Essay on Medicinal Marijuana Should Be Legal

This argument is important because marijuana is considered a "gateway drug," which has not been scientifically proven. Many people have tried marijuana or at least know someone who has attempted to smoke weed. A person most likely does not know as much as they think they know about what it is or the effects.

The use of medical marijuana (slang: Acapulco gold, ace, bhang, cannabis, hash, dope, ganja, grass, weed, hashish oil, hemp, home-grown, honey oil, indica, Jamaican roach, sativa, sinse, sinsemilla, tea, weed oil) has a been a major topic of debate for countless years. People all around the United States have seen propaganda of some sort regarding the legalization of marijuana. For example, with the ongoing discussion of legalization throughout the states, it’s abruptly mentioned in the news, everyday conversations, school topics for debate, and within stories of social media. In the article, “Is marijuana prohibition coming to an end”, Michelle Johnson a North Carolina journalist, states “Legalizing marijuana for a medical or recreational

Just like alcohol, marijuana should have the same restrictions with driving or daily use. As marijuana would start to circulate in a legal manner, regulations would help everything stay safe for civilians. The regulations can vary in a lot of specific ways, such as how plants can be grow, who can grow and driving laws. As the modern marijuana plant is grown by the powerful cartels the land they grow on receives the negative effects. Most of the illegal plants are not grown on typical farm land, the cartels “are destroying treasured environmental resources by growing marijuana illegally in protected lands” (Johnson). Using the tool of legalization would eliminate the damage caused by this unprofessional growth, and the plants would have the chance of being on rich soil to grow for users. Ultimately decreasing these grows would weaken how the cartel operates, and this is not the only way marijuana can be regulated. The plant could have set regulations on what is added to the plant during the growth. If cartels do not have the access to add unneeded chemicals to the plant, then educated farmers could make sure the plant is safe to be in circulation. After being checked and grown correctly there are ways to make sure the drug is carefully regulated. Already “seventeen states and D.C. regulate and license centers that produce and dispense marijuana to patients” (Drug Policy Alliance, “Marijuana Should Be Legalized for Medical Use”). Having the option of requiring a license to possess marijuana can reduce the underage use, and even help reduce arrests for possession. The regulations can save licensed users from “a misdemeanor conviction…” (Drug Policy Alliance, “Marijuana Should Be Fully Legalized, Not Just Decriminalized”), which as the potential to drive job opportunities

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 statement “marijuana is a lot safer than alcohol” cannot go unchallenged and should be debated. One important subject is the risk that marijuana use (especially in young adults) can lead to some kinds of mental illness. “Studies support findings that risk of schizophrenia doubles in young abusers” (U.S. National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, 2009). According to Joseph Califano Jr., CASA founder and chairman of Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) “If we were to make marijuana legal and taxed it, for approximately every dollar of tax revenue, there could be as much as seven dollars incurred in medical costs”.

Many people from all around the world believe that marijuana is an addictive drug that has ruined the lives of millions. The U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that more than 37,000 annual U.S deaths are the effects of alcohol alone. Alternatively, there is not even a category for the deaths caused by marijuana. Many of us think that marijuana kills brain cells but studies show teens that use marijuana as well as alcohol suffered significantly less damage to the white blood cells in their brains. Alcohol use contributes to aggressive and violent behavior while marijuana will only make a person feel more comfortable. “Alcohol is clearly the drug with the most evidence to support a direct intoxication, violent relationships, whereas cannabis reduces the likelihood of violence during intoxications” (Shuette, 2013). The government does not even track violent acts specifically related to marijuana use. Marijuana and alcohol should be switched where marijuana is legal and alcohol is not because it will benefit people more than alcohol will.

For the last century there has been an abundance of false information being spread about the drug marijuana. Even in commercials on television, misleading facts about the drug have been presented to the audience. Some misconceptions about the drug include its potential to cause addiction, the damaging of brain cells, genetic damage, violent behavior, and damage to the immune system. These misconceptions, which have plagued a large percentage of the population into thinking that marijuana is a bad drug, have caused many set backs in the process of gradual legalization. (http://legalizationofmarijuana.com/ )

Socially, legalizing marijuana would create a safer nation and economically, the US has the potential to earn billions of dollars in extra revenue that the economy desperately needs.

Most laws have therefore been put in place to prevent the planting, possession and transfer of Marijuana in relation to these and more effects of the drug. However, laws in some countries have been reviewed with regards to the possession of low amounts of Marijuana. Although this is a great step, it still does not provide a full solution in reducing excess consumption of the drug. This is because most young people who indulge in excessive use of the drug do so as an experiment to get the good feeling of being on the other side of the law. To prevent this, it would be appropriate to legalize the use of the drug without restrictions. This would result in the moderate use if not the total abandonment of the drug when not necessary.

According to a recent article from Huffington Post; in Washington alone, the legalization of marijuana could bring in an estimated five hundred million in additional tax revenue. Along with tax revenue, reducing the added cost of marijuana could greatly drop the price per gram, resulting in more money to spend in the local economy. Currently, one billion dollars is spent in prisons for inmates that have been charged due to marijuana-related crimes in result of marijuana being illegal. Time magazine reports that, as a crop, marijuana farmer's in California have found a surplus of sales. An estimated fourteen billion dollars a year on average, making marijuana the most profitable cash crop in the state. If legalized, marijuana could help add countless amounts of jobs into the formal economy instead of the illicit market (Bradford, Huffinton

Central Idea: People should have the option to choose their methods of medication; therefore, marijuana should be legalized for medicinal purposes.

To explore the economic benefits of marijuana legalization we must first look at the amount of marijuana that is purchased by users. The White House Office of National Drug Policy reported that between 1988 and 1995, Americans spent about 7 billion dollars on the illegal substance, averaging about a billion dollars a year (Prislac, 2009). This means that annually there is a billion dollars out there that is subject to no sales tax. The national average for sales tax is 5%, so if you calculate the billion dollars being spent on marijuana, this means there is approximately 50 million dollars in sales tax that our government never gets

people to make their own decisions whether or not they want to use marijuana, with no law

But one of the arguments is that there are alternatives to using marijuana such as medications that come in pills, solutions, shots, or drops. There is no prescribed drug today that is smoked. Another concern is that marijuana is illegal is the United States. Making it a medicine would require a change in the current law which would have to be voted on by Congress. The biggest and most important argument against marijuana is the negative effects it could have on a

Legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes will take away from so many people using the drug illegally as a recreational drug. This is very significant in today’s society because of treatment benefits it could have on so many people if it was legalized throughout the states. If the government keeps seeing the benefits, the legalization of medicinal marijuana could happen in years to come, especially with new technology that could make things better.