Should Marijuana Be Legalized?

The major debate in America today, is whether Marijuana should be legalized or kept illegal. Marijuana is the most widely used illicit drug in America, of the nearly twenty million current drug users, 14.6 million are using marijuana (National 73) . Therefore, if marijuana is legalized in America, the number of users will skyrocket. Hence, marijuana should stay illegal in America for the reason that if it is legalized, more adolescents would acquire the drug easier, roads will become more dangerous and finally, more marijuana means higher chances of addictions and use of other harmful drugs.

Possession and use of marijuana is illegal in over half of the United States, but it is still the third most popular recreational drug in the United States. The debate for this drug to be legal has been going on for many years; some states have legalized the drug for medical use, and some for recreational use as well. Other states seem to disagree; they are not in favor of making the drug legal for medical use or recreational use. It has been proven that marijuana has a positive impact on society. Marijuana should be legalized as it would reduce crime, provide health benefits, and it is a safe drug.

Some Americans believe that marijuana should be legalized but most Americans believe that marijuana should not be legalized. This is a very controversial topic but also leads into questions such as,does marijuana affect your health? Based on my research i have found that it has shown to have positive effects and also negative effects. Some negative effects is that it could give you memory loss and cause exhaustion after short periods of time. Some positive effects is that its beneficial to the body of an elderly sick patient or patients that experience various amounts of pain, such as cancer patients, or people that are dying painfully. In order for these people to be able to purchase this drug, it must first be legalized.I also think that in order for those people to be able to receive the drug they should have legal clinics where these people can access the product from.

Support for marijuana legalization is rapidly increasing throughout the United States. “A slim majority, 53% of Americans, say the drug should be made legal, compared with 44% who want it to be illegal” (Motel). What would change if marijuana was legalized federally in the United States? Would everyone be sane? A lot of things in the United States could happen by legalizing marijuana. There would be less marijuana related crimes. With all the laws that are being passed, would it be harder to tax? Would it benefit the economy? marijuana should be legalized, federally.

In 2012, marijuana was legalized for recreational use in Colorado. Now it is legal in Washington D.C., Oregon and Alaska, only fully legal for recreational use in Washington D.C. and Colorado. Legalization is not necessarily the issue any more. Child psychiatrist Mitchell S. Rosenthal stated, “At this point in the country’s history, whether pot is legal or not is no longer the main issue. The issue is the danger that marijuana poses to kids, how parents can protect their children from that danger, and what the rest of society—absent the criminal justice system--can do to support them.” Although legalization is rapidly spreading, it needs to come to a halt. Marijuana should not be legalized due to the dangers it poses

Colorado schools have earned $13.6 million of funding in the first five months of 2015 from the recently legalized sale of recreational marijuana. This is a major increase from 2014 with a total of $13.3 million being paid for the entire year. All of this rapidly growing revenue is being generated through the taxes paid by the marijuana sales industry. This substantial sum is a part of an approved excise tax of 15% on wholesale marijuana sales which orders that 15% of the taxes be used strictly for the construction of new schools. This, of course, comes from the total marijuana tax revenue which has already reached over $60 million in 2015 alone as of August. This unprecedented increase in state revenue and school funding is one of the most obvious benefits to the legalization of recreational marijuana.

But what needs to be known before a user can safely and completely make the decision if trying Marijuana is a good idea? Many do not want the drug to be legalized because they claim that Cannabis is a “gateway drug”, meaning it will cause people to try harder drugs once their body builds up a resistance to Marijuana, because a stronger drug will be needed to reach a high state. This argument is often falsely related to the medical side of the debate over legalization. It is claimed that this would be a reason not to legalize the drug. This argument, though true, is misleading and should actually be used for a reason to legalize Cannabis. It must first be understood that drug dealers use Marijuana to prey on people who like the high feeling. They convince those doing the drugs to try harder ones such as but not limited to Molly, Heroin, Meth, or LSDs. All drugs that are addictive. Peer pressure is what leads to Cannabis being a gateway drug, a unfortunate scenario that could be eliminated by putting Marijuana on the free market. If it was legal to intake users would no longer have to turn to drug dealers for their supply, therefore eliminating situation in which they could be influenced by peer pressure. So with all this in mind the fact that it is a gateway drug does not mean that it is medically unacceptable. In fact, I strongly believe that health should not be the reason why it it’s illegal and placed on the harmful drugs list because it is 0% addictive and has never

Cannabis has many slang terms such as weed, pot, dope, Mary Jane, reefer, however it is most commonly referred to as marijuana. Marijuana and its many forms can be taken in multiple fashions. The most common of them is smoking them as a joint or a blunt, but it can also be vaporized, eaten, applied as a cream, and even consumed as a tea. With elections coming up, marijuana use has recently been making headlines for its popularity in propositions and proposed bills, which would legalize recreational use of marijuana in many states if passed. These bills however, do not take into consideration the many negative effects of marijuana use on the body, the wide availability to underage children, and potential harm to others. All of these

