The Legalization of Marijuana in the USA Essay

The topic of legalizing recreational marijuana in the United States has been a very controversial one. States such as Colorado and Washington have gone on the offensive and have legalized recreational marijuana and have enjoyed the high revenues brought in from cannabis sale. On the other hand other states have kept low profiles because they are wary of the possible negative outcomes of legalizing recreational marijuana and are using the states of Colorado and Washington as guinea pigs to see what their next course of action on this controversial topic should be. This is not only a highly debated topic among politicians, but also by the people. According to a poll conducted by the Pew Research Center 52% of Americans

Much of the opposition to legalizing marijuana has to do with the perceived immorality of marijuana use. One popular argument in favor of legalization takes an economic view of the problem, claiming that the taxes collected on legally sold marijuana would be a boon to the economy.

     There is also strong support on the other side, opposing the decriminalization of marijuana. Their argument is that by legalizing, or even decriminalizing small amounts or marijuana will lead to an increase of the use of other drugs. They also contradict the view of those who support the decriminalization of marijuana by stating the marijuana is indeed a gateway drug that will lead users to start using narcotics like heroin and cocaine. They believe that people who start off using marijuana and get addicted will start searching for new ways to get high, and basically start down the path of drug use to harder, more addicting, and more life threatening drugs.

With all of the complex issues facing the nation today, it seems as if the legalization of marijuana is being set on the back burner of legislation. There are so many opinions, sides, and overall arguments for and against it that many vote seeking politicians and policy makers have put up a strong resistance to this issue. In this paper I will illustrate the reasons why I think marijuana should indeed be legalized and also the arguments from people who disagree and feel that it should stay an illegal drug.

This argument is important because marijuana is considered a "gateway drug," which has not been scientifically proven. Many people have tried marijuana or at least know someone who has attempted to smoke weed. A person most likely does not know as much as they think they know about what it is or the effects.

The legalization of the drug marijuana is a hot topic nowadays. Many people want this substance to be legalized and regularly available like cigarettes. But what some people do not know are the serious health risks involved when using marijuana. There is a lot more to marijuana than just smoking it.

Opponents to this view point believe that drug decriminalization could lead to the misuse of drugs and cause more problems. Although smoking anything is indeed harmful, marijuana has been shown to possess health benefits and is used medicinally in some states. It is cheaper to treat people than it is to incarcerate them, for every dollar spent on drug treatment yields over $18 in cost savings related to crime (drugwarfacts.org). Overcrowded prisons create dangerous, unhealthy, and unconstitutional conditions that may lead to riots and lawsuits, costing taxpayers even more money. Also, alcohol and tobacco cause more deaths per year and are legal in the United States. Citizens could receive education on the effects of marijuana, like they do for alcohol and tobacco, so they know how to use it responsibly. If more people are informed about responsible drug use, then a healthier community could result.

Marijuana can help a person in many ways an individual person cannot. There are doctors who recommend marijuana to people with medical disorders. “The National Eating Disorder Association acknowledged marijuana as a viable treatment option.” (Arielle Pardes) One of the many physical effects marijuana has on someone includes a huge increase of appetite. Not only is it a good solution for people with eating disorders, it is also good for people who suffer with insomnia. “Cannabis Sativa L. has been utilized for treatments of pain and sleep disorders since the ancient times.”(Ethan Russo) Therefore, smoking marijuana helps people get the help they need to face the problems that they are suffering with.

Those who argue legalization should be done say that limiting the use of marijuana is cutting into their personal freedom given by our forefathers. They also state that smoking marijuana is not as harmful as alcohol or tobacco. If the law to legalize marijuana was passed, the government would allow anyone over twenty one to possess, share or transport up to one ounce of marijuana. They can however possess an unlimited amount of living or harvested plants so long as they were no more than twenty five feet squared per parcel. A last argument that supporters have is that there is already THC based drugs that have been approved by the FDA to help people, why not marijuana that contains less THC than those drugs. Although there are plenty of pros to legalizing marijuana, there are more distinct cons that far outweigh the pros.

The government and many people tend to think that if marijuana becomes legal then this drug will be much more accessible to children and teens. But when looking at it children and teens have a much harder time getting their hands on alcohol or tobacco because a cashier or store clerk will check for an ID but a drug dealer will not care about the person’s age, they just want the money. Another controversial reason to keep marijuana illegal is that many state it is a

     The faction in favor of full prohibition of marijuana has a strong set of arguments. Firstly, it argues that by causing an altered state of consciousness, cannabis is dangerous. They argue that it is biologically and psychologically addictive and that it the frequent use of cannabis has serious physiological repercussions. They argue that while marijuana may have marginal medicinal uses, that there are several more effective legal drugs for the same purposes. They argue that marijuana is a “gateway drug”, which leads users to “harder” drugs. They say that should marijuana be legalized, its use would run rampant. Some do not believe that it contains any medicinal value whatsoever.

So why are people so opposed to the legalization of marijuana? There are many reasons why it should be legalized. One it’s no worse than tobacco or alcohol, it helps cancer patients with their nausea from chemotherapy, and it doesn’t have all the requirements to be classified as a scheduled 1

The people who are against marijuana being permitted will probably say that if marijuana is permitted it would be easier to attain than it is now. If the drug is easy to fetch they will say that it would create new consumers and then it would make it harder for people who are hooked on it to leave the drug. With the easy availability of the drug, people might buy into concerned that it will spread fast among the youth. There is also the problem of people who are addicted to marijuana and will find that it is tough to let go of the drug when you can find it anywhere not to mention if they start to advertise marijuana it will be harder to stop using marijuana. There is a chance that if people can’t stop using marijuana then the government will consider marijuana a hard drug and that will make it harder to legalize it

They remain ignorant to the topic and are extremely reluctant to accept the medical benefits of the plant. There is much research showing marijuana’s benefits and after all, many consider it to be the most beneficial plant in the world. One of the arguments to keep marijuana suppressed is that it makes you lazy and unsuccessful. Tell that to President Barack Obama, who openly admits to smoking large amounts of weed throughout his life. As well as the President of the United States, Morgan freeman, David Letterman, Michael Phelps, George Clooney, Rush Limbaugh, LeBron James, George W. Bush, George Washington, Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Steve Jobs, and Arnold Schwarzenegger all have smoked marijuana and most still do. So in this case, the theory of pot making you lazy and unsuccessful is disproved as some of the most successful people in the world use marijuana. To further support this, professional football is one of the most demanding and competitive sports in the world yet according to former NFL players, about half of all NFL players smoke marijuana. Again, this disproves the common myth that marijuana makes you lazy and unsuccessful. Another point against the legalization of marijuana is the thought that crime rates will rise. However, this is untrue because the retail sale of pot will put a lot of violent criminal international gangs out of business, reduce the amount of

In the past decades, one of the most discussed problems in the country has been whether or not the US government should approve the legalization of marijuana. Since the prohibition of marijuana in the 1930s, there have been more problems than solutions about the topic. There is no evidence that the prohibition of marijuana has decreased the use of the drug, and according to the NORML (Working to reform marijuana laws), banning marijuana has not been very effective since over 20 million of citizens have been charged with marijuana infractions since 1965 (NORML). One of the most important problems this country is facing about marijuana being illegal is the amount of money that the government spends trying to control the