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?

 

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  • I think that the legalization of marijuana would be fine because a whole bunch of states are legalizing it and its less harmful than other substances we have legalized now. I think recreational use of marijuana is fine unless they are using another substance at the same time then that is not good at all.

  • I think legalizing marajuana would just lead to accidents. Many people tend to do stupid things while smoking this substance. Although, legalizing wouldn't really do much, many people just do it illegally. Even though I think that legalizing it would lead to bad things, I do think it should be legalized. Some people use it as a coping skill from trauma, medical reasons, and a lot more.

  • I think that if it was leagalized nationwide, it would get out of hand. I don't think people would use it responsibly, like for medical reasons. If marijuana doesn't get leagalized I think people will still use it anyway. I also think that people will find a way to use it if it is legal or not, so we might as well just make it legal. 

  • I think that legalizing marijuana wouldn't be a bad thing, I mean if it's legal in other states I'm sure the government wouldn't have a problem with it being legal in even more states. It seems like it is becoming more popular for people to want to legalize it. 

  • I think that regardless of whether or not it gets legallized, that marijuana will be used all over the place. I think that it can be good if used medically, or responsibly, but I really don't think that people would be responsible if it were to be legalized. I think that it would just cause more addiction, and health issues, but it really doesn't matter if it's legallized because people will use it either way.

  • I think that marijuana should be legalized. Many people already use it when they are going through stuff. At this point it should be legal. Also, some people use it for medical reasons and sometimes just as a way to cope. 

  • I think that marijuana should be legalized because it is already used almost all over. I think that making it legal could even help with some stuff, it would make it easier for doctors to be able to prescribe it to patients for medical reasons. I think there are many pros and cons to this topic.

  • I think marijuana should be legal. Many people use it as way to cope and It isn't really harming a lot of people like other substances. Although marijuana isn't the best thing for you its alot better than smoking. I think if other substance can be legal why can't marijuana?

  • I think that marijuana should be legal. More people use it on a day to day basis than we think. Some use it for medical reasons, others for mental reasons. If this is their coping mechanism thats okay. I think they should legalize it because it is already legal in most states.

  • In my opinion, I believe that if cigarettes are legalized in the US, then marijuana should be legal too, but I still think that it can cause health issues. I feel this way because it is estimated that more than 8 million people around the world are killed annually and marijuana isn't lethal. Since marijuana also provides health benefits instead of health problems, like cigarettes, I would say that it is better than cigarettes. Although it may cause health problems later down the road in life, it doesn't impact people as greatly as other substances.

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