Did you know that marijuana is the third most popular drug and has been used by over 100 million Americans? According to National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIH), marijuana is a greenish-gray mixture of the dried, shredded leaves, stems, seeds, and flowers of Cannabis sativa. Many people know someone who has experienced marijuana or currently uses it for recreational purposes. Over the last several years, marijuana has been one of the most popular issues in civil liberties today. Should it be used for only medical reasons or ban it all together? Marijuana should be used for medicinal purposes, because it is beneficial to the human health and economy.
Marijuana has been used as early as 2737 B.C. in the country of China, where marijuana was used as a treatment in the form of tea. It treated many illnesses such as gout, malaria, rheumatism and bad memory according to Emperor Shen Neng of China. When how useful it was got out, it rapidly spread in sections such as Asia, the Middle East, parts of Africa, and even India used it for religious purposes. Marijuana was a well-known medicine that physicians prescribed often. They would prescribe it for just about everything from earaches and for giving child birth
By the late 18th century, American medical journals said that hemp seeds and roots could treat many illnesses including inflamed skin and venereal diseases. An Irish doctor, William O’Shaughnessy was the first doctor to make medical marijuana famous. He also discovered that it was helpful for nausea, rabies, cholera and etc.
The positivity of marijuana changed at the end of the 19th century, when approximately 3.5% of the U.S. population became addicted to morphine. In 1906 the government put in action the Pure Fo...
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In the first few centuries of medicinal cannabis use (between 1600 and 1900) the drug was increasingly being used in a vast array of areas. This era may be considered the time of greatest usage of the substance (Grinspoon, 2005). During these years, marijuana was prescribed for many conditions including depression, skin inflammation, relief for coughing, urinary incontinence (or the involuntary release of urine), rabies, rheumatism, epilepsy, tetanus, painful nerve issues, convulsions, asthma, postpartum psychosis, gonorrhea, chronic b...
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Cannabis was used in Ancient China for medical purposes and in Ancient India for pleasure. In the Ancient Indian religion the God Shiva said that the Cannabis plant was placed on earth as a pleasurable pastime for human beings. Soon Cannabis spread to the European region. In Europe, Napoleon Bonaparte introduced Cannabis to his soldiers. He preferred it to alcohol because it did not leave hangovers. Queen Victoria used Cannabis to cure fevers, insomnia, and menstrual cramps.
Ever since marijuana’s introduction to the United States of America in 1611, controversy of the use and legalization of the claimed-to-be Schedule I drug spread around the nation. While few selective states currently allow marijuana’s production and distribution, the remaining states still skepticize the harmlessness and usefulness of this particular drug; therefore, it remains illegal in the majority of the nation. The government officials and citizens of the opposing states believe the drug creates a threat to citizens due to its “overly-harmful” effects mentally and physically and offers no alternate purposes but creating troublesome addicts hazardous to society; however, they are rather misinformed about marijuana’s abilities. While marijuana has a small amount of negligible effects to its users, the herbal drug more importantly has remarkable health benefits, and legalizing one of the oldest and most commonly known drugs would redirect America’s future with the advantages outweighing the disadvantages.
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Marijuana was a large part of culture throughout the entire world, it has been around for thousands of years and still continues to grow. Hemp was a large help with early American settlers, the hollow stalk was used to make clothing, rope and paper. Hemp was used well before this though, the Chinese used it to make fishing nets and bow strings for their archers. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, who are considered to be forefathers for America, both grew hemp. Benjamin Franklin owned a mill that made hemp paper. Early drafts of the Declaration of Independence were written on paper that was made of hemp. During World War II, the US supply of hemp was cut off by the Japanese, and the US Army and the Department of Agriculture promoted the “Hemp for Victory” campaign, which encouraged farmers to grow hemp for the cause of the war. Hemp was also used in making sails and ropes for ships. In 1937, the Marijuana
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.
Marijuana is a shredded mix of dry flowers, stems and the seeds of a plant called cannabis and people usually smoke it in the form of cigarettes for relaxation. Ever since marijuana hit mainstream America over 30 years ago, government prohibition of it has been the subject of an ongoing debate. Should marijuana be legalized? Proponents of marijuana argue that there are numerous medical benefits and that the drug is not more harmful than tobacco or alcohol. Therefore, prohibiting it intrudes on personal freedom. On the other hand, opponents argue that marijuana is too dangerous; its legalization would increase the chances of the drug falling into the hands of kids and that marijuana use often progresses to the use of more dangerous drugs like heroin and cocaine. In the past decade, a number of movements to legalize the use of marijuana has been gaining momentum. According to the 2011 Gallup survey, a record high 50% of Americans say that marijuana should be legalized and this figure marks a 4% increase compared to the previous year. Support for legalizing marijuana was 30% in 2000, 40% in 2009 before reaching 50% last year. This shows that despite government efforts to eliminate its use, marijuana is becoming more popular. More and more people realize that legalizing marijuana brings a host of benefits. It not only offers medical benefits to the terminally ill but it could also be a source of tax revenues and could save the tax payers billions of dollars that is spent on enforcement costs.
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