The Social Impacts of Marijuana Prohibition in Brazil

The social problem of legalizing marijuana has been an issue for many years. I argue that marijuana should be legalized in all the United States. Through research it has been proven that marijuana can bring benefits to society if it were to be legalized. Benefits include, assistance to those who have health issues, reducing crimes related to drugs, as well as uplifting the economy. Marijuana has caused various issues within the minority communities, those who live within a minority community are more likely to receive jail time if caught with the drug, if Marijuana were to be legalized this would prevent minorities from becoming incarcerated. This leads to the conflict theory. The conflict theory states, that “society is in a state of perpetual conflict due to competition for limited resources. It holds that social order is maintained by domination and power, rather than consensus and conformity.” This is a social conflict because through the resource marijuana those outside of the government are making a profit, but also risking their lives because of not conforming to society. In order for this social problem to be fixed, as a citizens we need to educate those who are unaware of the benefits verses the dangers of marijuana.

Cannabis began being outlawed all across the U.S. during the 1900’s and has remained illegal ever since, until recent years when states began legalizing it (huffpost.com). Although many people believe that the reason behind the prohibition of cannabis was based on genuine concern for the possible consequences it may have on the well-being of people if it remained accessible to all, the truth is that the drive behind the U.S.’s prohibition of cannabis was founded on racism. During the early 1900’s cannabis was considered an “ethnic drug” due to the fact that many Mexican immigrants smoked the plant (huffpost.com). With the tension in Western states regarding the migration of Mexicans into the states, laws concerning the use regulation of

The dispute over the legalization of cannabis sativa, more commonly known as marijuana, is one of the most controversial issues ever to take place in the United States. Its use as a medicine has existed for thousands of years in many countries across the globe. Legalization should be considered despite efforts made by groups who say marijuana is a harmful drug that will increase crime rates and lead users to other more dangerous substances. The legalization of marijuana can improve our society by helping with our economy, freeing legal resources, and benefiting the overall health of the nation though medical uses.

Marijuana has many medical purposes also. The cannabis extract was available as a medicine legally in this country until 1937, and was sold as a nerve tonic-but mankind has been using cannabis medicines much longer than that. Marijuana appears in almost every known book of medicine written by ancient scholars and wise men. It is usually ranked among the top medicines, called 'panaceas', a word which means 'cure-all'. The list of diseases which cannabis can be used for includes: multiple sclerosis, cancer treatment, AIDS (and AIDS treatment), glaucoma, depression, epilepsy, migraine headaches, asthma, pruritis, sclerodoma, severe pain, and dystonia. This list does not even consider the other medicines which can be made out of marijuana-these are just some of the illnesses for which people smoke or eat whole marijuana today. There are over 60 chemicals in marijuana which may have medical uses. It is relatively easy to extract these into food or beverage, or into some sort of lotion, using butter, fat, oil, or alcohol. One chemical, cannabinol, may be useful to help people who cannot sleep.

economy. While not an entirely identical comparison, the legalization of marijuana could bear some of the same positive effects as a legalization of sports betting could. Revenues could help public schools gain funds, improve communities, and decrease the

Marijuana has been proven and tested to give a very positive impact on the American society for many different reasons. Marijuana is used for many different medical reasons. It helps people who have ADHD, crohn's disease, epilepsy, glaucoma, insomnia, arthritis, and even people with a lack of appetite. Marijuana is a harmless drug and needs to be legalized for medical use in all states.

The fight to legalize marijuana has been waged for decades and it’s about time that we find a resolution. I’m not a supporter of marijuana, I detest the culture associated with the drug and have no interest in consumption of the drug. But the effects of enforcing laws outlawing marijuana have done more harm than good in the US. The United States imprisons too many minorities due to minor drug infractions, the costs of enforcing these laws are too high, and the government is missing out on tax opportunities due to the current drug laws.

These negative effects of marijuana being illegal at the recreational level can be fixed. There are solutions and benefits to these problems. The first and most important thing the state will have to do in order to legalize recreational cannabis is decriminalize the drug. If marijuana was decriminalized in the state of Minnesota, crime rates and arrest would decrease. According to Christopher Ingraham, a writer for the Washington Post said, “In Colorado, marijuana arrests fell by nearly half from 2012 to 2014. Marijuana possession charges in Washington state fell by a more dramatic 98 percent between 2012 and 2013. Alaska, Oregon, and D.C. show similar declines.” Colorado, Alaska, Oregon, and D.C. saw major benefits when they decided to make marijuana legal for recreational use. If Minnesota decriminalized marijuana, not as many people would be in jail, which would help with the over crowdedness in prisons in the state. Colorado alone has compiled several research studies demonstrating that legalization has not promoted an increase in violent crimes. According to research conducted by the Drug Policy Alliance “During the first year of the implementation of Amendment 64, Denver experienced a 2.2 percent decrease in violent crime rates and an 8.9 percent reduction in property crime offenses” (Heuberger). Decriminalizing cannabis will help our police department focus on more violent and heavy drug-related crimes. This evidence provides proof that legalizing recreational

