Legalizing Marijuana The legalization, or decriminalization, of Marijuana has been one of the leading controversial political issues in the past decade. Made up of dried leaves of the Cannabis Sativa plant, with THC as it’s main psychoactive ingredient, Marijuana has proven to be less harmful than tobacco and alcohol, and even non-addicting. According to the Drug Awareness Warning Network, “There has never been a death recorded from the use of marijuana by natural causes.” (DAWN) Many people ask why the government would add one more substance to the list of the harmful, legal ones already, but I’m a firm believer that if we do not use our rights they will be taken from us. So should it not be a right of the people to decide whether Marijuana
Mohamed Alamoudi Why We Should Legalize Marijuana Many people believe that legalizing marijuana is only an issue of importance to “stoners” and other stigmatized groups in society; they couldn’t be more wrong. Marijuana is much less unhealthy than prohibition propaganda would lead you to believe. Furthermore, the government wastes vast resources on prosecuting and incarcerating nonviolent marijuana users. For these reasons, the United States should legalize and tax marijuana. The examples of the Netherlands and Portugal show that decriminalizing marijuana does not lead to “pot epidemics”.
Conservatives will always be against it and Liberals will always be for it. The only conclusion we can come down to based on hard facts is that marijuana should be legalized. Although most of the time people make decisions based on their emotions, I refuse to agree that the government should make decisions in the same manner. The government and people voting for these propositions should look at what its best for the country. After looking into all the issues of legalizing marijuana and looking at the pros and cons, the only conclusion we should come to is to legalize it.
The fact that marijuana is considered a Schedule One drug also has negative effects on the use of medical marijuana. A Schedule One drug means it currently has no accepted medical use and is highly addictive. Some states have passed their own laws about medicinal marijuana but can still be held under the United States executive laws. Medical marijuana cannot be legally prescribed by a doctor, it can only be recommended. It is then left up to the patient to find a medical marijuana clinic and obtain a legal medical marijuana card.
The inability for employers to have a drug free workplace, since they will no longer be able to give the employees drug test for marijuana. It would send a permissive message to young adults that drug use is acceptable. This creates to the public perception that marijuana is not a serious or harmful drug, when in fact, it lead to numerous mental and physical harm. Loss of control over medical marijuana by physician. In consistency with other laws for example, if a state legalizes marijuana, this conflicts with federal laws, and this leads to confusion in the public and among law
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved marijuana as a medicine, citing the fact that it has not gone through rigorous clinical testing like other new drugs must. Proponents state that marijuana is not a "new" drug, it should be "grandfathered" into legality, and it has not gone through FDA mandated testing because the government has blocked such efforts . The pros and cons presented throughout this site reflect the numerous contentious issues involved in this debate. Read and decide for yourself whether marijuana should be a medical option. Pro medical
Dylan Kelley Rough Draft 11-15-10 Yes We Cannabis Should marijuana be legalized in the United States? Should people be punished for smoking a harmless natural plant? The legalization of marijuana is a topic that most Americans have a powerful say in. Some believe it should remain illegal because they believe it’s a “gateway” drug or because it causes violence. Others, like me, think that the government shouldn’t have the power to outlaw if it’s not harming or endangering others.
Ethical issues and a lack of research studies that prove the effectiveness of Cannabis are the reason the drug has not be legalized in all states. Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies is working on research to show the usefulness of medicinal Marijuana in a therapeutic situation. According to "Research Medical Marijuana" (2011), “The National Institute on Drug Abuse’s monopoly on the supply of marijuana for research and the DEA's refusal to allow researchers to grow their own has effectively paralyzed medical marijuana research,” (para.
Our nation was made for the federal government and state governments to have their own separate laws, and that whatever federal law there is in place, states can’t make laws that affect the federal ones. In response to this, I feel that the federal government should let the state governments have medical marijuana laws, but work together to make the state laws legal on the stance that it doesn’t affect the federal laws that are already in place. Speaking on behalf of the federal government thinking that with state medical marijuana laws in place, will make the controlled substance act ineffective, my argument, which is also the state governments argument, would be that the state laws won’t make the act ineffective because the marijuana isn’t being sold from state to state. In addition, if it does end up effecting interstate commerce then the federal government can then prosecute those people not following the Act. All in all, if the medical marijuana is regulated properly then the federal government won’t lose oversight of illegal drugs.
Controversy The Marijuana Controversy Dianne L. Joy Kaplan University HA545_Unit 4 Project Professor Shalah Watkins-Bailey Introduction Since considering marijuana to have no accepted medical use DC and 20 of 50 states have since then legalized the medical use of marijuana. But the issue with marijuana is that they are n sure if it actually helps patients with diseases. It is argued that marijuana is a safe and effective treatment for people suffering from diseases like cancer, multiple sclerosis, AIDS, pain, epilepsy, glaucoma and other conditions. But the others argue that marijuana is dangerous, it lacks the approval of the FDA, it is addictive, leads to harder drug use, interferes with fertility, impairs driving ability, and