The Pros And Cons Of Federal Legalization Of Medical Marijuana

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.

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.

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.

The uses of marijuana amongst teenagers has increased over the years making it the most accessible drug in America as well as one the most beneficial due to its medical uses. According to the article of Marijuana Use Among Youths Is a Serious Problem, written by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA) (2004), stated that the uses of marijuana has impacted the youth in many ways due to the unknown factors of marijuana such as admittance to treatment facilities, and being admitted into emergency rooms. The CASA took the con side of the argument dealing with the issues of marijuana use with teenagers. The second article Marijuana Should Be

When it comes to dealing with marijuana and deciding between legalization, decriminalization, or leaving it how it is now the best option would be legalization. Decriminalization of marijuana would still not make it legal, but it would lessen the criminal penalty. Therefore, some states treat possessing a small amount of marijuana like a minor traffic violation. Whereas legalization would make marijuana legal like states such as Colorado and Washington have already done. But why is this the better option?

First, from 1900 to 1940, marijuana, including opium and cocaine were considered part of everyday drugs. As time went on, the U.S. cracked down on crack and opium, eventually outlawing them, but continued to be very “loose” with the use of marijuana. Hoxter a weed smuggler explains how he began in the 1960’s trying weed and years later saw himself unloading four hundred pounds of pot in Vancouver. The story of this man ends in his isolation and argument of why he couldn’t smoke weed even if he stopped selling? He asked a parole officer and she didn’t know what to respond. It is true what Hoxter states, fifty years ago alcohol was illegal and now it’s not, was it bad then? Will weed be legalized? And will the conflicts have been in vain? (Schou 8). Around the late 90’s and early 2000’s, scientific studies started to produce jaw-dropping results. Scientists started to discover that marijuana can significantly help people who have become ill. Medical Marijuana has been tested to help people with cataracts, cancer and severe depression (Zeese 1999). With this new worldwide discovery, the argument about medical marijuana ignited. States wanted to only make medical marijuana legal so it may help sick people, but the government did not want any form of marijuana legal. The law that was known throughout the United States was any form of marijuana was illegal. But now with this new discovery, doctors in states across the country want the

Medical Marijuana should be outlawed because people are abusing it and taking advantages of it. Doctors are prescribing it to patients and they are overusing WAY too much. These patients are selling their prescriptions to other people and those people are using it in the worst ways possible. Some doctors are against giving it, but they have no choice. There is a big debate about this topic right now.

Medical marijuana should be legalized at the federal law for medical purposes because the federal government does not like the idea of legalizing marijuana and bans the use of medical marijuana, but there is a growing number of states that feel differently, so that is why it should be legalized. Back in 2012 18 states including Washington, D.C., legalized medical marijuana. These states legalized it for people with conditions such as epilepsy, cancer, chronic pain, and etc. These states still cannot stop the federal government from imposing its own laws. These federal drug laws were unreasonably extreme. Consider the case of Chris Williams, who opened a marijuana greenhouse in Montana after the state legalized medical marijuana. Many people feel the need to legalize medical marijuana so why not legalize it? The only thing holding people back is the federal law.

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.

The very first website shows you a little bit of the pros and cons of Marijuana. The website is called Medical Marijuana Pros and Cons. The website was not necessarily supporting me. It was a website that was not carrying enough information. It did not really focus on the main key point. It had further information about other subjects I did not really care for. The website had advertisements that nothing to do with subject. Medical Marijuana website had various ads, that distracting. I couldn’t really focus on my actual questions because the advertisements were distracting me. There were no grammar or spelling mistakes for this website. This is a website I would necessarily trust all the way but you can probably get some information from it.

As mentioned before, 23 states have legalized marijuana for medical use. Furthermore, four other states, including Washington, D.C., have legalized marijuana for recreational use, however, it is still banned federally. Medical marijuana has been suggested and reported to have the power to make the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia, cardiovascular disorders, glaucoma and many others less noticeable. In addition, even if medical marijuana was legalized, patients would not be able to get it from a pharmacy like traditional prescriptions. It has to be sold through a licensed dispensary in a state that approves of medical marijuana. The patient must also be seen and evaluated by a licensed health care provider. Marijuana has lived throughout history as a medical miracle, yet only in recent years has it been misrepresented as a lethal substance. History repeats itself and this entire situation is comparable to the prohibition of alcohol in the 1920s. Back then, when alcohol was initially banned, people did the same thing they are doing today- producing the product themselves in beer breweries or marijuana farms in this case. “Millions have died from cigarettes, yet they’re still freely sold at stores” so why shouldn’t marijuana be freely sold when there is not one confirmed case of someone dying strictly from pot (Dale Archer M.D.).

“Cannabis has been used as a medicinal plant for millennia. In fact, the American government actually supplied cannabis as a medicine for some time, before the scheme was shut down in the early 1990s.” (Gillard, Arthur. Ed. Pg. 43) In fact the Chinese Emperor Fu Hsi noticed that Cannabis was a very popular medicine that possessed both yin and yang in 2900 B.C. Later in life, in 1213 B.C the Egyptians used it to treat the eyes, inflammation and many other things. Cannabis pollen was found on the mummy of Ramesses II. Medical Marijuana has been around for 1,000 of years and it will be around for another 1,000 years so the government should just get over it and legalize it. Medical marijuana should be legalized by the federal

However, there are many debates over whether or not medical marijuana should be legalized. Essentially, marijuana is a plant with leaves like any other plant (Blachford 267). What sets it apart is tetrahydrocannabinol, otherwise known as THC. This component is responsible for the psychological effects of marijuana (Gerdes 89). An initial evaluation of its usefulness earns marijuana to be classified as a schedule I drug, meaning there is no valued medical use and it’s highly abusive (Dresser web). Although, in the past, the Food and Drug Administration allowed AID patients to use it because it was their last hope (Stempsey web). Then in 1937, marijuana was made completely illegal. Illegalization of the substance was enacted by the Marijuana Tax Act, which also made marijuana for medical purposes illegal (Blachford 265). Some states in 1996 tried to combat its illegal status by proposing propositions to allow prescribed marijuana usage, but it was denied (Dresser web). Eventually, by 2009, fourteen states made medical marijuana acceptable, and currently, in 2014,

Because marijuana contains chemicals that possibly can treat or control a range of illnesses or symptoms, many people argue that it should be legal for medical purposes. In fact, a growing number of states have legalized marijuana for medical use. However, using marijuana, even if it’s for medical purposes and approved by the state, continues to be an offense under Federal

Marijuana has been around for a very long time and while it used to be treated as a medicine for