legalizing marijuana
Chris Marlin
Dr.Arlandson
Eniglish 101
10/14/13
Marijuana Law going down in Smoke
Marijuana has been gaining in popularity for many years now and is only becoming more and more popular. This has led to many states across the U.S starting to legalize the plant for medicinal purposes, which has brought up the discussion of just completely legalizing the plant. Two states, Colorado and Washington have already gone that route and have legalized marijuana entirely to be regulated in the same fashion as alcohol. The legalization of marijuana in the United States could have many positive and negative effects, but the positive will far outweigh the negative and the legalization of marijuana would greatly benefit our country as a whole.
The main concern that many Americans have with legalizing marijuana, who will be using it more when it’s legal, will it be our youth? Gathering evidence from numerous studies that have been conducted over the past twenty five years affirms that if marijuana is legalized and there are no longer marijuana related penalties then it will not lead to an increase in consumption. On NORML's website on the "Marijuana Decriminalization & Its Impact on Use" page they list numerous studies that have been conducted on the topic. Here they quote L. Johnson, of the Institute for Social Research from the University of Michigan, claims that "Overall, the preponderance of the evidence which we have gathered and examined points to the conclusion that decriminalization has had virtually no effect either on the marijuana use or on related attitudes and beliefs about marijuana use among American young people. The data show no evidence of any increase, relative to the control states, in the proportion of the age group who ever tried marijuana. In fact, both groups of experimental states showed a small, cumulative net decline in annual prevalence after decriminalization." There are many reasons why researchers believe that it will not be our youth who start
Dr.Arlandson
Eniglish 101
10/14/13
Marijuana Law going down in Smoke
Marijuana has been gaining in popularity for many years now and is only becoming more and more popular. This has led to many states across the U.S starting to legalize the plant for medicinal purposes, which has brought up the discussion of just completely legalizing the plant. Two states, Colorado and Washington have already gone that route and have legalized marijuana entirely to be regulated in the same fashion as alcohol. The legalization of marijuana in the United States could have many positive and negative effects, but the positive will far outweigh the negative and the legalization of marijuana would greatly benefit our country as a whole.
The main concern that many Americans have with legalizing marijuana, who will be using it more when it’s legal, will it be our youth? Gathering evidence from numerous studies that have been conducted over the past twenty five years affirms that if marijuana is legalized and there are no longer marijuana related penalties then it will not lead to an increase in consumption. On NORML's website on the "Marijuana Decriminalization & Its Impact on Use" page they list numerous studies that have been conducted on the topic. Here they quote L. Johnson, of the Institute for Social Research from the University of Michigan, claims that "Overall, the preponderance of the evidence which we have gathered and examined points to the conclusion that decriminalization has had virtually no effect either on the marijuana use or on related attitudes and beliefs about marijuana use among American young people. The data show no evidence of any increase, relative to the control states, in the proportion of the age group who ever tried marijuana. In fact, both groups of experimental states showed a small, cumulative net decline in annual prevalence after decriminalization." There are many reasons why researchers believe that it will not be our youth who start