Persuasive Essay On Legalizing Marijuana

To Some people, it’s a relaxing herb, something to temporarily pull the mind from reality. The aroma is unmistakable, the potency various, and there are roughly sixty five million people smoking it. I’m talking about Cannabis Sativa, the illegal strain of hemp known as marijuana. This plant provides many medical benefits that far outweigh the side effects. It has yet to be proven to be addictive or deadly. Marijuana as it stands right now is an illegal narcotic, but I think the drug, with it’s physical, psychological, spiritual, but most importantly, medical benefits, should be legalized.

Marijuana is one of the oldest cultivated plants. (Nahas,1986) The first people to introduce the potential healing properties of marijuana were the Chinese. About five thousand years ago, the people of the plains of Central Asia began cultivating the plant for its oil and fiber. The United States was introduced to marijuana in the 16th century. It was brought over by the Spanish and British and used for its fiber. The plant’s intoxicating properties were only discovered in the late 19th century. It was used for the production of rope and cloth until the 20th century and now it is widely a drug used preferably for pleasure.

The plant’s therapeutic potential became known in the Western countries during the nineteenth century.(Abel, 1996) From 1840 to 1900, more that one hundred articles on cannabis appeared in European and American medical journals, recommending it as an appetite stimulant, muscle relaxant, painkiller, sedative, and for eliminating convulsions. Since then, marijuana has undergone many tests and thorough analysis for its use as a medical value.

The NIH (National Institute of Health) is one of the many advocates ...

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...ls and keeping them from being repeat offenders.

There are so many benefits of legalizing marijuana, far outweighing the negative aspects. Physical, psychological, spiritual, economical, and medical benefits are all being denied because marijuana, as it stands, is an illegal narcotic. George Washington once said, “Make the most of the hemp seed. Sow it everywhere.”(Rosenthal, 1996,p.95) Would you consider the first president of the United States a criminal? In this country there are people who drink responsibly, people, I think, should be able to use marijuana responsibly as well. Though marijuana has been illegal for over thirty years, there is are roughly 65 million Americans, one third of the population, who use or have used the drug. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was quoted in 1963, “One has not only a legal, but a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”