Lately, the topic of marijuana legalization in the United States has been tremendously debated by government officials and marijuana users throughout the country. The Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 banned the use and sale of marijuana in the United States (ElSohly). Marijuana should continue to be illegal because of its toxic smoke, use as a gateway drug, and damaging effects on the developing brains of our youth. I personally believe marijuana should remain illegal in the United States for the benefit of our children, our society and our nation. Some people in this country honestly think that marijuana can be beneficial and base their reasoning on the recent legalization of marijuana in Colorado. “Colorado and Marijuana Legalization One Year …show more content…
Erin Digitale interviewed a Stanford MD graduate Seth Ammerman, adolescent medicine specialist who studies and has worked with teenagers who use drugs. He explained how the brain isn’t fully developed until a person hits their mid- twenties and, “the younger you start using drugs regularly, the more likely you are to become addicted” (Digitale). “One in 10 adolescents who use marijuana become addicted” (Digitale). Once they become addicted, they are less likely to finish their education, and suffer from depression.. Personally, I have seen my own friends and people in my community growing up become addicted to marijuana because of trying it at such a young age. While Way argued that marijuana legalization has helped the economy in Colorado, is the economy more important than our
Truth Behind the Smoke During the 1940’s marijuana was seen by the United States in a negative light and Americans believed it offered no positive impact to American society. Since this time America has slowly changed its view by legalizing marijuana for medicinal use in very few states. The full transition began, however, once the following states Washington, Colorado, California, and Oregon legalized the use of marijuana for medicinal and recreational use. The legalization of marijuana has caused the United States to see the positive effects through marijuana’s medical benefits, lower incarceration rate, and an influx of revenue for the government.
The War on Drugs has been a long battle between the government and drugs in the United States. Legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes can have a great impact on society and legalizing marijuana for recreational use can have a much larger impact. Some people believe that legalizing marijuana would do more harm than good; but this is not the case. In this essay, I will be arguing for the legalization of marijuana because it reduces the stats for the number of criminals, it saves taxpayers money, it strengthens the economy, it is beneficial to health, and it is less harmful than other drugs, along with countering the common misconception of marijuana as a gateway drug for teenagers its abuse. Elliott Currie proposed two prominent solutions
Marijuana is considered the third most frequently used recreational drug in America and is thought, “to be no more harmful or addictive than alcohol or tobacco” (Fois, 2013; NORML, n.d.). Said statistics suggest that decriminalizing the use of marijuana
As long as citizens are following the laws that are set by their particular state they should be able to use marijuana however they please. The laws can also be changed depending on the results that are seen, so if people are using it in an inappropriate way or new studies show that the substance is harmful the government can make the laws stricter. Or if people are successfully following the laws the government might be a little more lenient. All of this is up to the user and how well they are willing to be responsible with their marijuana use. So, over the next ten years let’s make the topic of marijuana legalization less
In this way, marijuana legalization in Colorado could hardly be concluded as a success. Marijuana legalization has caused social corruption and damaged the youth with a wrong educational environment. The use of marijuana had grown more through the legalization and become more common and familiar to adolescents. As Hopfer (2014) states marijuana legalization arouses a growth of marijuana use and associated issues, as it has been proved and therefore, the rest states should continue to prohibit
We should take concern of the capability marijuana has by affecting people’s lives in a harmful and dangerous manners. According to international marijuana statistics, over 158.8 million individuals around the globe consume marijuana. Resulting, the substance being stupendously nation wide. Therefore, Marijuana should not be legalized in California for any recreational use due to the danger of public safety, damaging both physical and mental health of an individual, along as not meeting the standards to modern medicine. Tragedies occur on the daily for stimulant drugs contaminating into one’s body, causing public to be unsafe.
