Legalizing Marijuana Reduce Crime

743 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Short argumentative essay on legalization of marijuana

The debate regarding the legalisation of marijuana has become an extremely serious and controversial issue in society. Recreational medical marijuana use already exists in the US. Including Colorado, Oregon, and Washington. It is legal to use medical marijuana under certain guidelines in Massachusetts, California and New Jersey, this means more people will be free to use the drug for its believed health benefits. When I googled “medical marijuana,” the outcome was astonishing. I found over 24 million results. It brought up, “ Should medical marijuana be legalized to help reduce crime”? “Should marijuana be a medical option to help treat cancer patients? “Would states with legal drugs help boost revenue”? I got the same positive results when …show more content…

Recently a heated debate has occurred on the medical value of marijuana. Yes, marijuana can be an effective treatment option in a range of health conditions, but what other alternatives are there besides marijuana to consider for treating health conditions? In the perspective of America's war on drugs, marijuana is one of the biggest enemies and since tobacco and alcohol are legal substances it is a relevant question to ask why marijuana is illegal in many states, but why tobacco and alcohol are not? Whether there is a definite use for marijuana is unclear, but there is no debate concerning the use of …show more content…

For example, marijuana can be addicting in long-term and short-term use just like alcohol and tobacco. Addiction to marijuana is linked to a mild withdrawal syndrome that is very common. It is compared to withdrawal symptoms associated with quitting alcohol or other drugs, marijuana withdrawal symptoms are relatively mild, but they are uncomfortable enough to cause many who try to quit to relapse to relieve those symptoms. In other words, the marijuana withdrawal symptoms are not life threatening their main danger is causing someone who really wants or needs to quit smoking weed to fail. Marijuana smokers who are trying to quit are more likely to start smoking again to relieve the discomfort they experience when they try to stop smoking. Also, tobacco and alcohol can alter the body’s perception just as much as marijuana can. Therefore, why is marijuana illegal if it is not more dangerous than substances that are legal? Not one single account of death from overdose has been recorded but, people can die from drug

Show More
Related

  • Marijuana Should Be Legal

    786 Words  | 2 Pages

    Marijuana is a relatively harmless drug that governments around the world have made illegal. If legalized, marijuana can be beneficial to society in a number of ways: whether it be for medical, economic, or public safety reasons. Marijuana has been proven to treat several life debilitating, and even life threatening diseases. Although it is not a cure, marijuana can ease the pain and suffering of a dying person. Another benefit of legalization is the financial gains that governments will accomplish through the taxation of marijuana. This is a realistic claim if marijuana sales are compared to that of cigarettes; governments make billions each year from cigarette taxes (Caputo and Ostrom 484). Every year law enforcement spends countless man-hours trying to apprehend marijuana dealers and growers. This time would be better utilized in dealing with more serious crimes. This essay will display some main reasons why marijuana is a substance with beneficial uses and applications. First, marijuana can be used as a treatment for the effects of diseases such as AIDS, cancer, glaucoma, and other terminal diseases. A study carried out in California clearly demonstrates the effectiveness of marijuana as a treatment for cancer: “Over 74 percent of the cancer patients treated in the program have reported that marijuana is more effective in relieving their nausea and vomiting than any other drug they have tried.”(Zeese 1990). Chemotherapy for cancer patients often produces nausea and vomiting. Marijuana has been proven to relieve these symptoms and there have been no known side effects recorded (Ad Hoc Group of Experts part 4).

    Read More

  • Marijuana Should Be Illegal

    606 Words  | 2 Pages

    Legalization of Marijuana has quickly become a controversial issue in America. In the United States, legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes is spreading to the state level. For example, in November 1996, the people of California and Arizona voted to legalize marijuana for medicinal reasons. As a result of Proposition 215 in California, patients now smoke marijuana provided their physician recommends its usage. A prescription is not required, and marijuana continues to be illegal to prescribe. The Clinton administration responded that it “would not recognize these decisions, and would prosecute physicians who recommend or provide marijuana to their patients.” Although California and Arizona are the only two states to have already passed laws regulating marijuana usage, twenty-six states and the District of Columbia have laws and resolutions regarding marijuana usage. These laws and resolutions range from establishing therapeutic research programs, to allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana, to asking the federal government to lift the ban. Despite the states’ desires to have marijuana legalized for medicinal purposes, the US National Institutes of Health examined all existing clinical evidence about smoked marijuana and concluded that, “There is no scientifically sound evidence that smoked marijuana is medically superior to currently available therapies.”

