Should Marijuana Be Legal For Medical And Recreational Use?

The legalization of marijuana has been a debated subject in America since the 1970's. The pro-marijuana society in America has made claims as to how marijuana can help cure or lessen the effect of some diseases and that by legalizing the drug; the use of pot will actually decline. The fact of the matter is that marijuana is a drug that can be placed into a similar category as cocaine or heroine. Like these other drugs, pot (marijuana) smoking carries with it serious side effects that can effect the user forever, and sometimes-even cause death. Marijuana was first cultivated in America during the colonial time period and was used as a fiber for rope and even clothing. The plant was not used for its psychoactive properties until 1910,

This paper will look at the benefits and drawbacks to legalizing marijuana by looking in at Colorado.The state made forty million dollars by taxed marijuana in 2014 alone, also Colorado saved countless millions because of the extremely lower amounts of marijuana arrest and court cases. It is not clear how having new recreational marijuana stores opening will affect the cannabis market, or businesses expanding around them. Gov. John Hickenlooper says that the economy is thriving with record setting numbers of tourists (73.1 million). 49 percent of those tourist said that legal marijuana influenced their decisions to vacation in Colorado. The ER’s in Colorado have also seen a rise in numbers of marijuana related cases and those cases in non-residents have almost doubled. An unexpected situation that arose from legal cannabis was the amount of electricity that is being use to grow the drug. Some cannabusinesses have to go green with solar or wind power. There are many varying views on the effects of legal marijuana have developed in Colorado since marijuana became legal in 2014.

The fact that cannabis is still illegal in forty-eight states is insane. Cigarettes, alcohol, and fast food kill hundreds of people every year and those are legal? I mean one- third of all AIDS cases in the US have been caused by syringe sharing (counterpunch). Study after study has shown that Marijuana is way less harmful than tobacco and alcohol (factslides). Cannabis has not even been directly linked to a death due to overdose, car accident, or cancer ever (Huffington). These are many reasons why many people support marijuana legalization and one of those reasons is because of the medical benefits. A drug that does not have severe side effects or could possibly kill you. Drugs like Cocaine, Heroine, Alcohol, Cigarettes. Those are the real drugs. Not Marijuana.

Some call it ganja, some call it pot, and some call it marijuana. Some smoke ganja to get high and fly , some smoke pot to be stoners, but then they are the people who smoke marijuana to medicate. Legalizing marijuana has been a big controversy for a while. But in 1996 and 2004 California took two steps forward for legalizing marijuana. The first was prop 215 making possessing and cultivating pot legal for medical purposes. The second was an extension on prop 215 which is SB 420 allowing dispensaries or collectives to be open for the distribution of medical marijuana for patients only. To be a patient you have to poses a medical card. Dispensaries have been opening around California since 2004 and still are in the process of opening, but recently dispensaries have been getting shut down. They have been getting shut down due to random raids and no zoning laws. Medical marijuana is a medication for many with severe illnesses or pain. By shutting down dispensaries not only are you taking away access of medication to patients you are taking away jobs.The raids and no zoning laws for dispensaries are unjust not only for the collective owners but also for the patients.

Today’s society this has change in some many ways. For instances laws has change some for the good and some for the bad. In this paper we be discussing whether to continue the federal prosecution of medical marijuana patients and their providers under the accordance with the federal controlled substance Act. There are so many opinions that people have on this issues. Some people may disagree with congress for passing this law and they may feel that it’s giving people the right to smoke marijuana freely and then you have some people that agree with this law being pass. Because they may feel that it’s helping people with different disease and with their chronic pain. Then you can’t say that they just want to smoke marijuana freely because all states have not passed the law that has legalized medical marijuana.

The legalization of marijuana is one of the most debatable topics in our society today. What is marijuana? According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, Marijuana refers to the dried leaves, flowers, stems, and seeds from the Cannabis sativa or Cannabis Indica plant. Marijuana is also known as weed, herb, pot, cannabis, maryjane, and a sort of other nicknames. Most people believe that marijuana should be legalized for the numerous medical health benefits, and that marijuana is found to be less harmful than consuming other drugs and alcohol. However, the people who oppose legalizing marijuana believe that it is too dangerous for a person’s well-being; it can also inspire people to try other drugs like cocaine or alcohol. In the article, “Marijuana should stay illegal,” Carly Zive asserts that smoking cannabis is bad and it should remain illegal, yet, in “This is Why Marijuana Should Be Legal Everywhere,” Renee Jacques depicts marijuana as a substance that perceives health benefits for people.

Cannabis has been used for over 6000 years without its legality being questioned until the 1930's when the United States Government criminalized its possession. Now seventy years later, its prohibition is being reconsiderat both State and Federal levels of the government. The push for legality has never had as much support as it does now, with the legalization of medical marijuana in 20states, decimalization in 16 states, and 2 states that allow commercial cultivation, manufacture, and sale of cannabis. An overwhelming majority of the United States population,including me, see the legalization of cannabis as a profitable and harmless idea.