States that would like to legalize cannabis for recreational use can look to Washington and Colorado’s triumphs and tribulations when establishing their own legislation and recreational markets. Perhaps the Department of Justice will issue another Cole Memo regarding its official authorization if these recreational markets succeed. Currently it appears that buyers are interested in purchasing recreational cannabis at the lowest price possible, which is consequently less taxed. I think that the changes occurring in Washington and Colorado legislation this upcoming year will balance out the new markets’ instabilities and further satisfy customers, investors, and
Drug use is a choice that is made by an individual, which does not violate another person’s natural rights. Some individuals are against the legalization of marijuana by proposing hypothetical situations that try to show the harm of the drugs use such as “what if people would drive high and cause an accident”. Situations like these don’t call for a need of substance ban but rather for strict regulations just like drunk driving laws. These laws are created to ensure that those who choose to participate in these potential dangerous actions are able to enjoy their freedom of choice while protecting those that could be harms. Although there is a possibility for individualistic dangers of marijuana legalization as long as it is regulated we can allow individuals to make their own
Marijuana should remain illegal in the United States, and states that have passed laws to make it legal should reverse those laws. Marijuana is addictive and a gateway drug. Legalizing marijuana will make it generally more available to the public, which will also make it more likely to be used by young adults and children that are not old enough to make smart decisions regarding drug
The push for legalization of cannabis is making news across America just as it did in the 60 's. Shirts are being worn with slogans like "Keep America Green." Marijuana use is glorified in movies like Dazed & Confused and referenced by music groups like Cypress Hill and the Black Crowes. Increasing public support and media attention will slowly force the legalization issue into the forefront of the political discussion. If the widespread acceptance continues among the powerful new voting block- college students- the policy towards marijuana could change in the near future. Weighing both the costs and the benefits the decriminalization/legalization of marijuana seems inevitable now that many of the purported myths about its harmful effects have been proven false.
Therefore according to the federal law, marijuana possession and use is still illegal. However, the federal law has allowed states to determine by themselves the legalization of marijuana on condition that there is adequate state authority to prevent its legislation from interfering or obstructing execution of federal duties” (Cole, 2013). It also demands state legislation to ensure that citizens enjoy public safety, public health and other benefits under federal law. The legalization should uphold the eight provisions provided for by the Attorney General’s office to prevent the law from being
Cannabis has been used medically since roughly 2000 BCE in China, but the United States government appears to be oblivious to the fact that it has beneficial purposes. Legalization can lead to many positive things in society. The United States legislature should legalize the use of cannabis, both medical and recreational, because it has proven to possesses many different beneficial effects. Legalization has proven to increase the tax revenue in a state, which that money can be given back into the school systems and other governmental duties. Cannabis has also proven to provide a variety of medicinal purposes, such as cancer treatment, various diseases, and improving a patient's quality of life.
A common myth of the drug, marijuana is that the “gateway drug” usually leads to even more unlooked upon substances, more dangerous drugs. Marijuana users who experiment with this drug will not be in temptation to stronger narcotics proven by the Congressional Research Service. Many people believe that marijuana does indeed kill brain cells and effects memory loss, but yes, this is a myth of the drug. Throughout medical testing of marijuana, when given large uncommon amounts of the drug, there is no case of tremendous memory loss or even any damage to the brain. When, marijuana has no archived impact on memory loss, it has been proven to slightly affect information that has been newly learned.
Students who smoke weed are inapt to getting lower grades and less likely to graduate. Workers who smoke are more likely to experience a variety of absences, problems, tardies, accidents, etc.compared to workers who don 't. Marijuana is an addictive and dangerous drug. Sources Used: Margolis, Robert. " Legalizing Marijuana Would Harm Teens." Legalizing Drugs, edited by Stuart A. Kallen, Greenhaven Press, 2006.
Legalization of Marijuana Today there is a lot of material which are considered as an illegal by most authorities but not all of these materials should be banned for instance a plant called cannabis, also known as marijuana. The word of “Marijuana” do not have specific origins but is according to Oxford English Dictionary the word derives from Aztecan word “mallihuan” which means prisoner.(1) As we can understand, the discovery of this plant is nothing new. Marijuana has been used for ages with different kinds of uses and people form that times did not made it illegal. When we looked its history the first restrictions were started approximately in 1930 's. Since then, it is still prohibited by some countries.