    Read More

  • Is Marijuana A Gateway Drug?

    931 Words  | 2 Pages

    For many years now marijuana has built up its reputations as the gateway drug which destroys youths lives. Not saying this is false “...the majority of people who use marijuana do not go on to use other, "harder" substances” (Is Marijuana a gateway drug?). But what does it do to the body. “How marijuana affects health is determined by how it's consumed. Marijuana is most commonly smoked, such as from pipes, bongs, paper-wrapped joints, blunts and other items including devices that heat or vaporize marijuana...” (Marijuana and Lung Health). Any kind of smoke in general is dangerous to humans so it does not matter if it is firewood smoke or tobacco smoke it is not healthy for the lungs. It is already know that smoke from tobacco is harmful and kills 480,000 people annually. “There are approximately 600 ingredients in cigarettes. When burned, they create more than 7,000 chemicals. At least 69 of these chemicals are known to cause cancer, and many are poisonous” (What is a Cigarette).While marijuana does have some of the same chemicals in tobacco it does not have as much. So why is something that is recorded to kill 480,000 people annually legal but something that is not as harmful illegal.

    Read More

  • Informative Speech: The Pro’s And Con’s Of Medical Marijuana

    784 Words  | 2 Pages

    Marijuana is one of the oldest cultivated plants (Nahas 8). Since it became illegal in 1967, there have been questions of whether or not it is good for purposes, such as medicine, other than being a leisure drug. Debates between pro and con groups for the use of marijuana in the medical profession, have been heated and in recent months, referendums have been pasted in a least three states to make it accessible for medical treatment. Personally, I feel that marijuana has the potential to be a significant help with certain aliments, however, more research needs to be done to maximize its potential.

    Read More

  • Summary: The Medical Marijuana Debate

    1554 Words  | 4 Pages

    The medical marijuana debate ascends from conflicting cultural views more so than the science of medicine. The controversy being the decriminalization of marijuana in order for medical providers to prescribe it as a treatment option. This paper will use an inductive argument to analyze the arguments supporting medical marijuana and against its use while avoiding arguments supporting marijuana’s recreational use. The benefits of legalizing marijuana outweigh the associated risk factors as marijuana can be used to treat neurological disorders, chemotherapy patients, loss of appetite and weight related to AIDS, glaucoma, and many more health related issues. Marijuana is a safer treatment option and less toxic than many of the harsh drugs currently

    Read More

  • Should Marijuana Be Legalized?

    1250 Words  | 3 Pages

    Legalizing Marijuana has been a common subject for debate in the United States. As the debate continues on in the political system, marijuana has become the most popular illegal drug in the United States. There are many arguments for and against the legalization of marijuana ranging from the effects on the mind and body to the economic possibilities after legalization. Both sides embrace strong facts and stronger support, but much of these facts consist of similar research with contradicting results. The side that tends to have the most and the strongest support in the most prominent arguments, economics, health, and criminal association, is the group for legalizing marijuana.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay: The Legalization Of Medical Marijuana

    902 Words  | 2 Pages

    Marijuana has been used for medicinal purposes for over the 3,000 years and has been met with much resistance in the recent decade (Bearman 12). In the early part of the century, marijuana, also known as cannabis, was a part of the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) for about 90 years, but drug companies began to drop marijuana from medications when the 1937 Marihuana Tax Act was passed (4-6). Medical marijuana can be used in two ways; it can be smoked in a cigarette form or taken in a capsule. Marijuana’s most potent ingredient is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) can be taken as a pill, but is “easily

    Read More

  • The Federal Government and Medicinal Marijuana

    1796 Words  | 4 Pages

    The American Medical Association's Council on Scientific Affairs should be commended for its report, "Marijuana: Its HealthHazards and Therapeutic Potential." Not only does the report outline evidence of marijuana's potential harms, but it distinguishes this concern from the legitimate issue of marijuana's important medical benefits. All too often the hysteria that attends public debate over marijuana's social abuse compromises a clear appreciation for this critical distinction.

