Legalizing marijuana

Introduction

Marijuana should be legal. Not merely for medical purposes but also for industrial purposes, it should be 100% legalized. Marijuana has the promise to become one of the most helpful substances in the entire world. If, it was legalized and people took action we would see benefits immediately. People suffering from diseases would experience relief. Billions could be made from the sale of marijuana, and more jobs could be created. The medical usage of this drug began to decline in the 1900's with the advent of alternative drugs.

The medical, scientific, and even government hearings emphasize that it is to secure the people from what was determined to be a dangerous drug. It seems that the purpose for the il-legalization of marijuana had more to do with ignorance, religion, fear, personal profit and racism than it did any facts or statistics of criminalization. Cannabis was a big part of the United States history as farming itself. In fact, the first law pertaining to cannabis in the US was a law in Jamestown, Virginia in 1619 actually ordering all farmers to grow the substance (Fisher, 2006, pp. 71-86).

Discussion

Legalizing marijuana is a moral issue for people on both sides of the debate. Many opponents believe using marijuana is morally wrong because it alters a user's mental state and can 1ead to dangerous actions and addictions. It is believed that, by legalizing marijuana the government would be condoning an immoral practice.

Pros

Amongst most of the population, it is a norm that marijuana is being made illegally through some kind of illegal process. It has also been documented that marijuana can severely reduce some effects of cancer. Also, it is known that marijuana has prolonged the lives of people who were diagnosed as terminally ill. Many rely on the drug to ease their pain and suffering. Another useful benefit is its aide in reducing nausea in chemotherapy patients. Medicinal benefits for cannabis date back to 2737 B.C. when the Chinese prescribed the drug for gout, malaria, beriberi, rheumatism, and memory problems. While, it hasn't been proven to cure these diseases it clearly has positive medical effects. However, as more and more research is done on marijuana, people are starting to realize that it can, in fact, help patients with other various other medical problems (Inciardi, & Duane, 1991, pp. 45-79).

Moreover, as for the medical benefits, the possibilities seem just as endless. The active ingredient in marijuana, delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) has been clinically proven to aid in the appetite deprivation associated with AIDS wasting syndrome, the nausea associated with chemotherapy, and the pain and swelling of the eyes associated with glaucoma. Those being the three main currently accepted uses, marijuana has been recognized to help treat numerous other ailments such as migraines, pain from multiple sclerosis, menstrual cramps, depression, phantom limb pain and epileptic seizures to name a few.

On the industrial side of things, Hemp is useful for the manufacture of over 200,000 products. In fact, the USA is the only industrialized nation that does not embrace ...