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Legalization of Marijuana

In: Social Issues

Submitted By jtalborta21
Words 1155
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Juan T. Alborta
1401LOGIC321335A-class
Heather Wilburn
10 September 2013

Pros and Cons of Legalization of Marijuana

Marijuana has been debated for decades all over the world, and it still unsure what is the best option for the people, either make it legal or keep it illegal like in almost all the countries. But here I am going to explain and show you some facts of each side of the coin. For the pro side there are many aspects that show how legalizing the marijuana can bring more benefits than keep it illegal; for example, there is evidence that show how marijuana helps some illness which means is good for medical use, there is also a fact that combating the Marijuana the governments spend tons of money, and also comparing the effects and causes of marijuana to the effects and causes of alcohol and tobacco makes thoughts easier to see legalization of marijuana makes the things better; On the other hand, looking to the other side of the coin, we got this drug which causes bad things in our bodies, it has immediate bad effects right after using it, it has also long-term effects, it seems also as a gateway drug in our society.
The positive side of legalize the Marijuana. It has proved that Marijuana can be used as a treatment for many illness and bad symptoms of illness; for example, for those people who has Cancer Chemotherapy treatment and causes extreme nauseas and vomiting to them, Marijuana reduces those extreme symptoms, and it also alleviates pretreatment anxiety. For those people which because of their sickness had low appetite, and loss of muscle mass, Marijuana improves their appetite immediately. Moreover for people with pain and muscles spasms associated with epilepsy and multiple sclerosis, Marijuana Reduces muscle spasms; may ease incontinence of bladder and bowel and relieve depression, also for people who has Glaucoma which is a progressive form of blindness due to increased pressure inside the eye, Marijuana Reduces pressure within the eye. But it may also reduce blood flow to the optic nerve, exacerbating the loss of vision. Other pretty frequently sickness is the Asthma, Marijuana can help opening the lungs when an Asthma attack is happening.
The war against the Marijuana is one of the most expensive program or project for the government, legalizing the Marijuana will saved tons of money which can be used in other important areas as education, medical insurance, nutrition, and other areas. It is estimated that the United States government spends $10 billion dollars a year in its attempts to keep Marijuana off the street, while the State of California where Marijuana is legal has revenue of 14 billion annually for the production of its legalized medicinal Marijuana this definitely proved how good would be to legalized the Marijuana everywhere, will bring more benefits than keeping fighting against it. If Unite States legalized the Marijuana, they can taxed it, and make tons of money as they do with the tobacco and alcohol market. Marijuana should be legalized as alcohol and tobacco are, “. After detailing how the government, media, and beer and liquor companies often collude in demonizing pot and drive Americans to drink instead, the authors cite statistics and combat myths regarding marijuana” (Fox, Armentano, and Tvert), it just says that government and media drive people to drink which is as bad as marijuana. There are more benefits by legalizing the marijuana instead of keeping it illegal, as Bush says “the comparisons between pot and alcohol as they assert the positive benefits of legalization, taxation, and regulation of pot, including more revenue, less crime and mayhem, and fewer health problems.” It clearly shows legalizing the marijuana brings many benefits for the society, and the government.
Around the 1920’s when the alcohol was prohibited, the mafia control the black market of it, and they really did whatever they want with those people who want the product, same thing is happening in the present, the drug cartels, control the black market, kill innocent people, vandalized young children, this is all consequences of have the marijuana illegal and prohibited. Moreover, legalizing the marijuana will brings less violence in the society, less drug cartels, it also will help the jails, right now 1 out of 6 people in jail are there for non-violent drug offense, that is why prisons are overcrowded, legalizing the marijuana will significant more room for violent people.
In addition to the pros of marijuana, comparing the marijuana with alcohol, we can see marijuana unlike alcohol and other prescription drugs, is not lethal by overdosing. Also comparing the users of tobacco, alcohol and marijuana we can find, there is approximately 70 million people that are active smokers of tobacco in the U.S, around 15 million of Americans who abused the use of alcohol, and only around 5 million that are marijuana consumers.
On the other hand; Marijuana has many cons that people must be aware of, aspects like the marijuana has immediate bad effects in our bodies, effects as loss of restlessness, hallucinations, paranoia, psychotic episodes, impaired coordination, impaired motor ability, mood swings, which causes people to do terrible things, even though people say marijuana smokers are passive and pacifists, marijuana smokers are usually out of their mind, and they will not thing twice to do illegal things, or just things that they will regretted of.
Moreover, Marijuana has also long-term effects like loss of brain cells, lung cancer, chronic bronchitis, energy loss, slow confusing thinking, apathy, blood vessel blockage, and many other things, which demonstrate why marijuana should keep been illegal, further more: there are some people who say that marijuana is a medical drug, well according to Zesse and Ruzzamenti “Americans take their medicines in pills, solutions, shots, or drops. But never, ever by smoking. No other drug prescribed today is smoked. And there's no doubt that smoking causes lung cancer. Think about that before you swallow the quack medical claims from the marijuana lobbyists.” This clearly shows why marijuana should not be legal, not other drug is use by smoking. Also they said “there's new evidence that the active ingredient in marijuana actually reduces your body's ability to fight disease.” That clarify that marijuana cannot be classify as a medical drug.
Legalizing the Marijuana can cause more damage than we can imagine, Marijuana is a gateway drug, it means people who start smoking marijuana tend to use harder drugs as cocaine, also marijuana is linked to teen violence, suicide, crime, and unsafe sex which can end in death illness.

Work Cited
Fox, Steve, Paul Armentano, and Mason Tvert. Marijuana is safer so why are we driving people to drink? N.P.: White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Pub. Co, 2009. WorldCat.
Web. 10 Sept. 2013.
Ruzzamenti, William, and Kevin Zesse. Should marijuana be legalized for medical uses? N.P.:
N.P., 1993. MAS Ultra - School Edition. Web. 10 Sept. 2013.
.

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