Should Marijuana Be Legalized?

In modern society marijuana has always been considered a sort of taboo subject in the United States due mainly to the fact that it is illegal. Many people don’t realize however that considering the history of our country, marijuana has only been illegal for a relatively short time span. Several of our founding fathers, including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, grew marijuana for hemp (the material derived from the plant) regularly and there is even speculation Washington smoked the plant occasionally. Back in those days marijuana did not have the sinister reputation it has today but instead was a vital part of colonial life, with the hemp material having a number of uses including rope, clothing, and paper (West, 1998). It wasn’t until the early 20th century that the public opinion regarding marijuana began to shift and restrictive laws were put in place that would eventually lead to illegalization.

The role of how marijuana is used in the United States is being reexamined, rethought, and recalibrated, Barcott emphasize throughout his book. The new adjustment in America's relationship with cannabis cannot be measured in just monetary or social terms, “there are more profound movements going ahead here; social realignments, social alterations, and budgetary modifications” Barcott believes. Barcott show marijuana came to be one of the most vilified drugs in the market ever since the war on drugs was announced in the 1980s. However, the author shows how those who were against that movement are now cheerful that the way of that line of thinking is finally coming to a close. “Weed the

Cannabis began being outlawed all across the U.S. during the 1900’s and has remained illegal ever since, until recent years when states began legalizing it (huffpost.com). Although many people believe that the reason behind the prohibition of cannabis was based on genuine concern for the possible consequences it may have on the well-being of people if it remained accessible to all, the truth is that the drive behind the U.S.’s prohibition of cannabis was founded on racism. During the early 1900’s cannabis was considered an “ethnic drug” due to the fact that many Mexican immigrants smoked the plant (huffpost.com). With the tension in Western states regarding the migration of Mexicans into the states, laws concerning the use regulation of

Richard Nixon was one of our most infamous presidents. He is now notoriously known for numerous scandals, one being the Watergate scandal, and consequentially his resignation. But during his time as president, he would influence one aspect of domestic affairs that would inevitably criminalize most minorities and is counterintuitive to its cause. Drugs. Nixon had persuaded the nation that drugs were our greatest enemy. He formally declared war on drugs in a press conference speech. The reason behind this declaration and the speech itself are important when evaluating Nixon’s performance as a public speaker because they show the strategies he used to sway his people into the anti-drugs mindset that is still held by many today.

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.

Lately it seems that drug policy and the war on drugs has been in the headlines quite a lot. It is becoming increasingly apparent that the policies that the United States government takes against illegal drugs are coming into question. The mainstream media is catching on to the message of organizations and individuals who have long been considered liberal "Counter Culture" supporters. The marijuana question seems to be the most prevalent and pressed of the drugs and issues that are currently being addressed. The messages of these organizations and individuals include everything from legalization of marijuana for medical purposes, to full-unrestricted legalization of the drug. Of course, the status quo of vote seeking politicians and

For many years in the past, marijuana has been made to look like a dangerous drug, linked to crime and addiction. In the early 1920s and ‘30s most people still did not know what marijuana was or had even heard of it yet. Those who had heard of it were largely uninformed. The drug rarely appeared in the media, but when it did it was linked to crime and even thought to be murder-inducing. A 1929 article in the Denver Post reported a Mexican-American man who murdered his stepdaughter was a marijuana addict (Baird 2011). Articles such as this began to form a long-standing link between marijuana and crime in the public’s mind. Soon, laws against marijuana began coming into place. In 1970, Congress classified

The Drug War has been a policy and a battle to stop drug flow into the U.S, cease drug production and to completely illuminate drugs entirely but results have shown otherwise. In 1971, President Richard Nixon first declared the Drug war and classified drugs as a number one public enemy shortly after drug use hit its peak in the 1960’s. The U.S previously had anti-drug laws but the laws were light and directed mainly to minorities. The following President Jimmy Carter believed in decriminalizing Marijuana and certain portions of Marijuana were legal to possess during his term but the legalization was shortly lived. A new attempted solution was a program Nancy Reagan, President

“Police officers in Texas claimed that marijuana incited violent crimes, aroused a ‘lust for blood,’ and gave its users ‘superhuman strength.’ Rumors spread that Mexicans were distributing this ‘killer weed’ to unsuspecting American schoolchildren.” With this information 29 states outlawed marijuana between 1916 and 1931. Then the Marijuana Tax of 1937 pretty much banned it nation wide. “During the mid-1970s, virtually all states softened penalties for marijuana possession,” reports The New York Times. However, the federal government continued to cling, as it does today, “to a policy that has its origins in racism and xenophobia and whose principal effect has been to ruin the lives of generations of people.”

