Marijuana

Throughout America many people believe marijuana should be legal because it's not bad for you. There are many different theories about this conflict. There are also those people who believe that marijuana is the gateway drug, the drug that takes you to more drugs. This drug can take your life in a heartbeat.

In November, Jeanette Bokland was diagnosed with breast cancer. She tried to treat it but she couldn’t. One of her friends offered her medical marijuana and she said yes. She didn’t smoke the marijuana, she ate it. It took away her nausea, severe restlessness, and anxiety. It allowed her to eat. It made her feel halfway normal. She called it “a miracle drug.” These 3 people are just examples on why I think marijuana should be a medical option.

First and foremost, majority of society is uneducated and unaware of the many benefits legal marijuana can bring about. These benefits are for us as individuals, for our economy, and for our government as a whole. You can have thoughts and opinions, criticize ones who use marijuana, say that they are a drug attics or bad people, but you would clearly be uneducated having said that. The plant, cannabis, “marijuana”, has a class of

I believe marijuana is known as a drug for a reason. I am ok with having a use for it medicinally but only for problems. Right now, it just seems to be a hindrance for people that don’t medically need it. For example this can stop motivation in a job environment causing less production or be a safety hazard if someone is under the

The fact that cannabis is still illegal in forty-eight states is insane. Cigarettes, alcohol, and fast food kill hundreds of people every year and those are legal? I mean one- third of all AIDS cases in the US have been caused by syringe sharing (counterpunch). Study after study has shown that Marijuana is way less harmful than tobacco and alcohol (factslides). Cannabis has not even been directly linked to a death due to overdose, car accident, or cancer ever (Huffington). These are many reasons why many people support marijuana legalization and one of those reasons is because of the medical benefits. A drug that does not have severe side effects or could possibly kill you. Drugs like Cocaine, Heroine, Alcohol, Cigarettes. Those are the real drugs. Not Marijuana.

The statement “marijuana is a lot safer than alcohol” cannot go unchallenged and should be debated. One important subject is the risk that marijuana use (especially in young adults) can lead to some kinds of mental illness. “Studies support findings that risk of schizophrenia doubles in young abusers” (U.S. National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, 2009). According to Joseph Califano Jr., CASA founder and chairman of Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) “If we were to make marijuana legal and taxed it, for approximately every dollar of tax revenue, there could be as much as seven dollars incurred in medical costs”.

Marijuana has a greater beneficial impact on society then many people realize. Marijuana should be legalized for medical as well as recreational purposes. This is a highly controversial issue that is being debated throughout the country. In essence marijuana is evaluated by the effectiveness of the drug. It is defined as the dried flowered clusters and leaves of a hemp plant smoked for the intoxicating effect. Whether it should be legalized or not is the real question.

In out society drugs are considered to be addictive and lethal. People tend to abuse drugs regardless of their side effects. In many cases government agencies regulate their use. Also there are drugs that are illegal to use, produce and sale. One of those illegal drugs is marijuana. For thousands of years, marijuana has been used to treat a wide variety of sickness. It became illegal in 1937 under The Marijuana Stamp Tax Act. This act prohibits the use, sale and growing of marijuana. It was made illegal because no one understood why smoking marijuana made people feel the way they did and because appropriate researches had not been conducted about it. Though marijuana remains illegal

     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)

From the eighteenth century onward in the United States, there has been a temperance movement. In other words, many people crusaded against what they saw to be the damaging effects of alcohol on health, personal and professional relationships, and society at large. The temperance movement gained so much gravity that the production, sale, and consumption of alcohol were actually prohibited from 1920 to 1933. As we all know, prohibition of alcohol was a dismal failure, as a thriving black market continued to produce what many citizens wanted. Marijuana prohibition on the other hand, was not a direct cause of public outcry. It was made illegal due to political maneuvering and an attempt to make amends for the fuck ups of prohibition of alcohol.

The General perspective that society throws on marijuana is that equal to any drug; negative. However, many researchers have found that the effects of marijuana for medicinal purposes can be beneficial to the right patients, as well as the United States government. The negative effects from marijuana use in a medicinal environment are far less than that of most over the counter drugs, while the benefits remain the same. There are instances in which marijuana was legalized for people with prescriptions from licensed doctors; however, full legalization is leaps and bounds away from the current status. Another way full legalization could help is money the government uses to try and fight marijuana

Since being officially outlawed in the 70s with Controlled Substances Act marijuana has been a completely illegal substance for anyone to have or consume(Burnett). However, that has not stopped anyone from using the plant. Growing up in a small conservative town it was pretty surprising how many people actually admitted to using the drug. The drug has been demonized for years by parents that believe that it will turn their kids into burnouts. However, that has not necessarily been the case. Like other substances any form of abuse can ruin a person’s life. Let’s take for instance a legal substance that suffered the same fate as marijuana at one point in time. Alcohol has long been the

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.

Some medical reasons that marijuana shouldn’t be decriminalized are that it has long and short terms effects. Examples of the short term outcomes include memory loss, difficulty with thinking, loss of motor skills and increased heart rate. According to the National Institutes of Health show that someone smoking about five joints per week is taking in as many cancer causing chemicals as someone smoking a pack of cigarettes every day. There is no science proof that smoked marijuana can be used for medication. Since cannabis plants are polluted with a range of fungal spores, smoking marijuana may increase the risk of infectious organisms. Taradiff, J. "Marijuana and the War on Drugs. “Marijuana. Farmington Hills, Michigan: Thomas Gale, 2008. 157. Print.

There are countless debates whether marijuana should be legalized for creational use or if it should remain illegal. Marijuana has been legalized in some states for medical use such as pain caused by cancer, glaucoma and nerve pain. In a survey I conducted in a class of 27 students, 15 opposed