Should Marijuana Be Legalized?

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 has a long standing history of being one of the most controversial substances in America. While the history or the Cannabis plant indicates not only acceptance as a useful plant, but even advocated as a source of revenue and medicinal usage, much of the United States government propaganda over the last 100+ years has led Americans to accept very slighted and often false information about the plant and its uses. Based on the origin of the illegalization of marijuana and the inconsistent findings of its effects in comparison to other substances, both legal and illegal, marijuana should be decriminalized and treated as a recreational substance just as alcohol and tobacco are.

What is one law that could be altered to greatly benefit the United States as well as the people who live inside it? The legalization of marijuana, the legalization of marijuana in a single state,Colorado, has provided great increases in tax revenue and decreased the number of arrests for minor drug charges gradually yet substantially in the past years. Marijuana is not a harmful drug yet is illegal while many legal substances, such as alcohol and tobacco, are perfectly legal even with a clear correlation to negative health and disease. Marijuana should be legalized with the same standards as current Colorado laws to increase federal tax revenue as well as decrease government costs by reducing the federal prison population for petty drug charges.

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.

The legalization of Marijuana in the United States has been a hot controversial topic in the past few years. Marijuana is classified by the Controlled Substance Act as a schedule 1 drug, meaning there are no medicinal benefits and has a high risk of being abused. Marijuana has been illegal since the 1930s, after newspapers falsely exaggerating violence committed by immigrants intoxicated by marijuana. Along with the newly formed Federal Bureau of Narcotics caused marijuana to become illegal based on propaganda.( http://norml.org/component/zoo/category/norml-report-on-sixty-years-of-marijuana-prohibition-in-the-us) Many people still are still unsure if legalizing marijuana is a good idea. Despite this, many states are seeing positive effects since the legalization of marijuana on a state level.

A very well-known topic in today 's society is marijuana also known as cannabis or weed. As a matter of fact, the big question today that many people tend to disagree on is whether or not marijuana should be legalized? Recently, all eyes have been focused on Colorado due to the fact that they became the first state in the U.S to officially pass an amendment legalizing the consumption and use of marijuana.

Marijuana, also known as, cannabis, pot, weed, or hemp, has been a topic of intense debates for many years, but today, it is in the spotlight more than ever. The issue about the use of this drug is becoming more and more topical because people are debating whether or not to legalize it. Marijuana, is the most commonly used drug in the world. In fact, around 3.8 percent of the world’s population or 158.8 million people around the world use marijuana, according to United Nations. And the number is continuously rising. As of June 2014, 23 U.S. states and Washington D.C. have passed laws legalizing marijuana in some form with three more states considering it. As what Major Neil Franklin (Ret.), a former police officer and current head of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), said, “The legalization of marijuana is good for law enforcement, good for families, and good for our communities” (Washington Post). The benefits and reasons to legalize marijuana are many, and overbearingly outweigh the arguments against legalization.

Marijuana makes you calm. Marijuana reduces stress. Marijuana cures diseases such as cancer. Marijuana is not a drug. Marijuana is a plant; therefore it is not dangerous to one’s health and overall being. Many have heard it all before, the hundreds of reasons as to why marijuana is deemed as a “safe” drug and why it should be legalized, yet people have not quite heard the hundreds of reasons as to why it should stay illegal. In today’s society, there is a huge controversy on the topic of marijuana legalization. Marijuana, or Cannabis, is a greenish-gray mixture of dry, shredded leaves of Cannabis Sativa, a hemp plant. It has many different uses, including smoking for a high effect, brewing into tea, mixing it into foods, and for medicinal purposes. Although marijuana is currently illegal in Canada, at one point it was not. It was not until 1923 that cannabis was added to the schedule of the Opium and Narcotic Act (Dyck, 2014). Also, it was not until recently that the Canadian Medical Marijuana Access Regulations allowed legal access to cannabis for individuals with severe illnesses; only authorized personnel can grow pot or obtain it from authorized producers or Health Canada (Dyck, 2014). In 2014, Canada banned Canadians with a permit for medicinal marijuana use to grow their own supply, the only way they would be able to receive it was by going to an authorized provider (Dyck, 2014). However, many people do not feel as though marijuana should be illegal, as it has upsides,

