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Running head: MARIJUANA
Should marijuana be legalized or prohibited in the US?
Student’s Name
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MARIJUANA
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Introduction
Marijuana otherwise called Cannabis is illegal in most states in the United States and is
classified as a schedule I drug together with other drugs such as cocaine and heroin. However,
scientists have proven that marijuana can be used for medicinal purposes thus making it legal for
medicinal purposes in several states. Many states are fighting for the legalization of marijuana
for both recreational and medicinal purposes. I stand with those states and believe that marijuana
should be made legal for persons above the age of twenty one as with alcohol.
Marijuana which is categorized as a schedule I drug is prohibited on the grounds that it
may cause self harm. Alcohol which is legal to persons above twenty one is more dangerous than
marijuana and actually causes more deaths in a year as opposed to marijuana. Tobacco, on the
other hand, is also legal yet it can directly be linked to causing Cancer to long time users. As a
matter of fact, marijuana has medicinal purposes helping relieve chronic pain and reduce nausea
among chemo patients (Chan et al., 2017). This already proves that marijuana cannot possibly be
as harmful as the other drugs as in schedule I and is even less harmful than alcohol and tobacco.
Families have been known to move from one state to another to help their loved ones who suffer
from various illnesses to access marijuana in states where it is legal. By legalizing it, it grants
people limitless access to and such inconveniences are cut short (Pacula et al, 2014).
By legalizing marijuana the government stands to benefit in terms of taxes. A good
example is the state of Colorado which brought in nearly $200 million while the state of
Washington brought in approximately $256 million dollars of the marijuana sales in 2016. This
means that marijuana has the potential to boost our country’s economy to a greater scale.
Currently, our government spends about $3.6 million dollars enforcing the prohibition of
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marijuana, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, which in my opinion is a waste of
money which can be used to improve other sectors such as education and health (Banys &
Cermak, 2016). By legalizing marijuana, it also means that the drug cartels dealing in weed will
automatically fall therefore saving the economy lots of money spent on the war against drugs
while giving cannabis users access to good quality weed unlike what the cartels sell which can at
times be bad quality weed since their concern is money but not the people’s interests (Barry &
Glantz, 2016).
If we are worried about the moral fabric of a society, legalizing marijuana actually helps
since currently, school kids across the country can access weed in a fairly easy way since dealers
do not check for ID and are not worried about their license being withheld. Legalizing weed to
persons above twenty one means reduced use in schools and repercussions go to any dealer
selling to minors. That makes our society a safer haven for the kids.
Marijuana for a long time has been seen as a gateway drug to other crimes and drugs.
Scientists have actually proven that marijuana is not addictive and termed its effects as euphoric
and mild. Researchers from The Human Rights watch also noted that most people arrested for
possession and use of marijuana had no earlier records of committing felonies. They also found
that most people who use marijuana mostly do not use other drugs while others only use small
amounts of alcohol citing that the high from marijuana has a nice calming effect that makes
content (Ammerman et al., 2015). By arresting people for possession our economy generally
suffers as the arrests stick on record spoiling any chances of these people to get jobs, loans,
housing, and benefits. The result is thousands of unemployed people just because of someone
smoking marijuana. By legalizing weed, it does not mean that more people get access to it but
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rather it means that those who use it get to do so without the worry of them being arrested
consequently saving jobs as well creating new ones.
Conclusion
Marijuana was first prohibited as a prejudice against African Americans and Mexicans
who were associated with the use in the early 1930s. It was believed back then that marijuana use
resulted in their satanic jazz and swing music and that it made white women want to have sexual
relations with the black men (Caulkins, Kilmer & Kleiman, 2016). Well, years later it is still
illegal for reasons quite unclear since it has been proven by thousand of researchers that it has
more benefits than cons. I would, therefore, urge the government to finally repeal marijuana
prohibition and make it legal to persons above the age twenty one.
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References
Ammerman, S., Ryan, S., Adelman, W. P., & Committee on Substance Abuse. (2015). The
impact of marijuana policies on youth: clinical, research, and legal
update. Pediatrics, 135(3), e769-e785.
Banys, P., & Cermak, T. L. (2016). Marijuana Legalization in California: Rational
Implementation of the Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA). Journal of psychoactive
drugs, 48(1), 63-65.
Barry, R. A., & Glantz, S. (2016). A public health framework for legalized retail marijuana based
on the US experience: Avoiding a new tobacco industry. PLoS medicine, 13(9),
e1002131.
Caulkins, J. P., Kilmer, B., & Kleiman, M. A. (2016). Marijuana legalization: What everyone
needs to know?. Oxford University Press.
Chan, M. H., Knoepke, C. E., Cole, M. L., McKinnon, J., & Matlock, D. D. (2017). Colorado
Medical Students’ Attitudes and Beliefs About Marijuana. Journal of general internal
medicine, 32(4), 458-463.
Pacula, R. L., Kilmer, B., Wagenaar, A. C., Chaloupka, F. J., & Caulkins, J. P. (2014).
Developing public health regulations for marijuana: lessons from alcohol and
tobacco. Journal Information, 104(6).
…
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