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Legalizing marijuana topic
Marijuana controversy
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Marijuana has been in the news lately since two states, Colorado and Washington, have voted to legalize recreational marijuana. Currently they are the only two states to legalize recreational marijuana. Twenty states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana. Iowa, at this time, has decided not to legalize medical marijuana in spite of many Iowa citizens advocating for the legalization of the drug. Iowa is taking a cautious approach to medical marijuana. Medical marijuana has been proven to help with seizures, pain management, nausea and improve the quality of life of people with certain medical issues. Regulation of medical marijuana will keep the drug safe by overseeing the growing and sale of the drug and will produce much needed revenue to Iowa and other states.
President Obama stated in an interview in The New Yorker magazine (Renick) “As has been well documented, I smoked pot as a kid, and I view it as a bad habit and a vice”. The president feels marijuana is no more dangerous than alcohol or tobacco. Obama’s administration has given states permission to experiment with marijuana regulation. The inconsistent number of arrests and incarceration of minorities for marijuana use bother President Obama. Users should not be locked up for long stretches because they are poor and lack the resources to hire a decent lawyer.
(Chokshi)Colorado on January 1, 2014, legalized the sale of recreational marijuana. Washington state will begin selling recreational marijuana later this spring. California is ready to introduce a statewide referendum to legalize marijuana in 2014. California’s Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom feels pot (marijuana) should be legal in the Golden State.
The states are starting to...
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...d Sara Weisfeldt. "10 Things to Know about Nation's First Recreational Marijuana Shops in Colorado." CNN. Cable News Network, 01 Jan. 2014. Web. 15 Mar. 2014.
Renick, David. "Going the Distance." The New Yorker. The New Yorker, 27 Jan. 2014. Web. 03 Mar. 2014.
Solomon, Christopher. "Legal Pot Could save US Billions." MSNMoney. MSN, 05 June 2012. Web. 03 Mar. 2014.
The Associated Press. "Colorado Adopts Regulations for Hemp Farming." - The Denver Post. N.p., 02 Jan. 2014. Web. 22 Mar. 2014.
Tislinger, Sarah. "Welcome!" Muscatine Journal. Muscatine Journal, 27 Feb. 2014. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.
Varied Sources. "Hemp - Could Save America." Hemp - Could Save America. N.p., 25 Feb. 2004. Web. 03 Mar. 2014
Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier. "Most Iowans Approve of Medical Use of Marijuana." Muscatine Journal. Muscatine Journal, 22 Mar. 2014. Web. 22 Mar. 2014.
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.”
According to this article, more than 20 states have already legalized medical marijuana. It also points out that some experts have been changing their minds on this issue and believe that the medical marijuana should be legal. In addition, new laws could help researchers study the medicinal uses of the drug and better understand how medical cannabis impacts the body.
Works Cited "The California Marijuana Vote." New Yorker 23 Dec 1996: 62+. Brookhiser, Richard. "Pot Luck." National Review 11 Nov 1996: 27+ Simmons, Michael. "Give Pot a Chance." Rolling Stone 26 Dec 1996: 111+. Rist, Curtis and Harrison, Laird. "Weed the People." People 21 Oct. 1996: 75+. Funk and Wagnall's Volume 23 "Marijuana" 1996 Baum, Dan. "California's Separate Peace." Rolling Stone 30 Oct. 1997: 43+ Brookhiser, Richard. "Lost in the Weed." U.S. News & World Report 3 Jan. 1997: 9 Buckley, William "Legalization of Marijuana Long Overdue" The Albuquerque Journal. Online. 8 June 1993.
Legalization of marijuana in the United States has received much attention and controversy in recent months. The federal government outlaws the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes despite proven research studies that have discovered the plant’s potential to treat the lives of many Americans affected by disease and chronic pain. Medicinal use of the marijuana plant dates back to 2700 B.C. in China. Emperor Shen Nung discovered its’ healing properties and recommended marijuana for a variety of ailments (Mack and Joy 14). Today bias views and law plague the advancement of marijuana in present day medicine. Strict approval processes are limiting the research necessary for such advancements (Medical Marijuana Research News). Despite federal and state illegalization, twenty-one states over the past decade have made advances to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes (“State Medical Marijuana Laws”) . It is time for Texas to acknowledge the benefits and eliminate the stigma surrounding medicinal marijuana. Medical marijuana should be legalized in Texas because of its’ medicinal benefits associated with many chronic diseases and the potential revenue the state could benefit from during this time of recession.
While Nixon made it a major crime to possess and distribute drugs, including marijuana, several states went against his belief and decriminalized the use of marijuana. However, presidents weren’t done with their say in the use of drugs. President Ronald Re...
Gerber, Rudolph J. "Beneficial Effects of Marijuana as a Medical Prescription." Marijuana. Ed. Joseph Tardiff. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2008. Contemporary Issues Companion. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 22 Nov. 2010.
The legalization of marijuana has been a highly debated topic for many of years. Since the first president to the most recent, our nation’s leaders have consumed the plant known as weed. With such influential figures openly using this drug why is it so frowned upon? Marijuana is considered a gateway drug, a menace to society, and mentally harmful to its consumers. For some people weed brings a sense of anxiety, dizziness, or unsettling feeling.
According to Martin Luther King Jr., “There are two types of laws: there are just and there are unjust laws” (King 293). During his time as civil rights leader, he advocated civil disobedience to fight the unjust laws against African-Americans in America. For instance, there was no punishment for the beatings imposed upon African-Americans or for the burning of their houses despite their blatant violent, criminal, and immoral demeanor. Yet, an African-American could be sentenced to jail for a passive disagreement with a white person such as not wanting to give up their seat to a white passenger on a public bus. Although these unjust laws have been righted, Americans still face other unjust laws in the twenty-first century.
Raabe, Steve. "Legal Pot Stirs Debate about Impact on Colorado." The Denver Post, 31 Mar 2013. Web. 30 Mar 2014. < http://www.denverpost.com/ci_22903892/legal-pot-stirs-debate-about-impact-colo-economic.>
Walsh, John. "Q&A: Legal Marijuana in Colorado and Washington." The Brookings Institution. Washington Office on Latin America, 21 May 2013. Web. 26 Feb. 2014.
Rosenthal, Ed, and Steve Kubby (2004) "Marijuana Should Be Legalized for Medical Use." Retrieved from Opposing Viewpoints: The War on Drugs.
Despite the 1976 ruling by the federal government that marijuana has “no acceptable medical use”, sixteen states have passed medical marijuana laws that allow for patient use o...
Marijuana is the third most common leisure drug in the United States after alcohol and tobacco. Millions of Americans smoke marijuana despite the strict laws against its use. Marijuana is less dangerous compared to tobacco or alcohol. Smoking marijuana can cause breathing problems and coughing just like cigarettes and some people get addicted after using for a while. Regulating and legalizing marijuana will bring Americas greatest cash crop under law, create economic opportunities and jobs in the formal economy as opposed to the underground market. Adopting a legally controlled market for marijuana will ensure that consumers buy the products from a safe and legal source. Marijuana has been approved in some states for medical uses to ease the effects of different health challenges. Colorado and Washington legalized m...
The Huffington Post. Retrieved May 17, 2014, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/25/colorado-releasing-marijuana-prisoners_n_4854244.html.
Benton, Jim. "Marijuana Legalization as an Economic Stimulus." Mytpmblog.com. 13 Feb. 2009. 27 Apr. 2009.