Should Marijuana Be Legalized?

     Marijuana does have some negative effects, but compared to other drugs marijuana is harmless. Other drugs are highly addictive were marijuana is not. Alcohol is one of the most leading causes of car crashes. Marijuana is nowhere near being a leading cause of death. Other drugs can lead to cancer where marijuana is used to cure it, and other drugs can lead to deaths. Other drugs impair you vision, but marijuana does not. All the other drugs except alcohol are gateway drugs, and the only way to purchase them is by smuggling them across the border. Many advocates say “we should begin to reflect that reality in our state and federal legislation, and stop acting as if otherwise law-abiding marijuana smokers are part of the crime problem. They are not, and it is absurd to continue using law enforcement resources arresting them.” (Gary) Many advocates also say, “Far more harm is caused by marijuana prohibition than by marijuana itself.”(Gary)

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.

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.")

Should marijuana be legalized? Many Americans have been asked this question or have heard some type of news about the issue. Marijuana is commonly known as cannabis which refers to the dried up hemp plant cannabis sativa, even though marijuana is a plant and has no chemical additives it has been a tropic of controversy for many years but nowadays it is in the spotlight more than ever. For centuries, marijuana has been used by people throughout the world for religious, recreational and medical use. A few countries like the Netherlands and Uruguay have already legalized marijuana for recreational use and many other countries are taking a step towards doing so. Is it finally time for the United States to take a closer look into possibly legalizing marijuana. Marijuana should be legalized for medical and recreational purposes because it would aid in the War on drugs, it would become an important source of revenue for the government and reduce overpopulation of American jails.

Over the past decade, the debate over medical marijuana has heated up fiercely. What was once a fringe-issue has cemented itself in the foreground of American politics. As the laws currently stand, the plant is still considered illegal on the federal level. The Drug Enforcement Agency, or DEA, classifies marijuana in the same group harmful drugs like heroin and ecstasy by labeling it as a Schedule I substance. According to the DEA, Schedule 1 substances are “drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. Schedule I drugs are the most dangerous drugs of all the drug schedules with potentially severe psychological or physical dependence.” (DEA).

Marijuana is a drug misunderstood by many nation wide however, most people do not consider it 's legitimate medicinal application. Medical marijuana defined by Drugfacts refers to the use of the whole unprocessed plant to treat a disease or illness. The Drug Enforcement Administration has listed it under the schedule I classification which is the same classification that heroin, LSD, ecstasy and many other drugs are under. The classification identifies the drug as a dangerous substance that has no recognized medicinal use as reported by the DEA. It 's classification as a highly regulated Schedule I drug makes it challenging to study its medical benefits. Due to this classification, marijuana is commonly regarded by the general public as possessing "no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse" (DEA.gov). The DEA has yet to acknowledge many conducted scientific studies that point to the very tangible medical benefits of cannabinoids (Voth and Schwartz 1997). The blockade on marijuana research has caused a severe halt in reaping the benefits of THC. The drug is a better alternative than many drugs given to patients as seen in some cases of neurological disorders such as epilepsy and chronic terminal conditions like cancer, because of its "analgesic, sedative, and anticonvulsant" properties (Abood, Sorensen, and Stella 2012). Marijuana can serve as both a viable treatment option and improves the quality of life through its pain relieving capacities. While

Cigarettes and alcohol are much more dangerous to humans than marijuana, yet they are legal to purchase and consume (at a certain age). “The effects are generally less severe than those of tobacco and alcohol, which together cause more than 560,000 American deaths annually. Unlike booze, marijuana isn't a neurotoxin, and unlike cigarettes, it has an uncertain connection to lung cancer.” (Barcott, Bruce, and Michael Scherer. "The Great Pot Experiment. (Cover Story)." Time 185.19 (2015): 38-45. Academic Search Complete. Web. 25 Apr. 2016.). This shows that substances that are already legal and available to Americans are much more dangerous than marijuana. This shows that there is no reason for the government to be concerned about it in a health risk point of a view. Marijuana has no reported deaths from overdosing on the drug, because you need to smoke 1,500 pounds in 15 minutes to do that, which is a physically impossible task. Top scientists know that there are no reported deaths from marijuana alone, unlike other substances, but due to their extensive research they were able to find it is technically possible to overdose, but highly unlikely. This shows that the health risks of consuming marijuana are little to non-existent when compared to other legal substances, therefore it should be legal in the United States of America. The fact that marijuana is less harmful than other legal substances proves that is should be

To legalize or to not legalize drugs, that is the popular question lately. The current repeat visitor to each states legislative sessions is making marijuana legal. Currently in the United States there are twenty states with legal medical marijuana and the District of Columbia. Out of those twenty only Colorado and Washington have also legalized marijuana for recreational use. When it comes to legalizing drugs marijuana appears to be the most popular one being advocated for. However, does that leave the door open for other drugs to be advocated for as well? Should they all be legalized or just a select few?

