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Medical Marijuana

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Marijuana is a very prominent and controversial issue in society today. Although many slanderous claims have been made about cannabis in recent history, the truths are slowly starting to resurface. Unfortunately, these truths are under heavy criticism due to the stereotypical view of what people view as the typical “pot smoker.” This skewed perception of a lazy and unmotivated American is the result of over seventy years of propaganda and misinformation spread by private interests who relied on illegal cannabis illegal from their own personal gains. As a marijuana consumer and a current medical marijuana patient, I strongly believe that marijuana should be legalized for all users. Currently in the United States today, marijuana is …show more content…

A benefit of legalizing marijuana includes providing the government with leverage to this problem. Marijuana is currently against federal laws yet medical marijuana complies with several state laws. Every year, the government is obligated to spend money directly related to the cost of enforcing marijuana laws. Marijuana is a cash crop and can be used for clothes, paper, medical substances, along with many other uses. The legalization of marijuana would provide the government and our country with control over a huge cash crop that can be easily cultivated to our climate. In addition to exporting hemp and marijuana to accumulate more funds, the government would be able to tax the plant very similarly to alcohol or tobacco. If this were the case, it is estimated ‘according to the calculations here, legalization would reduce government expenditure by $5.3 billion at the state and local level and by $2.4 billion at the federal level.” (Miron18). These figures generated in the article the Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition reinforce that the calculated values of getting rid of the expenditure caused by marijuana offenders along with the taxation of the substance would be a substantial revision to our economy. Moreover, using marijuana for medicinal purpose is not a recent discovery. In fact, written references to use medical marijuana date back nearly 5,000 years. Western medicine embraced

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