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We all know that conventional wisdom tells us that marijuana is illegal because it is a drug that

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We all know that conventional wisdom tells us that marijuana is illegal because it is a drug that can cause harm to you and those around you. But then why do so many people smoke marijuana? Why does California pass a law saying that having 28.5 grams, or one once, is a misdemeanor? Why did Colorado pass a law stating that the use of recreational marijuana was legal? I think that marijuana should be legal in the United States to use recreationally for many different reasons, such as economic benefits, health benefits and it is a better drug than those that are currently legal.
The first of which is because it is safer than most drugs that people are already allowed to use, such as alcohol cigarettes. In an article written by CNN’s Dan …show more content…

Although marijuana is a hallucinogen it does not have a highly addictive characteristic like other hallucinogens. In 2004 the National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that its short term effects include, but are not limited to: blood shot eyes, dry mouth and increased heart rate. Its long term effects include, but are not limited to: lower testosterone levels in men, and higher testosterone levels in women. When you compare this to other drug’s side affects you see that they are not so bad.
The second reason would be to use it as a form of medical treatment. In Blurred Boundaries: The Therapeutics and Politics of Medical Marijuana, by Cr. J. Michael Bostwick, it is said that the body has a set of receptors, called endocannabinoid system, that “extends far and wide within the body as a physiologic modulator not only of the central nervous system but also of the autonomic nervous system, immune system, gastrointestinal tract, reproductive system, cardiovascular system, and endocrine network”(Bostwick, J.). This implies people with epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and post-traumatic stress disorder would be the best suitors for marijuana’s medical applications. A little girl in Colorado named Charlotte Figi was diagnosed with a genetic disease, known as Dravet Syndrome, in which she had multiple spasms that lasted many hours. By the time she was three months she had seizures that lasted for thirty minutes, and at the age of two she

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