Every year our state has to spend a large sum of money on supervising marijuana because it is illegal. But once Proposition 19 is passed, those marijuana offenders and drug traffickers will be innocent. “The measure could result in savings to the state and local governments by reducing the number of marijuana offenders incarcerated in state prisons and county jails, as well as the number placed under county probation or state parole supervision”(Brown 14). This could save California millions of dollars annually.
* Is use of marijuana safer than alcohol? To say that marijuana has been given a bad rap over the past few decades is an understatement. If you’re like most Americans, you have been led to believe that marijuana is a dangerous and addictive drug that has destroyed the lives of millions of teens and adults. You have been encouraged to believe that marijuana causes lung cancer and is a “gateway” to harder drugs. The government has even tried to convince you that most people who use marijuana are losers who sit around on couches all day doing nothing.
Federal Legalization of Marijuana Marijuana, weed, cannabis, hemp, or grass, it is called by many names and has gotten a bad rap in the past few decades, but it should be federally legalized. We have been encouraged to believe it is a “gateway” drug and that it may lead to addiction and various health issues. Yet there are many therapeutic benefits as well as practical applications. The consumption of marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol and smoking cigarettes. There is an excessive amount of money spent every year on its regulation, criminalization and prohibition.
Now retired "Clemson University organic chemist John H. Huffman, a leading scientist in synthetic cannibinoid development, made more than 450 cannibinoid compounds to help advance the treatment of serious ailments like multiple sclerosis, AIDS, and cancer" (Griep, 2013). In an interview with ABC News, Huffman explains that his research apparently fell into the wrong hands, but "doubts that a ban on the substances will keep kids away from it". Organic marijuana has been illegal since 1937, he points out, yet many have completely disregarded those laws. Therefore, prohibition of spice could have a similar outcome. Huffman contrasts the two substances, describing the effects of synthetic cannabinoids as " anecdotal, and comes from things like visits to emergency rooms."
More watchful parents and closely monitoring a child's friends will lessen or eliminate the ease of accessibility to not only marijuana, but other drugs as well. As a society, we have failed our youth in many areas of life. Youth need positive role models that are concerned about protecting them from harm and leading them in the right direction to go on a lead productive, drug-free lives despite any changes made to the laws. Being that age restrictions are put on everything else, there should be legal age restrictions for people who can legally purchase marijuana. People who can legally purchase marijuana should not be allowed to be around anyone under the age of 21 while the are under the influence or have marijuana in their possession.
In many cases drug users are often younger adults or teenagers (Drug War Facts, 2013). They enjoy smoking it because of the risk factor. If marijuana is legalized for recreational use then some drug users would more on to more intense drugs (Matthew Elrod, 2000). Though, not all drug users are young, some adults who consumed drugs when they were younger and were unable to break their addiction as they got older and continue to ingest drugs. While some do not believe the theory that drugs are used for the risk, it is an interesting way to look at the reason people do drugs.
Once the Judges, Governors, senators and every other political officials have come to an agreement on the controversy, I feel America will become a much healthier, smellier, safer place. Cannabis is known to calm the crazy nerves of the mentally unstable and the autistic, known to make convicts admit to their heinous crimes, help students focus on studying or taking standardized tests, all these are untreatable by any other medicine or doctor. The crime rate of drug possession is said go down significantly according to a student survey taken by mostly 10th and 11th graders in high school, and 20 students attending Glendale Community College in Arizona. If marijuana is legal, why would drug addicts go out of their way to pick up hard drugs when they could swing by their local Cannabis club? They wouldn’t.
In 2011, Connecticut became the latest state to enact a decriminalization law which classifies first offense possession of 1/2 ounce of marijuana for adults over 21, as a non-criminal infraction, punishable by a $150 fine. In each of these states, marijuana users no longer face jail time (nor in most cases, arrest or criminal records) for the possession or use of small amounts of marijuana. According to national polls, voters overwhelmingly support these policies. In Oregon, voters recently reaffirmed their state's decriminalization law by a 2-1 margin in a statewide
Even more shocking, daily use has hit a 30-year high amongst high school seniors (Marijuana Use). However, alcohol use has reached historic lows in recent years (Marijuana Use). This could be because "the proportion of 8th and 10th graders who say they could get alcohol "fairly easily" or "very easily" had been declining since 1996 and continued to drop in all three grades in 2011"(Marijuana Use). Even though alcohol is legal, it is harder to obtain because it is a substance which is controlled and regulated by the federal government. Marijuana is not regulated for recreational use, and therefore cannot be
Medical Marijuana in California Legalization of Marijuana had been an awkward topic to talk until 1996, that was the year when everything changed; that year medical marijuana had been approved by the state of California. People from the Golden State, voted to legalize the use of medical marijuana with a 55% of majority. California was the first state, in United States, of legalize the use of medical marijuana. Marijuana has a lot of uses, for instance, textiles, foods, papers, body care products, detergents, plastics and building materials. The high you get from marijuana mostly comes from a chemical called Tetrahydrocannabinol, also known as THC, which is found in varying potency in different strains of cannabis.