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

Even though marijuana is legalized in 23 states, it’s still illegal under the federal law. According National Geographic, the U.S. surgeon general, Vivek Murthy, “recently expressed interest in what science will learn about marijuana, noting that preliminary data show that ‘for certain medical conditions and symptoms’ it can be ‘helpful.’” Resulting in the prohibition on marijuana, it was to be considered a Schedule I drug, which is why it’s been the same way since the early 1900’s. Knowing that marijuana is federally illegal, there have been more research and more experiments than ever before to prove the health benefits which could eventually lead up to the “rescheduling” of marijuana to lower level of Schedule drugs (II, III,

Views on marijuana use and its legal status are slowly shifting across America. What was once viewed as a dangerous gateway drug is slowly being legalized across the nation for medicinal and recreational purposes. Alcohol is often used as a comparator to marijuana for good reason. Banning alcohol was attempted before and it was not successful. Marijuana is currently progressing through a similar phase alcohol went through during the Prohibition Era. Four states, including Washington, Oregon, Colorado, and Alaska, now allow the use of recreational marijuana. Ironically, despite marijuana use still being illegal under federal law, Washington D.C., the nation’s capital, allows it as well. Marijuana should be legalized, both medically and recreationally, across the nation because it is less deadly than alcohol, stimulates the economy and generates tax revenue, and provides medical relief for serious ailments.

Marijuana is a generally misconstrued substance that most Americans don 't completely get it. The use marijuana as a medication has been widely investigated and turned out to be one of the "most practical and most secure wellsprings of medicinal worth to the numerous Americans experiencing Aids, Glaucoma, Cancer, Multiple Sclerosis, Epilepsy, and Chronic Pains" (Medical Marijuana). As indicated by the Institute of Medicines, (1999) "cannabis, in its characteristic structure, is one of the most secure remedially dynamic substances known" (Legalization of Marijuana). More assets and contextual investigations will be further examined to move down the case of pot 's therapeutic quality.

Have they truly forgotten about morphine and its origins? Morphine is, essentially, heroin, but we still allow its active use in hospitals all around the country. What about oxycodone, and other pain meds? You can get addicted to those, right? They can get you high just like any other drug you may find on the street. We know all of this, but that does not stop us from allowing someone access to them when they are in need of them. Why should it be different with cannabis?

Cannabis, formally known as marijuana is a drug obtained from the tops, stems and leaves of the hemp plant cannabis. The drug is one of the most commonly used drugs in the world. Only substances like caffeine, nicotine and alcohol are used more (“Marijuana” 1). In the U. S. where some use it to feel “high” or get an escape from reality. The drug is referred to in many ways; weed, grass, pot, and or reefer are some common names used to describe the drug (“Marijuana” 1). Like most drugs, marijuana has a very long history. People have been using the plant around the world for thousands of years. The oldest record of the marijuana plant dates back to 2727 B. C. in China where the plant was used as a medical herb for treating conditions like rheumatism, gout, malaria and even absent-mindedness (“Cannabis, Coca, & Poopy: Nature’s Addictive Plants” 1). Slowly, the plant started spreading around the world. By 1545, cannabis was starting to appear throughout the western worlds. Being introduced to South America by the Spanish to be used as fiber. The crop also had many other common uses around the world. In North America, cannabis was often used to make paper, ropes, clothing and other materials (“The Origins of Cannabis” 1).

According to Wikipedia, marijuana is a name for cannabis plant and a drug preparation made from it. Commonly it is named as cannabis, bud or weed, pot or ganja. I have found marijuana to be one of the most controversial things in United States. Not necessarily is marijuana controversial, the views related with the legalization of this thing are truly dubious. It is true that different persons have different views to see every object. So the view of peoples towards the legalization of marijuana varies with the person. In the United States, I have found that some of the people think that marijuana should be legalized because it is not much harmful as people’s belief and also there are lots of therapeutic values. Others believe that it is a drug and gateway to other drugs so it should not be legalized. And some believe that as it has both good and bad effects it should be legalized with certain condition. In this essay I am going to talk about the views of different people on the legalization of marijuana.