The use of marijuana has been around since B.C. times and was banned by the US government in Marijuana Tax Act of 1937. However, the debate over the legalization of cannabis sativa, known as marijuana, has been one of the most prominent and controversial issue in society today besides same sex marriage. Over the centuries, a shift in opinion in the favor of legalization has been seen. There are five jurisdictions in the United State that have rejected the failed prohibition of marijuana and changed their laws to legalize small amount of marijuana: Washington, Colorado, Alaska, Washington, D.C., and Oregon. Recently, Representative David Simpson (R-Longview) filled a bill to legalize marijuana in Texas. Cannabis is the largest cash crop in

Marijuana is contervisol topic all around the world, some countries like Amsterdam and states in the United States have legalized marijuana, and this has put preasure onto other countries to legalize. Marijuana is also referred as weed, herb, and pot and is derived from a plant called cannabis sativa, also known as hemp plant. The cannabis plant produces THC, which stands for tetrahydrocannabinol, and there are over 85+ individual cannabinoids, which are found in marijuana, but THC is responsible for the sensation of “high” felling. THC binds to special receptors in the brain and all around the body called cannabinoid receptors, the receptors trigger series of chemical reactions, which causes change in the body, and function of the brain. Prominence of marijuana, is surrounded by great controversy, there are two definite sides, those who believe marijuana should be legalized for recreation use, and those who believe marijuana should stay illegal for its own good for the society. Legalizing marijuana can create more jobs but marijuana should be kept illegal because we do not know the long term affects, marijuana can damage your health, and the use of the drug can impact public safety.

Marijuana should be legalized since it will help a country economically because the tax and revenue from marijuana sales. Let’s look at one of the examples, Colorado

Marijuana is the most frequently used illegal drug globally; different types of the drug have been used for many years for their social, aesthetic, and medicinal effects. International laws and treaties have forbidden farming, possession, and selling of marijuana. This makes lawbreakers out of more than the 125 million people marijuana consumers and those who supply them. The trade makes illicit markets totalling to billions of dollars per year, some of the illegal activity results in violence and corruption by public officials. Millions of marijuana users are arrested annually for possession of drugs, and some traffickers also land in prison (Kacey, 2014).

“There’s nothing new about cannabis, of course. It’s been around humankind pretty much forever. In Siberia charred seeds have been found inside burial mounds dating back to 3000 B.C. The Chinese were using cannabis as a medicine thousands of years ago. Marijuana is deeply American too—as American as George Washington, who grew hemp at Mount Vernon. For most of the country’s history, cannabis was legal, commonly found in tinctures and extracts” (Sides). This is how the national geographic article “Science Seeks To Unlock Marijuana’s Secrets” by Hampton Sides was opened. Very good opening sentences that provide a good idea of marijuana and a little history on it as well. There are many problems in todays society, but the argument of

In order to more effectively address the growing problem of the ‘war on drugs,’ many countries are striving to decriminalize or legalize drugs such as marijuana, considered to be less harmful than other, more dangerous and addictive drugs. Marijuana is currently classified as a Class C drug in the United States, the inclusion of marijuana in the ‘war on drugs’ has not provided the kind of results expected. Rather than eliminating undesirable drugs from the streets, the war on drugs has had the effect of increasing the level of violence in the drug trade, encouraged the development of organized crime, filled prison cells to unprecedented and beyond capacity levels, consumed huge amounts of government capital and yet has done very little to reduce the presence of these drugs within the general population or the numbers of people who make use of them. More recent theories have suggested that legalizing, or at least decriminalizing, lesser drugs such as marijuana may be a more effective approach as a means of reducing levels of violence, decrease incarceration, allow more individuals to remain productive members of society, and make more resources available to combat more harmful substances and criminals. To more fully understand the issue, available literature and theory regarding the topic of legalization will be examined as well as the results of decriminalization in those pockets of government where it’s been allowed and compare these to drug-related crime and possible

Many of you have your own opinion on whether marijuana should be legalized or not, for recreational or medical use. Marijuana has been looked down on by federal governments since before 1915, when Utah passed the first anti-marijuana law. Since then, the black market (illegal trade) has become extremely violent causing the crime rate to skyrocket over the years. The black market is based off of a variety of illegal, dangerous drugs. Marijuana differs from other drugs because of its medical advantage. Pulling marijuana out of the black market trade and selling it through dispensaries has the potential to change our society for the better, having marijuana being sold and taxed safely in a retail store. It will also help the people who use marijuana as their medicine over other prescription drugs that have harmful side effects and killer withdrawal symptoms. My point is to inform you of the medical advantages of legalizing marijuana. There are many questions relating to marijuana since most of the time people only hear the negative aspects of the schedule I substance. This paper will begin with some history on the controversial event of legalizing marijuana, then go into how exactly the herb helps people, an inside look at dispensaries, and a comparison of marijuana to prescription drugs.