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Legalization of Marijuana in the United States

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Introduction Marijuana use should be legalized throughout the United States. Marijuana legalization is becoming a highly popular argument among the country.

Marijuana has been used for a very long time throughout the country for many medical uses. Starting in the 1900’s marijuana as well as other drugs such as cocaine and opium were not considered drugs and were in fact very commonly used. Not much later in 1914 the U.S. made cocaine illegal for non-medical purposes, 56 years later in 1970 cocaine was classified as a schedule II substance. The U.S. was very strict about the cannabis laws starting around the 1980’s. Then beginning in the early 2000’s scientists started discovering the medical benefits the marijuana has on people that are sick. Marijuana was used to treat many people with cancer and also people suffering from depression. Shortly after these studies were released the argument for medical marijuana began to grow throughout the United States. The government did not want any kind of marijuana becoming legal but by being able to overrule the government laws marijuana was legalized for medical use only in California in 1996. This was a huge step in the marijuana industry and a few other states such as Colorado and Arizona had also allowed medical marijuana shortly after. There are now 21 states in the United States that have legalized medical marijuana. Many people do not understand the medical benefits marijuana has. People who use marijuana recreationally use

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