Flyers and posters were placed everywhere reading “Marijuana a puff- a party- a tragedy! Assassin of Youth(marijuana).” All sharing one common goal: convincing the public of the abominable drug that marijuana was being presumed to be. Then came the grand slam, the Reefer Madness film. The film’s main focus was how badly the teenage marijuana users were affected by the drug. These adolescents became unexplainably violent and deranged. The film even showed an extremely irrational behaviors, like suicide, because of how “potent” the high was. The movie was successfully advertised and pushed to be seen. Quickly after, this falsified idea of marijuana spread across the US like wildfire and its information was absorbed. Generation after generation carried on these false interpretations on cannabis. All medical miracles and its obvious economical benefits were lost due to blind ignorance and lack of knowledge.

In the 1800’s marijuana was sold in the drugstores and was used to treat migraines and menstrual cramps. In the early 1900s some states required you to have a prescription for the medical use of marijuana. By the 1930’s marijuana was being tied with criminal cases being the lead cause of the crime. In the 1960-70’s Congress with Richard Nixon as President passed the Controlled Substances Act classifying marijuana as a drug with a “high potential for abuse” and “no currently accepted medical use” (Bronner, 2013).

As time goes on, social attitudes adapt and change. 70-80 years ago, marijuana was demonized in films such as reefer madness and demonized as the drug of choice of the minorities. An example of a lie from this point in time was that marijuana was used by blacks and Mexicans to rape white women. The time has come for America and the world to change its philosophy on drug use. The drug war is a lost cause because it’s built on racism and prejudice, the effects of drugs are exaggerated, it creates prison overcrowding, it allows violent cartels to become incredibly powerful and because it is a hypocritical philosophy.

Since the mid to late 20th century, marijuana has been a big part of society. Marijuana has been used by humans since ancient times, but it didn’t become globally popular until the late 1960s to the 1970s. “Since its use was first reported more than 40 years ago in the United States, cannabis use has spread globally” (Hall, pg. 19). Soon after the Vietnam War across the United States and many other countries people found many drugs to consume. One of the most popular drugs is Marijuana. Around this time that the majority of people used and abused drugs, there were no laws against them. Doctors did not know much with reference to marijuana and the health effects it has on people. So people would use them freely without any second thought. They just knew about what it does mentally and the state of mind that is commonly known as being “high”. Today, Marijuana is an illegal drug by the Federal government. Recently, some state governments have made marijuana legal for anyone who is 18 years of age or older. On the other hand in some states doctors are prescribing medicinal marijuana to patients with cancer. People use and abuse drugs every day and people of many ages are using them, but the majority of the drug using population is teens and young adults. Marijuana is typically not abused due to the face that it does not create an addiction. Our federal government believes that the effects of marijuana is dangerous for anyone. “Those opposing liberalization of current laws

The criminalization of marijuana started in the early 1900’s when after the Mexican revolution many Mexicans moved into America and they needed a reason to start arresting Mexicans. They claimed that marijuana made “men of color aggressive”. Harry Anslinger said “Its more dangerous than heroin or cocaine”. Anslinger claimed that marijuana “Leads to pacifism and communist brain washing”.

Marijuana is a controversial issue which has come into questionable scrutiny in society today. Although defamatory accusations have been made against the miracle plant, the truths are gradually beginning emerge. The truth, unfortunately, has come under excessive scrutiny due to a bromidic view the public has on a perceived “pot smoker”. This misconception of a lethargic and apathetic America is the by-product of over seventy years of propaganda and deceitfulness spread by private interests who required the plant illegal for their own personal gains. Marijuana presents several positive benefits, such as hemp cultivation, that far outweigh the negative and for that reason action should be taken to legalize it and the first step is