Have you ever wondered why marijuana is illegal while alcohol and cigarettes are not? Even though marijuana is beneficial to the health and is also beneficial economic wise, one might think to themselves why is it still illegal? The legalization of marijuana has been one of the most controversial topics ever. So, what is marijuana exactly? Marijuana is a greenish-gray mixture of the dried flowers of Cannabis sativa also known as weed. It is also the most popular and widespread drug in the world with 164 million users worldwide, it’s value is pegged at around $300 billion.In order to properly argument the topic, I would first like to point out to the various systems of marijuana legalization such as Netherlands and Holland.. The Netherlands has also allowed the sale of cannabis in 1976 and have also profited out of the legalization of prostitution and has made it one of the most profitable industries in Netherlands. As of now, there are over 1,200 licensed shops that sell cannabis every day.
In Holland all drug use for people over the age of 18 is legal and is controlled with the set with a limit of 5 grams a day. According to an American psychologist Art Lecesse, the goal is to try to keep young people in particular away from the criminal drug environment that may get them involved with the harder drugs such as cocaine and heroin.But should all drugs really be legal? Is the right move to legalize only marijuana or should we put a stop on forbidding people to use any type of drug? The fact is, marijuana is not nearly as dangerous as other drugs such as cocaine.
Still, how come marijuana is forbidden for use and other dangerous prescribed drugs are not? If this drug was so bad for you, then why is it that you never heard of someone dying of marijuana? The rate of absolutely zero deaths from a marijuana overdose remained steady even though it was legalized in some states in the United States. There are almost 4 deaths reported every year because of people putting their pants on. So how crazy is it that it is safer to smoke marijuana than to put your pants on? And yet marijuana is very illegal and 1in every 6 prisoners in the United States end up in prison because of issues related to marijuana. So what makes marijuana a drug? Marijuana is a drug because it alters the brains functions and control and is also considered a depressant because the psychoactive effects give the user a relaxed feeling aznpanda (2013) but that does not mean it does it in a bad way. Although there are both negatives and positives to marijuana, the good outweighs the bad.
The side effects of marijuana are the increase of appetite, sleepiness, anxiety, coughing and an increase of blood pressure. The following side effects that I have listed out aren’t even as much as 20% the side effects that smoking cigarettes has. Smoking cigarettes have so many deadly side effects such as lung cancer, heart disease, stroke and that’s just a small portion of the amount of side effects it has. Smoking kills 6 million people a year and More than 16 million Americans are living with a disease caused by smoking. For every person who dies because of smoking, at least 30 people live with a serious smoking-related illness. Yet, smoking cigarettes is legalized , while marijuana isn’t.
That does not mean that marijuana is completely safe for use, which is why any proper marijuana legalization should be carefully crafted to limit people in marijuana consumption. Marijuana goes a long way back, as it has first been used in 2737 BC in china. It was used as a medication for rheumatism, gout, malaria, and funny enough, for absent-mindedness. Since it has been very common recently and people in America could have access to it as easily as a slice of pizza, many researches have conducted researches, and recent research has demonstrated that there are many health benefits to marijuana that people do not know off. Did you know that Marijuana slows and stops cancer cells from spreading, prevents Alzheimer, treats glaucoma and Protects brain after a stroke? And that’s not even nearly half of its benefits, there are more than 30 health benefits. Can you imagine how a thing as beneficial as marijuana be illegal? To simply put it , because of marijuana being illegal ,unwell and ill people are denied life altering medication that is proven to be effective.
At least 84% of the public believes the drug should be legal for medical uses, yet it is not legal in all places. In addition, keeping marijuana illegal is very costly for the government. According to official estimates, over 700,000 people were arrested 2014 for marijuana offenses and this is only on the area of the United States.
If marijuana was legal they could avoid the costs of enforcement taxes as it is so high, and the government could help the country in many other necessary areas that are lacking finance. According to an ACLU report of 2013, taxpayers shelled out up to $6 billion to cover both the enforcement and imprisonment of people who illegally use this drug. that legalization of marijuana can actually make an upwards of $7 billions! The legalization is not only predicted to do this, but will actually create a taxable industry and create thousands new legit job positions. Imagine the amount of people the government could help and how much they could improve their country by just legalizing marijuana, it is a win-win situation as both the government and the people would profit out of the legalization of marijuana .
