Centuries ago, marijuana, a drug cultivated from the flowers of the cannabis sativa plant, has been used for both folk medicine and also recreational use for centuries. The oldest known cache of marijuana was found in a grave that’s over 2,500 years old. Today, there are federal laws enacted prohibiting the possession, distribution, and cultivation of marijuana. However, states are beginning to challenge marijuana prohibition by legalizing and regulating the sale of this widely used substance medically and recreationally. This legalization movement will greatly benefit the United State’s economy and provide a medicine that is available for those in need. Marijuana has been a part of our history ever since the 1600’s. When the colony of Jamestown was established in Virginia, one of the laws enacted by King James I demanded that all farmers grow Indian hempseed. Hemp is a part of the marijuana plant and is one of the most strongest and durable of all natural fibers. Over the next couple centuries, many other laws were passed ordering even more hemp to be grown. In times of hemp shortages, you could be persecuted for refusing to grow hemp. In modern times, growing or possessing marijuana could possibly land the victim life in jail. Today, instead of implementing laws to grow hemp or cannabis, there are laws that make those who possess cannabis criminals. The government spends tax money to prohibit the use of cannabis instead of collecting tax money from the sale of
Former United States President Thomas Jefferson once declared, “Hemp is of first necessity to the wealth and protection of the country” (“Thomas Jefferson”). Unfortunately, many modern political leaders are not as enthusiastic as Jefferson regarding the beneficial uses of hemp and marijuana. Hemp, as well as marijuana, originates from the Cannabis plant. Surprisingly, marijuana dates all the way back to 2700 B.C.; where it is first mentioned in a Chinese herbal and is said to have many strong values. Regrettably, a majority of countries applied strict limitations on the substance by the late 1960’s. With those restrictions came harsh retributions involving sales and possession of the substance. As time passed, research of medicinal
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.
In its early days cannabis or “marijuana” as it’s mostly known was first established in 8000 B.C. Later becoming more and more popular cannabis was incorporated in many things such as weave to fine hemp cloths, medicine, and as a fiber for the Chinese and later all across the world. Nowadays marijuana is illegal and has been so since 1970 after the Federal Controlled Substances Act was passed. Now there’s an ongoing controversy about cannabis being legalized or decriminalized for medical or even recreational uses. Marijuana laws are getting looser and looser and states around the world and starting to be more accepted but the drug is still not legalized completely and there’s no concrete reason why.
One of the first things about marijuana history that the American public still doesn 't understand is that cannabis, was once very legal to grow in the United States. In fact, up until 1883 it was one of the largest agricultural crops in the world, including America.(The Union) But it wasn’t grown for the psychoactive plant cannabis sativa. Cannabis hemp, which carries a fraction of the amount of THC, (the compound in marijuana that attributes to the high feeling) was and is used all over the world, producing the overall majority of Earth’s fiber, fabric, paper, and medicines.(Herer,20) Hemp has a deep American History as well, from the gardens of George Washington and Benjamin Franklin to the 8,327 American hemp plantations counted in the 1850 census.(Herer,15) Yet the Federal government now recognizes cannabis as a Schedule I drug with no medical value, and 23 States have legalized cannabis for medicinal use. (The Union) Even though some western states such as Oregon and Colorado are making legal changes to marijuana policy at the state level, the most beneficial marijuana law we could pass is and always has been the Nationwide legalization of industrial Cannabis Hemp.
The issue of legalizing marijuana, also known as Cannabis Sativa, has been controversial for a long time, and has become even more so in recent years. Cannabis Sativa is a plant that has been used for a variety of purposes by many cultures for thousands of years. Not only does the Cannabis Sativa plant produce Marijuana, it also produces Hemp. Hemp was used to make food, clothes, shoes, ropes and paper, making it a very useful cash crop. Legal up until 1937, Marijuana was used in America for recreational use, medicinal, and industrial products as well. In the 1960’s the government’s war on all drugs was created putting Marijuana in the same category as Cocaine, Heroin, and Morphine. Today Marijuana remains a
On October 1, 1937, the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 was enacted and it prohibited all forms of cannabis sativa. Although the bill was targeted towards the banning of marijuana and both forms of cannabis on separate ends of the sativa spectrum, there was no specification on which form was directed for the ban. Thus both were prohibited from being grown in the United States of America. In November of 2016, marijuana officially became legal to grow in all fifty states, yet industrial hemp is still currently legal to be grown in 13 states within the USA. Hemp is largely exported to the US from other countries. It is imperative that hemp becomes legal to be grown around the entire country, for hemp will help retain the USA’s revenue by using hemp grown in America, has can be used for many different purposes such as clothing or food for example, has the potential to reduce American citizen’s carbon footprint as a substitute for paper and gasoline, and has no major threat to the industrialization of hemp in factories.
