Legalizing Marijuana In Hawaii Research Paper

The truths about marijuana are slowly starting to resurface, the government keeps ignoring that cannabis could one day be as powerful for the U.S. Unfortunately, these truths about marijuana are under a lot of criticism because of the stereotype of what people see as a "marijuana or cannabis smoker." There is a great difficulty in this law because marijuana is still recognized as a harmful and dangerous substance in some states. This can cause problems because each state has their different views and opinions on the matter, and have their own rules and how the rules apply towards it. The twenty-six states and the District of Columbia currently have laws legalizing marijuana in some form, but California, Massachusetts, and Nevada just passed the law for recreational use. The states that have medical marijuana and recreational legalization are Washington, Oregon, California, Colorado, Nevada, and Alaska. The states that only have medical marijuana legal are Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas, New Mexico, Arizona, Hawaii (Ingraham). However, legalizing marijuana could have some benefits instead of being a drug with some bad reputations. Marijuana should be legalized because of medical reasons, safety reasons, and have some benefits to society.

Marijuana can help a person in many ways an individual person cannot. There are doctors who recommend marijuana to people with medical disorders. “The National Eating Disorder Association acknowledged marijuana as a viable treatment option.” (Arielle Pardes) One of the many physical effects marijuana has on someone includes a huge increase of appetite. Not only is it a good solution for people with eating disorders, it is also good for people who suffer with insomnia. “Cannabis Sativa L. has been utilized for treatments of pain and sleep disorders since the ancient times.”(Ethan Russo) Therefore, smoking marijuana helps people get the help they need to face the problems that they are suffering with.

b. Joe Messerli of Balancedpolitics.org, states, “There are a number of medical benefits of marijuana, most notably in the treatment of patients undergoing chemotherapy. Others believe it helps in the treatment of depression unlike alcohol.”

Many advocates say “ Marijuana is a common drug used by many people.”(Sandra) A lot of people think marijuana has numerous amounts of negative effects on the body. Marijuana helps the body in many different ways. It relaxes and relives stress from many people. It has been proven that marijuana does not kill brain cells, like most people seem to think it does. Marijuana also helps the creativity of people. It gives people new

Illnesses can also be treated by cannabis. Illness is something that someone gets over time but it eventually goes away. (The Union, Brett Harvey) Cannabis is an excellent and healthy way to relieve pain from migraine headaches. (The Union, Brett Harvey) Migraines are often caused by nausea, flashes of light, and photosensitivity. (How Weed won the west, Kevin Booth) When cannabis is taken in to a person’s body it impacts the Autonomic Nervous system which causes that person to breathe easier and relax. (The Union, Brett Harvey)

For many years, the prohibition of marijuana has led people to believe that marijuana was extremely dangerous, therefore, it could never be legal; but, most dangers spoken about marijuana are myths as it is found less harmful than alcohol, and even tobacco. In 2007, research done by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare came to the conclusion that alcohol was a large contributor to death and the cause of more than 3% of the overall disease and injury in Australia, while marijuana was accountable for no deaths and only 0.2% of disease and injury. Despite what many are told to believe, this research poses that marijuana holds way fewer risks than alcohol does, and alcohol is legal. Around 88,000 deaths occur each year due to alcohol consumption, and half of those are due to binge drinking. With this in

Drinking alcohol is also much more harmful for you than marijuana is, and it too is legal. Alcohol damages your internal organs like your liver, kidneys, and circulatory system. Alcohol also has a much higher dependency than does marijuana. Tens of thousands of people are dependent on alcohol everyday sometimes ruining one’s personal and family life. Alcohol also causes you to lose your inhibitions which could get

Aside from all of the benefits to people who want to use marijuana recreationally, there are benefits to using it medically, too. It can help people who suffer from insomnia, as it can relax them and aid them in sleeping. It helps people who suffer with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), which is the most common example of medical marijuana use in the research. Also, people argue over whether or not it helps people with anxiety and depression. Though some consider marijuana a "gateway drug" (a light drug that tends to lead people to use harder drugs, such as cocaine or heroin, though continued use), it is entirely dependent on the person being recommended to use it whether or not they want to use it.

With medicinal purposes proven for marijuana to assist those in need, it has been legal in the state of Hawaii since the year 2000, under Act 228, Session Law of Hawaii 2000. Many medical physicians and doctors such as Sanjay Gupta, an advocate for medical marijuana use, support the idea “ I am more convinced than ever that it is irresponsible to not provide the best care we can, care that may involve marijuana” (CNNpara10). The people who need this medicine have to remember to use the marijuana for the right purposes rather than the wrong

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.

Long term risks of alcohol include liver disease, heart problems, digestive disorders, neurological disorders, etc. There are no known (and proven) long term effects from marijuana currently to affect humans. There are no known medical uses for consumed alcohol, but marijuana on the other hand has plenty of medical benefits as I listed above.

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.

If marijuana were legal, it would also bring a significant source of revenue to the United States. A lot of money currently is spent on drugs, and most of it goes to illegal operators outside of the country. If legalized, the pot revenue would go to Americans. In the current economic climate, this would definitely be welcome. A tax could also be put on the drug, and the companies that grew and possessed the plants would have to pay income taxes to the government. It is possible for marijuana to become one of the number one cash crops in though whole country. And with all the people who would smoke it, or use it in other ways, it could quickly become one of the main stimulators in our economy.

Many diseases cannot be cured but most doctors can prescribe pain killers that can cause serious internal damage. Marijuana is also used to help ease chronic pain, nausea, muscle spasms, and loss of appetite (Anderson 334). With this knowledge further medical research and testing should be done to help those in need. Marijuana has been used medicinally since the 1800s. Marijuana was recognized as a medicinal drug and was listed in the United States Pharmacopeia from 1850 to 1942.

It has been demonstrated that using either alcohol or marijuana can have health consequences. They are both intoxicants and can have long terms effects on the mind and body. It is a complex issue because the two are difficult to compare.