Should Marijuana Be Legalized?

Although I admit that there are a lot of loop holes in this argument, I feel that I need to tell everyone how far less dangerous marijuana is than already legal substances such as alcohol or tobacco. Around 50,000 people die each year from alcohol poisoning. Similarly, more than 400,000 deaths each year are attributed to tobacco smoking. Someone would have to smoke over 1400 pounds of marijuana

In order to gain an understanding of marijuana's so called "harmful" negative effects; it should be compared to other drugs that are presently legalized in this country. In the pharmaceutical world, over-the-counter drugs are being prescribed for everything these days. Ritalin and Adderall are readily available for college students in the university health centers across the country. Kids are staying up all night studying, complaining that they can not pay attention, and are immediately referred to the prescription drugs which in many cases they do not even need. Along with the prescription drug problem in our nation, we have a serious issue concerning alcohol and tobacco. Alcoholism is killing people daily with liver malfunctions

There are opposing viewpoints to the idea of legalizing marijuana. One counter-argument is that marijuana is highly addictive. If the belief exists that anything highly addictive should not be out on the market, than it can be reasonable to argue that cigarettes or prescription drugs should not be available to consumers as well. The argument of marijuana being highly addictive is false. Dr. Riggs argues, “About nine percent of individuals who repeatedly use it [marijuana] may become addicted” (The Dr. Oz Show, 2013). She uses the key word “may” which is not concrete. Nine percent of

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Some researchers claim that marijuana is not particularly addictive. Experts assert that marijuana addictive power parallels caffeine (Franklin, 1990). Another study had experts rank 18 drugs on how easily they "hook"people and how difficult they are to quit. Marijuana ranked 14 behind the legal drug nicotine (ranked first), alcohol (ranked 8th), and caffeine (ranked 12th). Only a few other drugs ranked lower than marijuana (Franklin, 1990). These results just reflect main conclusions, but different proofs recommend that cannabis is not especially addictive. Just a small amount of the individuals who attempt to smoke marijuana get addictive.

Marijuana or cannabis is a preparation of the cannabis plant intended for use as a hallucinatory drug and a medicine as well. The principal hallucinatory constituent of marijuana is Tetrahydrocannabinol or THC. Twenty three states and the District of Columbia has legalized marijuana for medical or recreational purposes in the United States. Legalizing marijuana has many benefits to it. Not only has marijuana been proven to counter act some symptoms of cancer and other diseases, it can also boost the economy and increase tax revenues. Along with all these things legalizing marijuana can also lesson crime rate and allow police and federal agents to focus

Cigarettes are a mixture of the most dangerous substances for humans to consume and yet they are legal and mass produced so that everyone can smoke them. Marijuana on the other hand is nowhere nearly as harmful as cigarettes but is illegal and looked at as if it were far worse than cigarettes. It is long overdue that society recognizes the fact that marijuana is better for people than cigarettes by a mile. Cigarettes are extremely more addictive than marijuana, the usage patterns for marijuana cannot compare to cigarettes, and dozens of lethal chemicals are put into cigarettes whereas marijuana is a natural plant and doesn’t contain nearly as many chemicals.

Similarly, Marijuana also has an extremely almost non existent risk of addiction in comparison to other drugs.The article titled “The Truth About Pot” published in the Scientific American Website stated that, “only 9% of users of marijuana show signs of a dependence based relationship with marijuana.” In addition, this article also stated that “alcohol has an addiction percentage of 15 , cocaine has an addiction percentage of 17, heroin has an addiction percentage of 23, and nicotine has an addiction percentage 32.”

Marijuana seriously causes bad effects for human’s healthy when people overuse it a little too much. While tobacco has a bad reputation for pumping the huge amount of carcinogens into the lungs, marijuana is estimated to have different levels of carcinogens that are 50-70% higher than tobacco smoke (“Pros & Cons of Legalizing Marijuana”). The effect is extremely amplified by the fact that many marijuana smokers inhale more deeply than cigarette smokers. That is the reason why it increases the amount of time the lungs are exposed to cancer-causing chemicals. Besides

After Healy examined chemicals within the cannabis plant, she then moved on to discuss how the cannabis plant was addictive by describing a specific situation on the continent of Australia. She is right in her assertion that marijuana is potentially addictive. However, Healy forgot to mention the other serious addiction problems which affect many Americans all across our nation. Bardhi et al,. (2014) published a case study on prescription pill use in marijuana smoking among young women. Toward the end of the study, the authors discussed the story of a young woman named Julia. She suffered from anxiety attacks during certain situations. After seeing a doctor, she was prescribed the medication Xanax. Julia was told to only take the medication during an emergency, or when she felt an attack coming on. After a while, Julia began taking the pills every day. This example demonstrates how pharmaceutical prescription medications which are prescribed by doctors can become highly addictive.

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

In most countries, the use of marijuana that is also commonly known as marijuana is considered illegal. Small amount of marijuana have been allowed in some regions such as Europe, North America and South America. In the United States, some states such as Arizona, Delaware and Colorado have also legalized the “State Medical Marijuana Law” for several beneficial causes. Overall, the legalization of marijuana has have positives and negatives effects to the world for many reasons.

Have you ever had a dilemma and there was a solution to it but it was out of reach? Many people in United States suffer from sicknesses that can be help treated with marijuana. The “drug” marijuana has many benefits from minor day-to-day to life-changing benefits. Cancer, strokes, arthritis, stress, anxiety, and depression are just some instances. Marijuana has been a stigma of bias beliefs for many years. People fear that marijuana can have a negative impact on their health. Such as, breathe in smoke, brain damage, gateway to other drugs but marijuana is a safe substance that should be legalized in the United State.

Meanwhile, cigarettes are one of the leading causes of cancer and deaths and yet are still legal to buy and grow. There are not health beneficial reasons or any nutritious value to smoking cigarettes whatsoever. Furthermore, cigarettes have shown a bloodcurdling scientific proof to damage to the human body and have had an alarming amount of death tolls; yet there have never in the centuries of documented use of marijuana, has

Many people claim that there is no known case of people dying due to marijuana. This is a half truth since it’s not the marijuana itself that kills; it’s its side effects. Marijuana causes lung and throat cancer much like cigarettes. As a matter of fact, marijuana is worse for the lungs, since it contains three times as much tar as cigarettes and it’s usually smoked without a filter. They also claim there is not nearly as much crime due to marijuana use compared alcohol. This is also true but for one simple reason. Alcohol is legal and more easily accessible than marijuana. It’s the fact that marijuana is illegal that is keeping these numbers so low. Legalizing marijuana would be like adding fuel to a fire. If marijuana were to be legalized these number are sure to increase.