Should Marijuana Be Legal? Essays

Marijuana has been proven to be safer than alcohol, yet marijuana is against the law. Alcohol is known to contribute to acts of violence and crime, while in most cases cannabis can reduce aggression in its users. “In last year’s cases of reported violent crime three million offenders had been drinking. Almost all cases of date rape, sexual assault, and domestic violence had some kind of connection to alcohol” (Medical Fact: Marijuana is Safer Than Alcohol, 2009). Marijuana has not been linked or has

In addition to increase public health problems, legalizing marijuana will lead to increase use of the drug among youngsters. Despite the regulatory approaches, legalizing marijuana has the inevitable effect of increasing the availability and consumption of the drug. Under the current prohibitions, the rate of consumption of marijuana among teenagers is already high; however, the rate of use would greatly increase if the drug was legitimately available to the population. For instance, despite the prohibitions against distribution of alcohol to teenagers, many youngsters who are under the legal age drink alcohol today. Similarly, high percentages of the young population are currently smokers even though the law prohibit them from buying cigarettes. Therefore, it is expected that the usage of marijuana among teenagers would increase if marijuana was legalized. Notably, the marijuana use will impair the development process of teenagers, which will negatively affect their health in later life. Thus, the increased use of marijuana among teenagers is a great concern. It will contribute to great dangers on the health of the youths.

Marijuana is a 'gateway drug'-The addiction rate for marijuana is lower than that of alcohol, and there is little scientific evidence that it acts as a trigger for harder drugs. While teen marijuana use is not to be encouraged, the real "gateway drug" risk might be from abusing prescription opioids and stimulants, like OxyContin, Vicodin and Adderall, or with inhalant drug use. These have strong addictive properties and more accessible to teens.

We all know that marijuana is an addictive substance. Legalizing cannabis use is an easy way for people to use drugs. Using marijuana impacts teenagers’ learning outcomes, ability to work as well as driving, increases car accidents. The consequence of using stimulants at a young age leads to conflicts

5. Prohibition is based on lies and disinformation. Justification of marijuana's illegality increasingly requires distortions and selective uses of the scientific record, causing harm to the credibility of teachers, law enforcement officials, and scientists throughout the country. The dangers of marijuana use have been exaggerated for almost a century and the modern scientific record does not support the reefer madness predictions of the past and present. Many claims of marijuana's danger are based on old 20th century prejudices that originated in a time when science was uncertain how marijuana produced its characteristic effects. Since the cannabinoid receptor system was discovered in the late 1980s these hysterical concerns about marijuana's dangerousness have not been confirmed with modern research. Everyone agrees that marijuana, or any other drug use such as alcohol or tobacco use, is not for children. Nonetheless, adults have demonstrated over the last several decades that marijuana can be used moderately without harmful impacts to the individual or society.

Since being officially outlawed in the 70s with Controlled Substances Act marijuana has been a completely illegal substance for anyone to have or consume(Burnett). However, that has not stopped anyone from using the plant. Growing up in a small conservative town it was pretty surprising how many people actually admitted to using the drug. The drug has been demonized for years by parents that believe that it will turn their kids into burnouts. However, that has not necessarily been the case. Like other substances any form of abuse can ruin a person’s life. Let’s take for instance a legal substance that suffered the same fate as marijuana at one point in time. Alcohol has long been the

Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area reports that “marijuana use among the ages 12 to 17 years increased 6.6 percent.” Although recreational marijuana is only allowed to be purchased by people twenty-one and older, teenagers are still managing to getting ahold of it. A. Eden Evans, a director at the Center for Addiction Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital(MGH) has done a large amount of research on the effect of marijuana on adolescents. She found that some immediate physical risks of marijuana are “impaired coordination, slowed reaction time, slow processing on particularly unexpected or complex events”(Legalizing Marijuana: The Public Health Pros and Cons 14:44). Although they are unsure exactly how long these side effects last, they do have a negative effect on young children trying to learn and can reduce their quality of learning experience. Evans mentions a study done at MGH on the impact of marijuana to the body functions, that when testing kids early “[they] didn't find function difficulties [but] five years later those who had starting using marijuana had worsened executive function”(17:59). Drug Rehab, a website that offers ways to overcoming addictions, explains in further detail some of the specific risks and statistics to help show marijuana's high health risk. One of the risks they cite on the website is marijuana's addictive nature, where they state that “10% of users will develop dependence over time.” Addiction to marijuana can lead to many other drug addictions. On the same website they take a look into another medical study on males, that reports “that teenage boys who abused alcohol, cigarettes, and marijuana were 2 to 3 times more likely to abuse prescription drugs during young adulthood” (Drugrehab.us).

