Legalizing Marijuana: Does Society Really Need Another Way to Get High?

The role of how marijuana is used in the United States is being reexamined, rethought, and recalibrated, Barcott emphasize throughout his book. The new adjustment in America's relationship with cannabis cannot be measured in just monetary or social terms, “there are more profound movements going ahead here; social realignments, social alterations, and budgetary modifications” Barcott believes. Barcott show marijuana came to be one of the most vilified drugs in the market ever since the war on drugs was announced in the 1980s. However, the author shows how those who were against that movement are now cheerful that the way of that line of thinking is finally coming to a close. “Weed the

Over the last 30 years public opinion has changed about the legalization of marijuana, mostly likely because a sizable percentage of Americans about 38% admit to having tried the drug, according to a Gallup study (Swift, 2013), approval has risen from 28% of

The legalization of marijuana has been a hot topic in the media for many years now. There is a major divide in those who believe it should be legal, those who do not, and those who think it could be legal with modifications on the usage. The number of those who support the legalization of marijuana is on the rise with nearly 50% supporting recreational marijuana legalization, and 81% supporting marijuana legalization for medical treatment as of 2015 ("Public Support for Marijuana Legalization, 2015”). Marijuana should be legalized on a federal level because it is safer than alcohol, it will increase the economy, and there is an unfair criminalization of marijuana.

The topic of legalizing recreational marijuana in the United States has been a very controversial one. States such as Colorado and Washington have gone on the offensive and have legalized recreational marijuana and have enjoyed the high revenues brought in from cannabis sale. On the other hand other states have kept low profiles because they are wary of the possible negative outcomes of legalizing recreational marijuana and are using the states of Colorado and Washington as guinea pigs to see what their next course of action on this controversial topic should be. This is not only a highly debated topic among politicians, but also by the people. According to a poll conducted by the Pew Research Center 52% of Americans

Not only is Newhouse’s opening statement, “No one has ever died from simply using marijuana” an incorporation of pathos, but it is also an incorporation of logos, another very powerful rhetorical strategy (1). In his statement, he implies that of the many people who have used marijuana, not one person has died. Newhouse’s opening statement is subtle and appears to be numberless, but it is a statistic nonetheless. Throughout his article, Newhouse makes references to many different statistics, all referring to marijuana.

While an undereducated, youth fostered movement towards the legalization of marijuana is rapidly spreading across America, Father Gerald Coleman, in Is America Going to Pot, steps back from the frenzy to examine the gross amount of physical evidence that opposes the rash movement. Approaching legalization of marijuana from numerous avenues, Coleman systematically degrades many of the popular pro-marijuana arguments circulating today. In addition his article is able to simultaneously provide a number of well-founded arguments ranging from the various health troubles, the gateway drug potential, and the resounding positive effects on the black market drug trade that legalization of marijuana would and is currently promoting, to support his anti-legalization

Instead of teaching children that marijuana should be regarded as though it 's just as dangerous as LSD they should be taught of the true risks associated with each individual drug. When something that is thought to be true is found out to be false, especially in the mind of a teenager, then all other related facts might also be untrue. The "consistent mischaracterization of marijuana" according to Rosenbaum is what hinders approaches to promote drug prevention in teens (35). This is how children fall victim to the "gateway theory", it has nothing to do with the properties of the drug, but the way the dangers of it are

With all of the complex issues facing the nation today, it seems as if the legalization of marijuana is being set on the back burner of legislation. There are so many opinions, sides, and overall arguments for and against it that many vote seeking politicians and policy makers have put up a strong resistance to this issue. In this paper I will illustrate the reasons why I think marijuana should indeed be legalized and also the arguments from people who disagree and feel that it should stay an illegal drug.

The purpose of this research paper is to analyze the government and the American citizens’ stipulations dealing with the drug, marijuana. Additional research was also conducted in order to discover the positive and negative results associated with marijuana being legalized if it were to occur nation-wide. The underlying reason for this topic is due to the recent debates within the federal government, concerning the issue of legalization for the drug. Also, because of the popularity of marijuana with not only the urban community, but with my close affiliates. There has been consistent discussions among my peers of how close the United States is to becoming a marijuana legalized nation.

The legalization of marijuana is an issue that has divided many Americans. While some Americans call for its legalization, others are set on keeping the drug illegal. Recently, however, there have been changes in public attitudes about marijuana and its legalization. This has led individual states to enact marijuana laws that create tensions with federal law. This paper will examine the recent events of legalizing marijuana for medical and recreational purposes, and the conflict between federal and state marijuana laws.

Over the past 46 years there has been an increased in the number of people who are in favor of legalizing marijuana. In a survey conducted in 1969, “12 percent of Americans thought marijuana used should be legal” (Jones 1). Nothing really change in the 1970’s and 1990’s, but in 2000 it “exceeded 30 percent…and was higher than 40 percent by 2013” (Jones 1). Several reasons for this dramatic increase is that more Americans are becoming aware of its medicinal use, also how the legalizing marijuana can help boost in revenue, and “newer generations of adults are more in favor of marijuana, replacing the older generation of adults who aren’t” (Jones 1).

It is time for cannabis to become legal. Galloping polls show that 50% of the U.S. population agrees with the use of marijuana. In 1965, 1 million Americans have tried weed. In 1972, that number jumped to 24 million Americans. These are hardly criminals, they are CEOs, farmers, singers and song writers, tax-paying citizens being forced to use their weed beneath the law. Every 37 seconds, someone in America is arrested for marijuana related charges, 98% of those arrest are people

Legalization of marijuana is one of the most controversial topics in American society today. Surveys done by the US Government’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Data Archive showed that 95 million Americans have used marijuana. There are two opposing sides that have strong stances on whether it should become legal or should remain illegal. We have one side that is anti-marijuana and the other is pro-marijuana. Each side provides valid and strong arguments supporting their views. The purpose of this paper is to carefully examine each opposing side and try to find some way to come to a compromise.

Even though it is illegal if the drug abusers have not been caught they will continue to use the drug and use others. Many adolescences experiment with marijuana due to curiosity and peer pressure studies have shown that the use of marijuana at a young age causes the adolescences to want to try more dangerous narcotics such as cocaine and heroin. An article titled “Evidence That Marijuana Is a Gateway to other Illicit Drug Use” by Joseph Gfoerer, Li-Tzy Wu, and Michael Penne states that, “the highest prevalence of use of heroin, cocaine, and psychotherapeutics in the lifetime was noted among those who initiated marijuana before they were 15 years old. With many young people trying strong narcotics illegally it is no surprise that other young people will also become more apt to try these heavier drugs. The article, “Marijuana is a Dangerous Drug for Teens” by Joseph Calfifano discuses why marijuana is so dangerous for teens and how the gateway effect plays part in this problem. The article states that marijuana use is a “signal of trouble”, the troubles include lack of growth, focus, and motor skills. He also brings up the gateway effect in the article the statistics he uses include, “Twelve to seventeen year olds who smoke marijuana are eighty five times more likely to use cocaine than those who would not.” These statists are very strong in

They used the General Social Survey, which is one of the most respected surveys of American’s opinions on a wide variety of social issues. The surveys conducted a nearly 40-year span from 1970 to 2012. They wanted to make a comparison from then to now on the support of Marijuana legalization. It shows in all the surveys that the support throughout the 1970’s climbed. Then, once the 1980’s came around, the support began to diminish. Support then grew again in the 1990’s, and is continuing to increase today. The purpose of this article is to show that decline in Marijuana legalization support is unlikely to happen ever again. It explains how over the years support for Marijuana legalization grew rapidly.