The Pros And Cons Of Marijuana Legalization

The question of whether or not marijuana should be legalized for recreational and medicinal use has been a three decade long conversation. There are many pros and cons to legalizing marijuana. There are many different ideas about the effects of marijuana, but as with any drug answers are going to vary depending on the person you survey. Age, health, and mental stability are all factors to consider how a drug can positively or negatively affect you, and marijuana is no different. To be legal or not to be legal is the million dollar question up for debate.

Recreational marijuana legalization in Colorado, Washington, Oregon, and Alaska have, technically, broken federal law. As long as the federal government does not do anything about the state’s blatant disregard for higher law they can do what they want. I think that because state and federal law contradict at the moment there should be clarification. States should only be able to pass a law such as this if it is also legal on a federal level, but if there are no repercussions for violating federal law where does it end? Recreational marijuana is a state issue, in my opinion. If it is to be legalized in America at a federal level then each state should be allowed to choose their side. At this point, federal government is showing its cracks. 4 of our states are currently not obeying the Constitution; federal law trumps state law. Our government needs to pull itself together and start paying attention to what the states are doing.

Before 1937, marijuana was freely bought, sold, grown, and smoked in the United States. Since that time, all of these activities have been illegal, but many groups and individuals have fought to decriminalize marijuana. The congressional decision to classify marijuana as a Schedule I drug in 1970 has made the legalization campaign more difficult, since it officially established marijuana as a dangerous, addictive drug with no medicinal benefits.

Why Medical Cannabis is still federally banned? Well Marijuana has been illegal since the 1950’s, due to the enactment of federal laws like the “Narcotics management Act of 1956” that set necessary sentences that relate to drug-related offenses, as well as marijuana. A Montana grower is now in prison. “Chris Willams a Medical Marijuana grower in Montana now faces the rest of his life in prison because a Medical Marijuana law was canceled.”This law didn't include the medical use of Marijuana. I believe Medical Marijuana ought to be legal below tax and distributed to only patients with treatable diseases.

Marijuana over stimulates the parts of the brain that contain the highest number of receptors and can also affect the way the brain develops. When people use marijuana they can potentially impair their thinking, memory, and learning functions that can in turn affect how their brain

Attorney General Jeff Sessions as reversed President Obama’s 2013 policy that protects legalized marijuana programs from intervention from the federal government. What this does is hands the decision back to each state. Each state’s U.S. attorney will now decide whether to enforce the federal marijuana law. Attorney General Sessions stated that “it is the mission of the Department of Justice to enforce the laws of the United States.” According to General Sessions, the previous policy undermines the rule of law. Currently, individuals that are prescribed medical marijuana and the programs that supply it are protected from federal prosecution by the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer amendment. The amendment expires on January 19, 2018. (Schladebeck & Blain 2018).

First, the use of marijuana interferes with certain bodily functions. In reference to a health article, “Smoking marijuana regularly (a joint a day) can damage the

According to Council Bill 20-409 the targeted population of those affected by this bill “a person 18 years of age or older who possesses marijuana weighing less than one ounce shall not be guilty of a criminal offense. Such possession shall be a civil violation, subjecting the person to a civil fine of $100 and forfeiture of the marijuana” (Simple Possession of Small Quantities Of Marijuana Decriminalization Amendment Act, 2013). The bill also targets individual under the age of 18 years of age. “A person under the age of 18 who possesses marijuana weighing less than one ounce shall not be guilty of a criminal offense. Such possession shall subject the person to the same civil penalties in (3)(A) and the person under the age of 18 shall be

There have been four states along with the District of Columbia that have allowed marijuana for recreational usage since 2012. Colorado is the Christopher Columbus of this social experiment and has spurred numerous opinions, both good and bad. Recreational marijuana has had many benefits for Colorado such as economic growth, improved safety through regulations, and overall social unification. Make sure your thesis makes a claim that is arguable.

Marijuana has been a very controversial area of legislation for years. Through the Obama years we saw more lenient laws go into place and more places allow marijuana in the United States. Marijuana in Colorado has been an especially complicated area. In the early 2000’s medical marijuana became more common. But in 2012 Amendment 64 passed which legalized recreational marijuana. Amendment 64 created by Democrats in Colorado’s Congress in 2011 did pass public vote with 1,383,139 votes due to the efforts of many politicians, the work of special interest groups, and a shift in public opinion of marijuana over time due to media and politicians.

The Compassionate use of Medical Cannabis Pilot Program Act (Act 410 ILCS 130) was signed by the Illinois governor Pat Quinn on August 1, 2013. Scientists discovered that by using Marijuana, patients could get relief from debilitating medical conditions. Marijuana is a scheduled I narcotic. Narcotics are drugs which have psychoactive chemical properties. The main question asked by people is that, can prolonged usage of marijuana lead to addiction? According to the act, this drug is given to the patients who are suffering from Neuropathic Pain, Multiple Sclerosis, Nausea, Epilepsy, Alzheimer, different types of Cancer, and HIV etc. Sadly, these patients are suffering from intolerable pain,

What is Marijuana? Marijuana is the common name for the Indian hemp plant cannabis. Cannabis is a plant whose leaves, buds, and flowers are smoked for their intoxicating effects. The nicknames are boom, bud, chronic, gangster, ganja, grass, herb, kif, Mary Jane, MJ, Pot, reefer, skunk, and weed. When Marijuana is smoked, as it enters the brain, THC attaches to cells, or neurons, with specific kinds of receptors called cannabinoid receptors. This is part of a communication network in the brain called the endocannabinoid system, this system is important in normal brain development. Marijuana is very dangerous to brain development and smoking it will hurt you later in life.

Cannabis (otherwise known as marijuana) is disregarded as a recreational drug that is manipulated to gain a high off of its psychoactive ingredients but marijuana yields many health benefits and relief for different medical conditions and symptoms. It should be considered as a medicine because there is plenty of evidence showing that it can be used to treat or relieve symptoms caused by diseases with no cure. It could possibly be used as an alternative for the harsh drugs that are currently in use.

Although illegal in most states, marijuana remains a popular substance and it does not influence the crisis prevention professionals as the same level as harder drugs, it continue to represent a problem. The use of “pot” often finds the user lethargic, mellow, and prolonged use of the substance can lead to memory gaps and a lack of productivity. At the extreme end of substances is the one considered the most addictive and dangerous to the human body, heroin. It is problematic at a number of levels. For example, heroin is administered mostly by injection. Therefore, it is one of the most common ways the HIV virus is transmitted when not through sexual contact. Another issue is there is little to no quality control so its potency is not regulated

Cannabis is becoming increasingly widespread and increasingly common in modern-day society for both recreational use and for medication. The article by Craig Reinarman, ‘Criminalisation, legalisation and the mixed blessing of medicalisation in the USA’ generates many controversial issues of cannabis.