Pros And Cons Of Marijuana Essay

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.

Marijuana is the third most popular recreational drug in America (behind only alcohol and tobacco), and has been used by nearly 100 million Americans. According to government surveys, some 25 million Americans have smoked marijuana in the past year, and more than 14 million do so regularly despite harsh laws against its use. Our public policies should reflect this reality, not deny it.(keith stroepe). Marijuana should be legalized for medical use across the country. Marijuana has been used medically, recreationally and spiritually for about 5,000 years. Under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, marijuana was classified as a Schedule I drug because it was considered to have no “accepted medical use in treatment in the United

According to Jessica Atkins many crimes in several states are increasing due to the “selling and possession” of the substance. Atkins also pointed out that marijuana is a “natural herb” and it is extremely less dangerous than any other illegal substance. With that being said many also worry about parents who also consume this drug and the effects it would have on their children. Dr. Melanie Dreher conducted many experiments and has inferred that children who are born to marijuana consuming parents show no factors of birth defects, also the child tends to be more intelligent than children not born to marijuana consuming parents. There is also a lot of benefits towards consuming medical marijuana also, it can benefit anyone who has a mental illness and could also help a woman's pregnancy with decreasing the sense of nausea and vomiting. Marijuana is a very controversial topic especially legalizing it but people need to realize that there are substances that are killing many people today that are completely legal under the federal law and it is injustice to keep a drug that has many benefits and could help people

The legalization of marijuana is a very debatable subject, some people think it is bad and should be illegal, and some people think it is good in some ways if used properly. It should be legal because it has few negative effects, it serves other purposes than getting people stoned, and it is better than other drugs.

The main idea behind legalizing drugs is it's medical advantages. Marijuana is said to have many uses as healing drug. Marijuana being used as medicine has been studied for many years. In many cultures it is used as medicine and stems back many generations. The first recorded use of marijuana as medicine was in China. It has been said that in Pen Tsao Ching during the first or second century, boiled hemp compound was used as an anesthetic for surgical patients. The compound is said to have many uses including, clearing the blood, cooling temperature, clearing fluxes, undoing rheumatism and discharging pus from patients. China isn't the only country to use this drug in early times it was introduced in Southeast Asia in the sixteenth century. Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam are said to have current uses of marijuana for medicine. In Cambodia they have an enormous list of uses, including, treating malaria, reliving asthma, calming the nerves, regulating the heart and treating paralysis. In Thailand, it's used in folk medicine as well as in the official medical reports. In folk medicine, people dry the leaves and then boil them to treat migraines and dizzy spells.

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.

There will always be pros and cons in every situation, but marijuana actually has many pros. Marijuana may affect the development of the brain and behaviors if used at a young age, but it also helps with many disorders. “The panel said cannabinoids stimulate the appetite, combat nausea, and might also control pain. The drug also acts as a sedative and reduces anxiety, which may itself have a therapeutic effect, they added” (Ault, 1). Marijuana could be very helpful for those who are ill. It is a step at discovering new ways to cure diseases and help with the symptoms of different disorders. If we already know that marijuana could help with pain, sickness, and mental health, then why not legalize it? Many physicians have prescribed medical marijuana to those who are undergoing pain due to cancer. Most of the feedback the physicians get are

Marijuana has been deeply studied in the past few decades and has shown scientist many things that weren’t evident before. Marijuana has been linked to many health issues good and bad. It has shown to reduce stress and anxiety, help with headaches, lower blood pressure and one of the most evident and positive health affects is that it has been shown in many studies to stop and even kill cancer cells in the body. There are however negative effects that have been looked into and studied by scientist. These include, blocking memory formation, psychosis, and an increased risk of depression while using marijuana regularly. Not everything revolving around marijuana is a “health issue” though, the biggest reason that people use marijuana today is because it simply makes people feel good. That is a positive effect.

Medical use of Marijuana is probably the most discussed topic of the legalizing campaign over the recent years. Some opponents of Marijuana say that it does not have any medical uses at all, and argue that Marijuana is only harmful and should remain illegal. Others for legalization have an opposite view that is starting to gain more recognition as time goes on. Around the late 1990’s, some members of the nation’s medical establishment began to acknowledge marijuana’s potential health benefits. One respected health organization, the Institute of Medicine, released a report in 1999 which stated that “nausea, appetite loss, pain and anxiety can all be mitigated by marijuana (Medical). In an article Drug Legalization, Advocates of medical marijuana say that in many cases it is the only treatment that has been shown to work. “It is a very effective medication for people who have failed to get good results from standard medications,” says Ethan Russo, a neurologist who has studied medical marijuana, “and that is why so many people are devoted to risking their lives and career to get this drug”(Drug). There are many reports that Marijuana can help with conditions traditional medicines do not seem to help with. Marijuana has also been a huge help to patients with Cancer, HIV/AIDS, Glaucoma, and Insomnia. With a lot of prescription medicines being expensive, Marijuana would be a cheaper alternative to buy if people chose to do so.

Legalizing marijuana has always been an interesting topic for many people to dispute about. Some people say it is good, while others say it is bad. No matter what topic you speak about, it has its pros and cons. For example, marijuana can be used in great ways if legalized. Through money given from dispensaries to the crime rate lowered because of the ability to acquire marijuana in legal ways. Some bad examples are that it can be a gateway drug and can cause one to want a “better high” to people thinking it affects people's lives. Legalizing marijuana (medical and recreational) will help the United States with money, crime, and other numerous ways.

Every year, 400,000 Americans die of complications caused by tobacco products. Smoking kills more Americans each year than alcohol, crack, heroin, murder, suicide, car accidents, fires, and AIDS all put together. Every week, eight children under the age of eighteen die from alcohol related crashes. Alcohol abuse contributes to almost 50% of all traffic accidents, suicides, and homicides. However, despite the proven dangers of these "socially acceptable" drugs, they are still legal. Marijuana, a much less acceptable drug, is not legal however, despite the fact that research has yet to pin any specific dangers to this drug.

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No matter what you judge, there is always pros and cons. Some of the pros of legalizing marijuana is most health benefits. Medical use can treat things such a glaucoma, control epileptic seizures, decrease anxiety, relief of arthritis discomfort, helps suffering veterans from PTSD. On a non health matter marijuana can spur creativity in the brain. What if we could discover or make something no one else could ever think about without being high. On a personal view some people need it to calm down. People who think about twenty things at one time need medical distribution. People in school who can’t focus, marijuana could possibly improve our educational system. Instead of using all the pills. On another non medical matter, what about the taxes on marijuana? What if the simple legalization could get America out of debt. If not out of debt, help America on things we need to fix. Wouldn’t it be nice to save not only lives but to get America back on it’s feet like it used to be before everything and everyone went

Marijuana has many names like pot, weed, grass, Mary Jane etc. but it still a drug that is talked about a lot in the media. It is consumed in many ways, whether it be for recreational or medicinal use. It came from Asia and is now worldwide and is common in the United States. The legalization of marijuana is still an issue today because there are misconceptions about it. As of now twenty states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana use. Only Colorado and Washington have legalized marijuana for recreational use.

Should Marijuana be Legalized? Over half of Americans answer ‘’Yes.’’ Marijuana is greatly frowned upon, not just in America, but all across the globe. But these laws against Marijuana are up for debate in several countries. Especially in the United States. There are sixteen states in this country that allow medical usage of Marijuana.