Marijuana is an addictive drug. Fifty percent of everyday marijuana users become addicted. Most of all my peers I go to college and went to high school with smoke everyday with no intention in stopping. They smoke maybe five times throughout the day and when I ask why, they told it helps them stay calm and chills them. So they are really telling me that their body cannot function properly without their daily dose of marijuana because their body is trying to keep at homeostasis. That is why when everyday users try to quit smoking, they suffer from irritability, sleeplessness, anxiety, and a decreased appetite. Marijuana effects motivation, short term and long term memory, and also school work. College students smoke throughout the day, so it makes it very likely that they try to do school work or even go to class under the influence. One fact that I really didn’t know about with marijuana is that it increases the heart rate, along with raising blood pressure and damaging the lungs. For me that is important because I was born with a defective heart that takes twice as much energy to pump blood and I also have high blood pressure which is hereditary in my family. So not only did I put myself at a criminal risk, I also put myself at a health risk as well. There is also a risk for someone to buy “laced” marijuana which means that there is potential that

The use of marijuana for medical purposes and personal use can be recorded as far as 12,000 years ago. Marijuana is classified as a schedule 1 drug. Schedule 1 drugs are drugs are drugs that have the potential for abuse (Drug Scheduling,2016). The government contains the high-level drugs, this is the reason we have pharmacies. Pharmacies are regulated so that people can not get medicine that can be easily abused. Pharmacies require a medical prescription from a certified doctor for any drug that could be used improperly. Marijuana should be in the same category as prescription drugs because, like any medicine/drug it can be easily abused. Decriminalizing marijuana is not helping millions of people that could benefit from its medical benefits from legalizing it. Even though legalized marijuana may result in an increase in black-market drug trade, marijuana should be legalized because its sale could benefit the economy and can also be used for medical purposes.

Weed, bud, ganja, chronic, dro, herbs, grass, trees, pot, reefer; these are all names of the one drug that causes so much dispute, marijuana. Loved by so many, and hated by the law. It’s a two sided argument which everyone has their own opinion on. Is there any specific reason why weed should be illegal, or is the government just making money from catching people with it? Is there any real medical purpose for marijuana, or is it just a gateway drug for kids? These are the questions everyone should know the answers to. Whose side are you on?

While many people think that marijuana is dangerous should be considered as illegal drug, I firmly believe that marijuana should be legalized medically and recreationally. Marijuana provides its user relaxation and peacefulness which indicates that the drug does not influence bad or criminal actions. However, marijuana is still illegal in some areas where dangerous products like alcohol are legal. In the field of medicine, marijuana is one of the safest drugs among all medications nowadays. Marijuana is a very unique drug as marijuana can reduce many symptoms of varied diseases and treat many illnesses. The effect of marijuana on the user is making one relaxed and peaceful, Cannabis major components are called THC and CBD, which have been known for treating wide variety of illness throughout the history. For example, marijuana could help treat anxiety disorders, glaucoma, AIDS related illness, bipolar disorders and cancer related illness. Marijuana is recommended by many professional physicians and scientist because it does the job with very minor side effects. Most legal medications these days cause many side effects as they mostly contain chemicals, but marijuana is a natural drug and is still illegal. Although marijuana would safer and more beneficial in the field of medicine, many people still criticize the idea of legalizing marijuana and disregard the fact the many lethal drugs are being prescribed every day. People have logical reasons to be against legalizing

It undoubtably needs to be kept out of the hands of minors. But, the side effects of marijuana are not reasons for criminal charges. Especially not in a society that celebrates the potentially deadly drinking.

The public has been told how bad marijuana is for the longest time without ever addressing the facts behind what it does to the human body. Which one is really safer though, marijuana or alcohol? Contrary to popular belief marijuana is safer and more beneficial than alcohol is, when examining the health effects on the brain and the body during consumption as well as long term. Meanwhile bars stay open till 2 am every night and no one questions that alcohol is very detrimental to a person’s health and can even kill when consumed. Although some authority figures may claim that marijuana is a gateway drug or can lead to heart attacks most research shows that these impressions are false.

Marijuana, weed, hashish, pot, it goes by many names. Many people argue that it should be legalize because it’s no better than alcohol and cigarettes. Although these claims holds some truth, marijuana is still a dangerous drug and adding one more problematic drug into the mix will not improve America’s health and safety issues. Although marijuana has its medical benefits, using it for recreational purposes is dangerous for both us and our society.

This drug whom the majority of teenagers has explored, named Marijuana can have long-term physical and mental effects. Teenagers are the most affected since we are in a phase of risk taking, willing to do anything to feel more superior. They tend to make the mistake mixing multiple drugs, in which it can result in their own addiction or even worst their own death.For instance, my uncle started smoking marijuana at an early age (17 years of age) and he landed in prison because the cops caught him with cocaine and other kinds of drugs when he was driving home; now he is assuming the consequence in prison. It may be an excellent idea to never legalize the marijuana in society, and the government should make a more powerful law that may keep out teenager or any human away from these