Legalization of marijuana

Marijuana, pot, or “weed” has been widely illegal in the united states since 1937, even though the American medical association had objections because of marijuana's medical positives. Many Americans viewed pot in a bad light, partially due to prejudice towards Mexican immigrants in the 1910s who used marijuana, according to Eric Schlosser in an article for The Atlantic, “Police officers in Texas claimed that marijuana incited violent crimes and arose a lust for blood, giving it’s user superhuman strength.” This obviously wasn’t true, but rumor spread that Mexican immigrants were giving “killer weed” to American school kids. Marijuana is not all that toxic to the body and has medicinal benefits, it is used to soothe migraines, insomnia, and stomach aches. It can also treat and reduce seizures and works as a painkiller without causing dependence and there is no such thing as a marijuana overdose, in fact when compared to alcohol, alcohol kills more than 140,000 people each year due to overconsumption, while marijuana kills absolutely none. Regardless of all the benefits, marijuana was effectively banned nationwide in the 1937 “Marijuana tax act”. Punishment for possession of marijuana would continue to get worse until the 1970s when most states made their disciplines lighter. However, it is still considered a schedule 1 substance, in the group as much harsher drugs like heroin and methamphetamine.

Counter argument: Smoking marijuana is still inhaling smoke, which isn't good for your lungs. The drug of marijuana isn't harmful in itself, but the smoke inhalation is just the same as smoking a cigarette, or vaping, although cigarettes still have nicotine and vapes have more harmful chemicals. There are also vaping products that contain marijuana. This is why smoking marijuana should be illegal under the age of 18, although there are other methods of consuming marijuana such as edible products like chocolates or gummies, these are often disguised like other products such as Trolli gummy worms or nerds rope. I believe these products should be much more clearly labeled and not disguised as children's products to avoid children from consuming them.

Now, marijuana is legalized for medicinal use in 29 states, and legal for recreational use in 8 states, recently president Biden granted a pardon to those who were caught with simple marijuana possession, stating “No one should be in jail for simply using or possessing marijuana.”.  I believe recreational marijuana should be legalized for all over the age of 18 across the entire united states.

 

What do you think?

Should marijuana be legalized nationwide for recreational use?

 

You need to be a member of History 360 to add comments!

Join History 360

Replies are closed for this discussion.

Replies

    • Marijuana is way better than cigarettes or alcohol, there are no weed-related deaths at all, whereas alcohol and cigarettes cause lifelong problems and are definitely more fatal.

  • I think marijuana shouldn't be legalized nationwide for recreational us. I think medical marijuana is to relax the patient not be abused people with real problems. I think it bad enough we have a lot of people overdosing because they get so addicted to it.

    • Lethal overdose on marijuana doesn't exist. Sure, you can take too much, but the worst that can happen is getting so high you can't move, even then you just have to wait it out and there aren't any long-lasting effects.

  • I think that legalization of marijuana would be a big mistake and in the hands of the wrong people can become a dangerous market. Medical marijuana is to relax the patient not to be abused for people with real problems. Druggies would abuse this, but I could say the same thing about alcohol.

    • Alchohol is way worse than marijuana, and yet laws on marijuana are way more strict, Alcohol poisoning kills thousands every year, and pot kills none.

  • I think that it should be legalized personally, I mean its basically the same thing as alcohol or cigarettes. It's a natural grown plant, and it's not that bad I mean some people are pretty against it but really it's also known to be a natural anti-depressent because it calms you down. If it were to be legalized though I mean you'd still have to be 21 to purchase marijuana products. Meaning its harder for kids to get ahold of, but as you stated I mean it can be used for physical/medical reasons like for kids with seizures. 

    • Laws on pot are far more strict than that of alcohol or cigarettes, they both can be purchased almost anywhere as long as you're over 21, they should not be able to be acquired that easily, whereas pot is so much harder to get ahold of and is outlawed in most states, and it's pretty much harmless.

  • I do not think that Marijuanashould be legalized nationally. Sure it helps medical issues and is less harmful than other drugs but it is still an addictive drug. If people have full access then they are more likely to take too much.

    • A marijuana overdose is possible, but rare, and cannot be fatal.

  • bump

This reply was deleted.
eXTReMe Tracker