Essay On Should Marijuana Be Legalized

Should Marijuana be Legalized in the United States?

The use of drugs have always been a controversial topic. They impact our morals, religious views, and most of all, our health. The use of marijuana, both medically and recreationally, dates as far back as 12,000 years ago, making it one of the earliest cultivated crops (Marijuana). In many instances, the cannabis plant was not used for psychedelic purposes. Marijuana comes from the cannabis plant, as does hemp, which has low THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive part of marijuana, and therefore was rarely used for medicinal, much less recreational purposes (Baron). Prehistoric people used hemp for clothing and building materials, rather than medicine or recreation. A physician and scientist who graduated from the University of Edinburgh,

and a professor of chemistry at the Medical College of Calcutta, Dr. Clendinning, in London was one of the first Western physicians to treat migraines with cannabis in the 1840s (Baron).

While this account is helpful in deciding when the plant began to be used as a drug, the effects are not clearly illustrated. The South American country of Uruguay became the first to explicitly legalize marijuana in 2013 (Robinson). In many ways, Uruguay is an experimental country and has come across many problems. The crime rate is high because people sell and buy marijuana illegally, without regulation from the government. In 2015, Uruguay's drug trafficking unit seized a record 5,558 pounds of illicit marijuana, the highest amount in years (Robinson). While it is legal to buy and sell in stores with the government’s regulation, Uruguay is still inspecting what has proven effective and is continuing to amend its laws. At the moment, laws relating to cannabis are different than the laws for all other drugs. The main goal of the legalization has always been to keep people who use soft drugs away from hard drugs (Amira). In theory, this idea works; however, most people begin to sell marijuana and later move onto harder drugs that are worth more money. Today, marijuana is listed as a schedule I substance, along with

heroin, by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) (Baron). As a schedule I substance, marijuana should have no medicinal benefits; however, marijuana has been proven to have positive benefits, disproving the DEA’s claim. Schedule II is classified as a lesser substance. Examples of drugs in this category include cocaine and meth. In 1988 there was an attempt to reclassify marijuana as a schedule II and make the drug prescribable. “By any measure of rational analysis, marijuana can be safely used within a supervised routine of medical care” says Judge Francis Young who attempted to reclassify the drug (Baron). Judge Francis Young is one of the few government workers for the legalization and reclassification of marijuana. When looking at legalization economically and historically, it seems to be the right choice; however, when examining legalization scientifically, psychologically, and environmentally, there are many drawbacks to complete legalization; however, regulation could solve these issues.
The numerous effects of marijuana on our environment shape society and their response to the negative and positive aspects of it. With the expansion of its use and education of its effects, marijuana is becoming more socially accepted around the United States, and the negative stigma surrounding it is dissipating. According to Zuckerman, scientist researching the effects of marijuana, marijuana can be produced by “squatters in national forests, hydroponic operators in homes and warehouses, industrial-scale operations on private land, or conscientious mom-and-pop farmers” (Zuckerman). The most common types of farming today are: organic, outdoor, and indoor. Organic farmers have more inconveniences to deal with, such as unwanted pests, like spiders, mites and poisons. These challenges often drive farmers to use commercial pesticides, which are significantly more harmful to the environment. Outdoor farming can seem simpler, but farmers face the threat of rats (Zuckerman). This threat was discovered by police raids when rodent poison was found within the plants. This breakthrough caused producers to keep their farms out in the open, rather than hiding them in back-country clearings or shipping containers. Marijuana farms on public land often spread chemical fertilizers and poisons into the wildlife; therefore, the negative effects of outdoor marijuana gardens drives farmers to grow indoors (Zuckerman). Some indoor farmers grow marijuana using natural light but use generators to power the fans ventilating their greenhouses. Indoor growing can have more serious damage, by being high maintenance and requiring lights, fans and pumps. On a local level, indoor marijuana production is blocking climate stabilization efforts, which aim to cut greenhouse gas emissions (Zuckerman). Marijuana farming also has serious impacts on our water system, such as causing shrunken muddy streams, rivers with overwhelming algae, silt coated creeks, and wild lands tainted with chemical poisons, caused by contaminated soil. Marijuana farms are not regulated due to their illegal status, which leads to serious effects on the ecosystem (Zuckerman). Marijuana tested in areas where it is illegal is usually stronger, because with limited resources consumers must deal with whatever is easily accessible. There are 400 different compounds and 18 chemicals found in different strains of cannabis. (Brody).
More thorough marijuana product testing is becoming a requirement for legalized marijuana markets, meaning that consumers are better informed about the marijuana and have knowledge of its environmental effects (Marijuana facts). The recent marijuana boom shows no signs of slowing down and once these farms expand to a certain scale, it becomes hard to operate in a sustainable way. The public support for legalizing marijuana has been rising; it has risen from 12 percent to almost 50 percent from 1969-2005 (Heuvel). Today, marijuana is the most popular and easily accessible illegal drug in the United States and will continue to grow (Marijuana facts). As more research is conducted, marijuana’s effects on the environment can be regulated.
Marijuana is an untapped market that could fix the United States’ debt and unemployment. By lifting the bars from marijuana, there would be an increase in employment, more money in the pockets of citizens, and better infrastructure in the community. In 2014 marijuana created 14,209 full time jobs and in 2015 it created 18,005 full time jobs (2016). This increase in employment may have been a significant contributor to the decrease of unemployment in 2015. Unemployment dropped from 7.9% in 2013 to 5.7% in 2015 (Legislatures).