Another advantage attained from removing prohibition may not only be increased revenue through reduced government expenditure on prohibiting marijuana as mentioned above, but may also be seen through the social benefits seen from the prohibition moving away from the focus on softer, less harmful such as marijuana, and would focus on drugs with more harmful effects such as heroin and methamphetamines. Through decriminalising marijuana, police forces could focus more on more addictive, harmful drugs which have a higher risk over overdose and more serious effects.

Obviously, there will be short-term consequences but also benefits too. Unfortunately, the hype of decriminalizing drugs will cause an increase in the number of users but it is important to note that a considerable amount of those being newly documented are closet junkies finally being revealed. As Dr. Caitlin Hughes, a member of the Drug Policy Modelling Program of the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre puts it, “Portuguese decriminalization did not lead to major increases in drug use. Indeed, evidence indicates reductions in problematic use, drug-related harms and criminal justice overcrowding” (Hughes; Stevens). As this research shows, the predictions on Portugal’s well-being after the decriminalization of all drugs were incorrect and the complete opposite occurred—creating healthy and safer communities because of awareness. Bringing our attention back to the increasing number of users within the hype years, public safety is a large concern where communities will have a difficult time adapting to the new policy and becoming accustomed to a new culture and lifestyle. On the contrary, I find a few years of craziness to be minimal in comparison to the long-term achievement that this law intends to achieve. Portugal has proved that decriminalization reduces drug use, drug-related harms, and criminal justice overcrowding. João Goulão,

President Ronald Reagan’s war on drugs was an absolute failure that has resulted in tens of thousands of non-violent criminals being placed in the same federal prisons as murderers and rapists. In fact, these non-violent offenders make up a little over fifty percent of the prison population. Most of the taxpayer money spent on keeping these people in prison can easily go to treating addiction had drugs simply been decriminalized. In 2001, Portugal had decriminalized all drugs and found that there were little to none adverse effects on drug usage. In fact, drug related pathologies such as STDs and drug related deaths had actually decreased (Greenwald). Some drugs such as marijuana has almost no major side effects, and the legalization and taxing of it can easily both benefit the government, and take power away from the drug cartels. Economist Milton Friedman once said, “If you look at the drug war from a purely economic point of view, the role of the government is to protect the drug

Marijuana is the cause of much commotion and debating, as the question of legalization becomes more of an issue. Drugs are a major influential force in countries all over the world today. Legalization is an option that has not had a chance, but really should be given one. Although many people feel that legalizing marijuana would increase the amount of drug use, legalization would benefit for the following reasons: 1)reduction of money spent on law enforcement 2)increase in the countries revenue 3)lessen crime 4)useful in treating certain medical conditions.

Next, let’s examine groups that support marijuana becoming officially authorized. These groups dispute that it has medical benefits for patients that have cancer or AIDS. It helps relieve pain, relaxes, and may help the patients get their appetites back. Marijuana is also known to help slow down the progression of the disease in Glaucoma patients. People suffering from epilepsy use marijuana to prevent the epileptic seizures. It’s also known that marijuana helps with the treatment of people who maybe clinically depressed.

It can be used to help treat people suffering from cancer, aids, and glaucoma. Chemotherapy is used in the treatment of cancer and causes nausea resulting in an inability to keep food down. AIDS cause a general loss of appetite which can lead to dramatic weight loss and weakness. The healing power of marijuana for these two illnesses results in increasing a person's appetite, as well as relieving nausea, allowing a patient to regain weight. As for glaucoma, it helps reduce the pain of visual pressure that is damaging to the eye. Even though the causes for use in these cases are legitimate, smoking medically or not, the negative effects are all the same.

However, in the early 1980s various states outlawed decriminalization despite marijuana activists having tired to not criminalize the use and possession of marijuana. Research has shown various physical effects of marijuana on the body. Marijuana is considered to relieve pain, nausea, vomiting, and loss of appetite. But, its use does impair memory and cause depression. There are also many social effects of marijuana on society. Some of the social problems of not prohibiting the drug are that its use decreases productivity and cause uncontrollable aggression. Most importantly, marijuana has a large impact on motivation and is easily attainable. People can easily cross-state borders and manage to bring marijuana back to state of residence. All of the legal, physical and social aspects of not legalization marijuana can affect the society in a big manner based on moral grounds.