    Read More

  • Legalizing Marijuana in the United States

    1708 Words  | 4 Pages

    Marijuana, also known as Cannabis is the third most well-liked recreational drug, which only falls behind alcohol and tobacco, in the United States (The Whitehouse, n.d.). Marijuana is made up of dried leaves, plants, stalks, and pits from the hemp plant Cannabis Sativa, which comprises of the mind-altering compound delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), in addition to other associated compounds. This plant substance can correspondingly be converged in a resin called hashish or an adhesive black fluid called hash oil. Efforts to legalize marijuana for medication treatment and recreational use in the United States have grown in current years. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) states that marijuana may perhaps assist in a reduction of nausea, encourage hunger, and lessen pain (Food and Drug Administration, 2006). On the other hand, the American Medical Association (AMA) does not tolerate marijuana as a medication (1995-2013). So many answers are needed with such contradictory opinions around this exceedingly controversial drug to decide what measures need to be taken from the federal government for a final solution.

    Read More

  • Could the Legalization of Marijuana Save Our Economy?

    1211 Words  | 3 Pages

    The legalization of marijuana has the potential to bring our economy back to life if it were to be legalized. There are a number of ways in which legalization could improve the economy. We could use the revenue from taxes on marijuana to provide for a better quality of life for Americans in need. Legalizing marijuana would also save us money by cutting the cost of putting someone in jail for harmless marijuana related charges that waste tax money. Also it would put more money into circulation by keeping the profits off the black market and into the legal and taxed market. With an estimated twenty-five million active marijuana smokers in America that consume nearly thirty-one million pounds of marijuana each year, we are missing out on extreme revenue that this country cannot afford to go without for much longer (Krulick).

    Read More

  • Legalizing Marijuana

    2448 Words  | 5 Pages

    So why exactly should marijuana be legal? Well, there are many reasons both opinions and facts, but why does it need to be legal? According to many of my sources, marijuana has been found to be less dangerous than both alcohol and tobacco products. “Marijuana is safer than many over the counter drugs.” (Young, Francis L. 2) Judge Francis L. Young, from the DEA, declared that marijuana is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. “Long term heavy marijuana use does not produce the severe or grossly debilitating impairment of memory, attention, and cognitive function found with chronic alcohol use.”(British Medical Journal Lancet 4) Only a small number of marijuana users eventually smoke enough of it for a long period to suffer impairments matching those ...

    Read More

  • The Economic Impact of Legalizing Marijuana

    1265 Words  | 3 Pages

    What is a drug? A drug is “a chemical substance used in the treatment, cure, prevention, or diagnosis of disease or used to otherwise enhance physical or mental well-being” (Drug, n.d). We the people have established that marijuana is an illegal drug. Lately around the United States we are starting to change the rules for that. There are states that have deemed it O.K. to sell marijuana to the public for health reasons. With this happening a lot of things are being brought up. One of the main topics that come up is the economic value that this revenue will generate and how it will affect the states.

    Read More

  • Should Marijuana Be Legalized?

    1629 Words  | 4 Pages

    In order to eradicate the drug problem, a public debate is going on to find some solutions to this drug dilemma. It has become a highly controversial issue whether drugs such as marijuana should be legalized or not. Some people advocate this issue and believe that legalization is the only solution left for the nation, while others oppose because it will increase the number of drug users and drug related crimes. Marijuana is a drug that is illegal in the United States. This drug, as you know, is bad and causes severe side effects to your brain and body.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Speech: Marijuana Should Be Legal

    1717 Words  | 4 Pages

    As of today the nation stands behind three basic ideas of what to do with marijuana; legalize marijuana, make it legal only as a prescription drug, or keep it as it is, illegal. People, who are pro-marijuana like me, argue that marijuana is considerably less harmful than tobacco and alcohol, the most frequently used legal drugs. Furthermore marijuana has never directly caused anyone's death. People who side with the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes believe that the ends justify the means. But the people who want to keep it illegal think that the medical uses do not outweigh the harmful side effects.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Legalizing Marijuana

    1500 Words  | 3 Pages

    Marijuana continues to be one of the most used illegal drugs in the United States. Marijuana has been used for many years and at one time was legal to consume. Throughout the years, marijuana has been used for treatment of different medical conditions and has been used recreationally by people of all ages. While the use of medicinal marijuana has proven to be effective in treating medically ill patients, society continues to question its recreational use and the long term effects it will have on its users. Some feel that legalizing marijuana will only open up avenues for the use of more potent drugs, causing an increase in criminal activity. However, a number of people question why it is considered illegal being it is a naturally growing

    Read More

More about Legalizing Marijuana Reduce Crime

Open Document