Imagine you have a crippling headache. A friend hands you a hand-rolled cigarette, and says, "Smoke this, and it will take away your headache, along with any other pain, or nausea. It 's recommended by many doctors because it 's all natural, and has far less adverse side effects than other pain medication. It also makes you feel euphoric." Would you take it? Marijuana buds are the flower of the cannabis plant. They are harvested, and sold - unaltered - to men and women all over Canada and the world, for both medicinal and recreational purposes. The buds are taken, ground up, and either smoked, baked into food, or vapourized in order to affect the minds and bodies of those who benefit from it. In Canada, there is federal legislation

For many years American society, especially our youth, has been bombarderd with a large amount of strong and broad "anti-drug" messages. Much of the time when this message was being broadcasted to people, again especially in the case of young children, it is simplified to just saying "drugs are bad", such as in the famous Public Service Announcment named "This is Your Brain on Drugs". In reality not all illegal drugs are the same, speicfically mairajuana is really not as dangerous as people would assume based on these messages that lump it together with drugs like heroin or cocaine. Beyond just being safer and less addictive than other substances, marijuana should not remain illegal for recreational use because it alleviates some of the pressure on America 's War on Drugs, and the sale of marijuana has become a profitable industry in the places it is legal.

Should marijuana be legalized for recreational purposes? That question, and many variances of it, have been kicked around and hotly debated for decades by the middling individual and politicians alike. Just recently, devout and faithful cannabis users have had a series of victories leading in the direction of one day national legalization of marijuana. Recreational users want marijuana legalized and politicians want the money from legalizing marijuana. It seems as if legalizing marijuana for recreational use would be a no brainer and a win-win for both sides. Then how come it is 2014 and we still don’t have national legalization of marijuana?

Addiction in America, it is a sad reality that we must pay more attention to. Not only does it destroy and kill lives, it also is hard to treat. When you are addicted for long periods of time, your dependency on it is like having to breath. Without "it" you will die. In America even marijuana which is debatably just as harmful as tobacco and alcohol, can put you in jail from from 1-5 years for possession and 10 to life for selling or growing. Now in some states it is legal for recreational use, so this topic has gained some attention where people in other states have already been in jail for a long time for doing what someone in another state is doing it without consequents. Cocaine, Heroin, Meth, etc. are much more addictive and have harsher punishments. These drugs have been proven that without proper treatment, people can become dependent on them again even after 5-10 years of being sober. In jail the treatment options are minimal, only in some rare cases have private prisons have had a decent rehabilitation success rate. Some states have federally funded rehabilitation sites where instead of jail time from a possession charge, they can go to these rehabs. These rehabs where established to treat individuals from addiction rather than jail time. Doing this was more ideal to lower the people from doing this again and is also very much more cost effective. In a review from the Justice Policy Institute in Maryland, the success rate of completed treatment of ADAA programs is

The legalization of marijuana has been a highly debated topic for many of years. Since the first president to the most recent, our nation’s leaders have consumed the plant known as weed. With such influential figures openly using this drug why is it so frowned upon? Marijuana is considered a gateway drug, a menace to society, and mentally harmful to its consumers. For some people weed brings a sense of anxiety, dizziness, or unsettling feeling. Like alcohol, tobacco or any other drug, those chemicals may not respond well with their body. For other people marijuana brings joy, a sense of relief, and takes the edge off of every day stress. For those who are associated with cannabis, purposes usually range from a relaxant, or cash crop, to

The notion of legalizing marijuana has been a very controversial issue. In most states the use and possession of marijuana is illegal, but today some states have legalized marijuana such as Colorado and Washington since Nov. 2012 due to Colorado’s Amendment 64 was enacted for its recreational use. Marijuana has always been seen as a bad drug but marijuana is misunderstood by the nation. Marijuana has never been issued to be dangerous, it is safer than a lot of other drugs being used today. Till this day there is a constant reminder that drugs are bad, yet no matter what legal or illegal marijuana is being consumed by many. Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States, in which it’s why marijuana should be legalized

I once heard an inmate patient of mine say “Weed might be illegal but that doesn’t make it bad. Is everything that’s legal, good for you?” This statement begs attention when the argument of whether or not marijuana should be legalized is of topic. According to The Foundation for a Drug Free World, marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States; however after years of studies this drug is still illegal in almost all states while alcohol and tobacco continues to claim thousands of lives every year (n.d). Don’t get the wrong idea, this is not to persuade you into thinking that smoking weed or eating a marijuana brownie does not have its disadvantages. However the idea is to get you to understand and see that smoking

The legalization of marijuana has always been both a social and political issue. As of currently the direction of most debates about marijuana concern drug liberalization as the nation gets more and more progressive with marijuana. Quite recently, a few states have went forward and legalized marijuana for recreational use, and even Canada has taken its first step towards marijuana legalization. According to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan organization that provides information about the issues, attitudes, and trends changing America, as of 2015, the support for marijuana is finally outpacing the opposition. In 2012, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health reported that marijuana is the most commonly used