Introduction
The world we live today is full of drug culture. Swift stated that “the society we live in has already accepted smoking of cigarette and consumption of alcohol” (342). The same case is happening to smoking of marijuana. Marijuana is cannabis and has positive and also negative impacts to human life. In this argumentative essay on legalization of marijuana, several points on why it should be legalized will be discussed.
The first reason why marijuana should be legalized is the fact that it has medicinal properties to human body. Different research studies have shown that Marijuana can be used to treat different kinds of diseases. Some of the diseases that can be treated by marijuana are for instance treating Glaucoma, controlling epileptic seizures, preventing or even sometimes stopping spread of cancer through use of cannabidiol chemical and also releasing pain (Richard et al. 5014) Cannabis that is found in marijuana is used as a medication to relief pain for anguish individuals. A study conducted in the United States of America clearly shows that a good number of United States of America health organizations are aiming at supporting provision of legal access on medical marijuana though under observation of a doctor. This comes as a result of cannabis being priceless in assisting medical care of variety of diseases. In support of these point more states should encourage legalizing of marijuana.
The second point is that use of marijuana is not a hazard to the society. According to a crime report by investigation from the Federal Bureau in 2011, “marijuana enforcement prohibition is costing the taxpayers an estimate of ten billion a year and arrest results of eight hundred and fifth three thousand persons every year” the number of the arrested individuals is far much higher than that for murderer, rapists and robbers. In the United States of America, every citizen has fulfilled the obligation of caring for the family and paying taxes. When these people were incarcerated, their children were taken to care institutions where millions of individuals suffered. As a community, thorough consideration on how to formulate such kind of laws which aim at safeguarding the interest of other human beings should be given the first priority. In general marijuana smokers are not the problem and it is high time that they should be protected and a sign of fairness be experienced.
The third point is that marijuana compared to alcohol and tobacco is less dangerous in human health. Statistics from Bureau of Mortality indicate that in the drug abuse bracket, fifth thousand lives are lost due to annual alcohol poisoning. According to Baker et al, “smoking of tobacco contributes to four hundred thousand deaths annually” (5011). This clearly indicates that in contrast, the cannabis is nontoxic and cannot cause fatality through overdose smoking. Cannabis unlike tobacco and alcohol too do not cause a addiction difficulties, or cause cancer, liver injury and emphysema. Cannabis also does not affect the brain functioning. Cannabis is judged as less of a treat than alcohol.
Another point is that continuous tobacco consumption can lead to induction of bronchitis which marijuana can’t, and its acquisition possibility of the respiratory health disease is rare. This is a fact proved in 1997 by the UCLA Medicine School. A research was conducted where two hundred and fourth three strong marijuana smokers were being tested so as to find out what exactly happens when the substance is abused. The result indicated that cannabis if overdosed totally doesn’t contribute to lethal effect. Surprisingly it was found out that health breathing risks can be reduced by utilizing cannabis which can be done by non-smoking means that is through ingesting marijuana.
Legalization of marijuana can also benefit the entire society from the fact that the drug is not meant to cause very vital health problems compared to the ones caused by alcohol. The government will be urged to permit individuals to make choices on the own concerning whether one is to smoke or not. Legalizing marijuana may lead to making the world we are living to be more tolerable to each individual through cannabis effect on relaxation. Supporting this point is the fact that research has shown that marijuana compared to tobacco and alcohol is far much less addictive. Its effects compared to those of alcohol are mild. Marijuana turns out to be more favorable to life since alcohol can turn some drinkers into nuisance individuals in the society or even barroom brawlers which have never been the case to marijuana users.
Legalizing of marijuana would reduce its use. Caulkins, quotes that “there must be a good reason for individuals who are opposing marijuana usage to support the legalization process of the drug” (2095). This is because a legal substance is easily controlled in means that an illegal substance cannot be controlled. Already a test by the government had been conducted on how to ensure alcohol is kept far from hands of minors, this acted as a pilot study to show how the same case can be applied to marijuana legalization process. It was found out that marketing campaign when effective laid down can reduce underage usage of alcohol. There is evidence that many of the teens are practicing usage of marijuana in a secretive way. If this drug is legalized it is easier to find out how the drug is being used and give enough room to provide substantial training to most of these teens on the whereabouts of the marijuana drug. The fact that our present laws are treating marijuana to be similar as cocaine gives a bad teaching to the teenagers who tend to think that the government sometimes is unrealistic to matters dealing with drug policies.
Lastly, marijuana prohibition turned out to be racist. This is supported from the fact that cannabis criminalization’s history discovered that prohibition of marijuana had a racial discrimination effect effective from 1930s. This happened between the Mexican migrants and African Americans who turned out to be associated with the usage of marijuana at that time. Research indicated that the marijuana word was popularized mainly to be associated with the Mexicans.
A criminal champion by the name Harry Anslinger was the one responsible for the satirical quotes but he turned out to form a movement that aimed at making cannabis illegal. He supported this by giving evidence that a hundred thousand people in the United States of America smoked marijuana and most of them were Negroes, Filipinos and Negros. He gave the negative effects of marijuana which were women involving themselves in seeking sexual matters with the Negros.
The white people and the blacks used marijuana at the same rates though blacks usage tended to be three point seven times more than that of the whites where the backs were more arrested compared to the whites. This brought about the racism war. Therefore in order to solve this issue, Anslinger and his entire group advocated for Legalization of this drug to ensure every individual has freedom to its usage since it was found out not to be so harmful to human beings.
To conclude, the above essay has given supportive points on why marijuana should be legalized. These points that is it has medicinal properties to human body, is not a hazard to the society, compared to alcohol and tobacco is less dangerous in human health, acquisition possibility of the respiratory health disease is rare, legalizing of marijuana would reduce its use, legalization of marijuana can also benefit the entire society from the fact that the drug is not meant to cause very vital health problems compared to the ones caused by alcohol and lastly marijuana prohibition turned out to be racist support why marijuana is supposed to be legalized. Legalization of this drug can lead to further research on its importance in the society.
- Baker, Richard, et al. “The association between marijuana use and glaucoma in the United States.” Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science 56.7 (2015): 5011-5011.
- Caulkins, Jonathan P., and Beau Kilmer. “The US as an example of how not to legalize marijuana?.” Addiction 111.12 (2016): 2095-2096.
- Swift Swift, Art. “For first time, Americans favor legalizing marijuana.” Gallup Politics (2013).
