Pro Legalization Of Marijuana

The use of Marijuana is a very renowned and vexed issue in the world today. Although there have been many false statements about Marijuana, the truths are steadily starting to reemerge. Unfortunately, these truths are under heavy criticism due to the stereotypical view of what people view as the typical “pot smoker. The view of the typical “pot smoker” are what lead to these false statements. Marijuana should be Legalized because of its medicinal purposes and its effect on the economy. There are some myths about Marijuana, but I am here to educate and show both sides of the argument. Many people have trouble accepting the fact that marijuana has medicinal purposes. Opinions on medicinal marijuana have changed dramatically over the past few
years and many states have permitted the use of it for epilepsy patients. Twenty-three other states have joined and have allowed the use marijuana for medicinal purposes for cancer and other sicknesses. While the government lists marijuana as a drug that doesn’t acknowledge any real medical use, the states clearly disagree. Today, thousands of patients are able to use marijuana as an effective method of treatment for their ailments. Legal substances can be controlled in ways illegal ones cannot. The illegal market for drugs has no standards, regulations, or price control. The government sometimes compares marijuana to heroin and cocaine in the current laws, which is completely unrealistic on matters to drug policy. Because marijuana is illegal, the sales and consumption have greatly increased just like the alcohol prohibition. During the prohibition of alcohol secret bars were created and acts of violence were used. Marijuana is less harmful than alcohol or tobacco. Marijuana is less addictive than tobacco or alcohol. Marijuana has never been directly linked to any serious disease, the way tobacco has with cirrhosis. Alcohol is addictive and health damaging, it a depressant, it causes cancer, 1,000,000 annual deaths, after ingesting alcohol there is hangover pain, vomiting, and nausea. Cannabis is non-addictive and healing, it is an antidepressant, and there have never been any deaths ever. The biggest argument against marijuana is that is the “gateway drug”. Many people believe that the consumption of marijuana leads to the intake on harder drugs like heroin and cocaine. Nicotine and alcohol mature the brain for a greater response to other drugs and are, like marijuana, also typically used before a person goes to other, more harmful substances. Other people could argue that once the “high” of marijuana fades away, the feeling of being “high” starts to fade away, the user will then return to harder drugs because the marijuana high will no longer “work”. “The Cannabis Access for Medical Purposes Survey is a 414-question cross-sectional survey that was available to Canadian medical cannabis patients online and by hard copy in 2011 and 2012 to gather information on patient demographics, medical conditions and symptoms, patterns of medical cannabis use, cannabis substitution and barriers to access to medical cannabis” (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov). “Substituting cannabis for one or more of alcohol, illicit drugs or prescription drugs was reported by 87% (n = 410) of respondents, with 80.3% reporting substitution for prescription drugs, 51.7% for alcohol, and 32.6% for illicit substances. Respondents who reported substituting cannabis for prescription drugs were more likely to report difficulty affording sufficient quantities of cannabis, and patients under 40 years of age were more likely to substitute cannabis for all three classes of substance than older patients” (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov). The “gateway drug” theory should be based on cigarettes and alcohol, not marijuana. Although many people argue that marijuana should not be legalized, others could make the point that it should be legalized because of its medicinal purposes and its effect on the economy.
Two debaters from debate.org argued about the issue, pro-legalization: “I believe that drugs are positive here is why: Cannabis has been used for over 10,000 years and not one single death has EVER been recorded. It is not addictive and is actually far less addictive than caffeine If legalized, far less more minors would be using Cannabis or weed would be sold in stores, valid ID must be given and the user must be at least 21 years of age. After customers start buying from these weed dispensaries, drug dealers would vanish and the ones that stick around would be most likely dealing hard drugs. Marijuana is not a gateway drug, it's just the dealers persistently persuading their customers to try harder drugs because they know marijuana is not addictive. If they were to get them to at least try the harder drugs, they would get addicted and come back for more, giving the dealer never ending business. Marijuana cures and prevents Alzheimer and Glaucoma, helps relieve stress, anxiety, depression, slows down tumor growth, and helps relieve pain for chemo/radiation therapy patients as well. If legalized, marijuana can be taxed which would produce billions of dollars annually in profit which in turn would help our nation get out of debt. Cannabis farms can be set up as well, and growing and
harvesting marijuana can become a profession thus lowering the unemployment rate. Does not lead to or cause lung cancer”. Against legalization: “The biggest arguments I always hear, is that it will lower crime, boost the economy, and help with medical purposes. that's the biggest load of BS I have ever heard. First regarding crime. Just because you legalize something won't lower crime. All you are doing is not calling it a crime anymore. We might as well legalize breaking and entering and grand theft auto, this way everyone will have a car and we'll have less crime. It's absurd. Second, the economy will not get a boost. Imagine how many lazy people there will be. They won't be able to work, because they're completely stoned. Pot heads barely have the energy to get off the couch to do anything. And third, medicinal purposes, so instead of finding the chemical or whatever it is in marijuana that helps people get better, why not just extract that or synthesize it and give that to people who need it... not smoke pot. What saddens me is how much time is wasted on debating this topic. It's no where near as important and so many other things. You want to lower crime, stop doing drugs. There will be no more drug dealers if you educate people to not use but stay away. You want to help the economy, don't throw your money away on drugs. Buy good things for your body, like healthy foods. Which then leads to medicinal purposes, eat well, live well, stay healthy, use money to make better medicine. This whole argument is to justify the unhealthy, addictive, lazy pot smokers so that they don't get arrested or feel guilty that they are stupid enough to smoke marijuana. Alcohol and tobacco should be illegal too”.My opinion is that cannabis should be legalized because of its medicinal purposes and its effect to the economy.