Marijuana, or cannabis, is a prepared marijuana plant that is intended to play a role in medicine as well as being a psychoactive drug (Kilmer 45). The psychoactive element found in cannabis is known as the tetrahydrocannabinol abbreviated as THC. THC is one of the 483 compounds of the plant that have been identified. Mainly, cannabis is consumed because of its psychoactive and physiological effects that is has on the consumer. Today, marijuana is used for its medicinal values as well as a recreational drug. Other uses might include religious and spiritual rites performed by people (Kaplan 722). Marijuana has been surrounded by legal issues. This paper seeks to delineate the reasons for and against legalization of

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.

There are people who are criticizing why marijuana should not be legalized and why it’s dangerous to health. According to the research performed by Harvard University, “kids who used marijuana only recreationally showed significant abnormalities in the brain” (1). In a related study from the University Of Maryland School, Of Medicine found that “Regular marijuana use during adolescence, but not adulthood, may permanently impair cognition and increase the risk for psychiatric diseases, such as schizophrenia.” (1) May cause death. In similar circumstances, people who advocate against marijuana being legalized may talk about, how marijuana is a gateway drug and if marijuana is legalized than drug use among kids will increase drastically. The position that I just stated is wrong and here’s why. What if your son or daughter or mother is passing away and the only thing that will assist them live little longer is marijuana and it 's illegal in your state, what would you do? I am not stating that cannabis can help people live longer, but it helps people feel much better and delays some internal diseases from spreading. I am proposing that Marijuana should be legalized in the United States. There are main three reasons as to why marijuana should be legalized: Economic reasons, Medical reasons, and criminal reasons.

How can marijuana be illegal when it could help so many people who suffer and are in need of help for medical reasons, such as cancer, AIDs, and people who suffer from depression? Can you imagine having a natural way of helping the sick and not using it? Marijuana should be legalized because it would help symptoms for certain medical conditions and would create jobs.

Presently, Marijuana is illegal in the United States due to the racially motivated Marijuana Tax Act of 1937. This law was proposed by Harry J. Anslinger the acting commissioner of Federal Bureau of Narcotics. In his testimony to Congress he stated, "There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing, result from marijuana usage. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others" (ukcia.org, (n.d), para. 1). Since this time, the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 has spawned more strict laws that have many unintended side effects. After many decades, effective federal propaganda has won public support for these laws. Only recently, U.S. citizens have started to question why marijuana is illegal. I feel that it would be beneficial to discard these laws and beliefs of the past. We need to analyze how the legalization of marijuana would positively affect the United States and its citizens in the following fields: medical, criminology, and financial.

Obviously, the Swiss later improved upon their first experiment. However, the Swiss “needle park experiment” is the example that drug war advocates like to cite when claiming that decriminalization isn’t effective; however, there isn’t a cookie cutter method for harm reduction and decriminalization. In fact, one of the best kept secrets in America is the success other countries have had from experimenting with decriminalizing drugs. The rate of drug use in America is the highest in the world, whereas many other countries, in particular many European countries, have reduced their drug usage with a more laissez faire approach. Various countries have implemented different policies which open the door for creating a hybrid model from other countries.

I know at this point many will think; ok, maybe tobacco and alcohol are worse than marijuana, however legalizing this drug will only lead to an increase in violent crimes, and will cause more accidents on the road due to impaired driving. Furthermore, it will increase the use among teens and minors. As well as becoming a gateway drug that will lead to other dangerous drugs, and what about the use of the drug while a woman is pregnant, how will that effect a baby in the womb? Let me begin by saying, that at this moment there is no research that indicates that a woman smoking marijuana can hurt an unborn baby, but just like tobacco and alcohol it is not safe for a pregnant woman or woman breast feeding to use the drug. With any substance there will always be risk that can be harmful to an unborn baby or babies who are breast fed. But without any research we will never know what effects it can have, the more reason why they should take marijuana off Schedule I and allow for more research to be done.