, on adolescent development. Some of the therapeutic aspects of marijuana are also described within this article.

The United States of America stands as one of the leading territories in the consumption of forbidden

United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report that , in 2014 , caused by excessive drug use, the United States more than 4.7 million deaths , and the number of deaths than traffic accidents caused more than gun violence . This figure compared with 2013 growth of 14% , a record high.

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

In 2012, Colorado was among one of the states that passed the legislation to legalize marijuana for recreational use. Similar to the age limitation set for buying and consuming alcohol and smoking of tobacco products, Colorado has set the age limit for recreational use for adults who are at least twenty-one years of age and over to use an ounce of this drug. According to the drugabuse.gov website, the drug marijuana is defined as a greenish-gray mixture of the dried, shredded leaves and flowers of Cannabis sativa—the hemp plant. After two years of legalizing marijuana, Colorado has had various perks that range from medical, economic, and social. Other states like Ohio and Mississippi are also considering legalizing marijuana after looking at most of the benefits Colorado is having after legalizing the drug. According to the website, The News Nerd.com, after looking at the success the drug marijuana has brought to Colorado, state legislators have decided to try passing the legalization of the drug heroin as well. In this paper, we will look at the pros and cons of Colorado’s legalized soft drug marijuana versus the legalization of the hard drug heroin. We will also look from the opposing view that Peter de Marneffe is trying to make about the drug heroin and how it will affect our youth in their developmental stage of maturity.

In the United States of America there are a lot of controversial issues that have been debated upon for a long time. The issue that should be discussed and given more incite in order to help the U.S. grow into success again is the legalization of marijuana in the country. The debate of legalizing marijuana in the country has gone on for a long time and still has not yet come to a conclusion. The issue has brought some states to take matters into their own hands and have actually legalized marijuana in their states such as California, Colorado etc... According to Governing.com the U.S. in total has 30 states that have legalized the use of marijuana. In these states 29 legalized medical marijuana and 8 have added legal recreational marijuana

Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug worldwide. As the amount of marijuana use increases, legalization of the drug is a topic debated, discussed and researched by our government, health professionals, and law enforcement. I personally don’t agree with the legalization of the drug knowing how dangerous its usage can be. The effects marijuana has on its users, I believe, is cause for concern along with the other known problems that arise with its use.

(FDFW). Every batch of marijuana has different amount of THC and the percentage of THC keeps increasing from previous years. (FDFW). THC is the chemical that creates psychological effects when marijuana is smoked or intake. (Bradford 2015). According to NIDA, body naturally makes the cannabinoid chemicals. (Bradford 2015). The cannabinoid chemicals usually focus on specific areas of the brain which are responsible for pleassure, coordination, time perception, thinking and memory. (Bradford 2015). Therefore, these aspects of the brain are affected due to the THC attached to these cannabinoid chemicals. (Bradford 2015). THC is usually found on the glands of the marijuana plant and it is closely associated with the reproductive organs of the

THC the active ingredient in Cannabis attaches to cannabinoid receptors throughout the body. Several areas of the brain have high densities of these receptors, which helps explain the different effects of the drug. The receptors work through nerve cells communicating by way of chemical messaging across contact points called synapses. THC attaches to cannabinoid receptors and therefore modifies nerve

The legalization of marijuana has been a very controversial topic that has everyone asking each other, is it really worth it? For many, the thought of legalizing a drug, which the government has classified as a Schedule 1 drug is, mind boggling to them. I am going to prove that the pros about the legalization of medical and recreational use of marijuana are greatly outweighing the cons. I will show with statistical evidence that legalization is beneficial in many ways such as generating higher state revenues, decreased crime rates, decreased imprisonment rates for petty drug crimes, breakthroughs in the medical field and that in general, banning marijuana is preventing our economy from its potential growth.

Many regions of the brain contain cannabinoid receptors, of which anandamide molecules, concerned with regulating mood, appetite and emotions, naturally bind to. Cannabis contains an active ingredient known as ‘delta-9-tetrahydrocannabonic’ (THC), and when smoked or eaten, the THC imitates the activity of anandamide by binding to cannabinoid receptors on nerve cells, and therefore influences