One of the primary focuses of America 's War on Drugs is the controversial drug Marijuana. Marijuana remains the most widely used illegal drug and stirs up constant debate everywhere. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime from the World Drug Report 2004 an estimation of about 4 percent of the world’s adult population (162 million) consume marijuana annually (156). For thousands of years human beings have attempted to find ways to get passed the struggles of everyday life. With the pain of the world stopping people from enjoying simple pleasures, sometimes there is a need for help. Marijuana brings millions of people relief from pain flet on a day-to-day basis. This completely natural plant which previously helped so many people has puzzled the leaders of our nation for a long time. The effects of the drug on a individual level is what 's prevented the product from being legalized. Many issues involving this plant, like the speculation of it being a gateway drug, has put yet another block on its legalization. Even with the drugs known speculations, the benefit that it brings to the table most definitely out way its disadvantages. Marijuana can also alleviate several symptoms associated with cancer and Aids treatments and disorders. While Marijuana is effective as a medicine, it is also extremely lucrative. The economic benefits that Marijuana brings to the table are endless. Non legalization is a waste of societies hard earned money to continue to enforce
Since the first efforts to legalize marijuana in the 1960s, Americans have become progressively more accepting of requests to liberalize laws restricting possession and use of marijuana, but the shift has not been a straight line. After 11 states decriminalized marijuana possession in the 1970s, recoil led by suburban parents led too much harsher implementation of drug laws. But since California legalized medical marijuana in 1996, outlooks toward the drug have relaxed significantly.("A Brief History of Public Opinion on Marijuana Legalization.")
Marijuana is a substance that has become very much a part of American culture. Nearly 65 million Americans have either used it occasionally or regularly. The use of marijuana hit mainstream America about thirty years ago and it has been accepted by a large segment of society ever since (Rosenthal 16). The debate on whether this substance should be legalized or not remains a very hot topic today. Despite government efforts
Marijuana has been around for a long time and its use has become wide spread in America. So much so, that an underground culture and economy have formed around it like a protective shroud. For most people, a supply of marijuana is only a phone call away (ICSDP.) Yet it has been illegal to possess, use, grow, or distribute since the thirties. Despite the possibility of becoming addicted to marijuana, many use it recreationally, while others rely on the medicinal effects of marijuana to alleviate a variety of diseases. Thirteen states have enacted medical marijuana laws and programs despite federal prohibition policies against the use of marijuana. Twelve more states are in the process of following this trend and if they are successful in
Ferrets are a part of the weasel family. They are closely related to animals like otters, minks, wolverines, and badgers.
Today medicine is becoming more and more expensive and less natural as we advance in the medical industry. Medical Technology is so advance that there is a treatment for every kind of sickness. Some more dangerous than others but one of most simple and natural of them all is Medical Cannabis or better known as “Marijuana”. It was first prohibited in 1937 under the "Marijuana Tax Act" the move was made to protect the patents and fortunes of a few ultra-wealthy capitalists. But since then the drug has been proven to help with medical treatments. Marijuana is becoming more mainstream: more than 20 states have legalized it in some way or another, and several other states are thinking of changing their Medical Cannabis
Marijuana (cannabis, hemp, or hash) has been argued upon amongst the United States for over fifty years. As well its various functions, both therapeutic and in trade, our government insists on preserving the status quo that the development, possession and use of marijuana is criminal despite the evidence that the legalization of marijuana would have a positive influence on America.
When we imagine the uses of marijuana, we see the dazed hippies of the 1960s and 70’s, but really the first written record of cannabis goes back to 2727 B.C. by Chinese Emperor Shen Nung and it has been dated through almost every historic time. Not only was cannabis used for recreational and medicinal properties, but hemp was also used for cloth and textiles, paper, soap and hygiene products, food, and even industrial products such as fuel. Marijuana is not just the idolized drug mentioned in countless songs and movies that we tend to dismiss as just a joke. It appears in our daily life in various ways mostly to eliminate it, but recently it has become a more controversial topic with the legalization in some states. The debate to end the prohibition has gone into the recent presidential campaign and with the knowledge of Colorado’s recent change to legalizing marijuana we can know evaluate the evidence. The Federal Government should legalize marijuana across the country because of the economic benefits, the societal impacts, and the economical effects.
Marijuana has been in use for at least five thousand years, and perhaps much longer, first in Asia and gradually spreading throughout the world. For much of that time, it has been used primarily to produce rope and clothing, but has been employed for a variety of other uses as well: as medicine, religious sacrament, food, as a treatment for addiction to other drugs, and even as a punishment for criminal wrongdoing. Recently, the use of marijuana as a mind altering substance became much more widespread than ever. At the same time, interest in other uses of marijuana—as food, fuel, fabric, and especially medicine—expanded dramatically, resulting in the ongoing debate on legalization of it in the United States and continues to become more complex.