Preview

Legalizing Marijuana Research Paper

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1150 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Legalizing Marijuana Research Paper
Alex Jones Jones 1
Professor Sosnoski
ENG 102
30 January 2013
Legalization of Marijuana Recently, the controversial debate over legalizing marijuana has become more relevant than ever before. In the states of Washington and Colorado marijuana is currently legal for recreational use. In Michigan the cities of Detroit, Flint and Grand Rapids have decriminalized the drug. Also, in the cities of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti the penalties for marijuana are closely related to receiving a speeding ticket. I will be researching the legalization of marijuana in the United States. As I began to research this topic I realized just how uneducated many people are when it comes to marijuana. Cannabis, or marijuana, as it is more commonly referred
…show more content…
Marijuana has gained momentum as a treatment for various medical conditions and a pain reliever. Today, 18 states and the District of Columbia have made medical use legal, and at least seven more states are considering it. The rules and regulations vary from state to state but the general premise is that if approved by a doctor one can register and legally use marijuana. Some of the …show more content…
Conditions that marijuana is typically prescribed to treat are cancer, AIDS, and multiple sclerosis. Medical cannabis is a highly controversial subject because cannabis is still considered illegal under federal law. In fact, Federal law classifies marijuana as a Schedule I drug, which means that it has no safe medical use and a high potential for abuse. Both of these statements are completely false. Marijuana has been proven to be beneficial as a form of medical treatment. Also, marijuana is not physically addictive and therefore, has low potential for abuse. Some people can develop minor dependence issues from a psychological standpoint. When comparing marijuana's drug classification to the most popular drugs in the United States it is illogical. Alcohol and Tobacco are both far more addictive and harmful than cannabis is. Each year new research is released documenting the harmful effects that tobacco and alcohol have on the body. Including direct links to cancer and death. Unlike tobacco marijuana has never been linked to cancer. In addition, there has never been a single documented death from cannabis usage. Alcohol causes people to use poor decision making and it causes people to become violent and aggressive. When comparing marijuana to modern day pharmaceuticals one again is forced to conclude that marijuana's classification is unjustified.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Marijuana Controversy

    • 674 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Marijuana is not being looked at as a harmful illegal drug, rather it is beginning to be looked at as helpful. Since the first state legalized cannabis, the rise in usage has gone up drastically. A major reason to this growth in usage…

    • 674 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    There are a numerous number of drugs in the United States. There is a drug like marijuana that you could smoke, get high from, and still pass a urinary test with it in your system. This drug can be called many things: legal spice, spice, legal, potpourri, and anything else someone might come up with. The two most common drugs used in the US have been legal spice and marijuana. The scientific term for legal spice is Synthetic Cannabis it is an herbal and chemical item that when smoked, mimics the effects of marijuana. It is best known as legal spice or K2. (http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/ehost/detail?vid=3&hid=106&sid=59ce6c0d-f7a1-4779-a1b8-6cab4e630f4d%40sessionmgr104&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=mnh&AN=21702397). There has been an increase in drug abuse by the use of legal spice which is mixed with different chemicals such as JWH-018. JWH-018 was first developed in 1995 for research, by organic chemist John W. Huffman at Clemson University in South Carolina. (http://syntheticmarijuana.wordpress.com/). He created this chemical compound and tried to find cannabinoid receptors in the brain. The parts that THC in marijuana bond with to produce feelings of euphoria and research shows he was successful in these findings. (http://syntheticmarijuana.wordpress.com/). These chemicals do not show up in the system but result in having a long term effect on the body. According to Huffman, “it doesn’t hit the brain in the same way as marijuana, and that’s why it’s dangerous.” (http://hightimes.com/news/mmiller/7144). Legal spice is known all around the US and in some places it is legal. In other cities it is not, because of the effects it causes on the body. Many people were smoking legal spice when it was “legal” because of the fact that it didn’t show up in a drug test. It was…

    • 1924 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Grinspoon, L. (2010). Whither medical marijuana. Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, 11(2), 75-82. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/910990414?accountid=458…

    • 330 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The drug generally isn't more harmful than alcohol or tobacco if used in moderation. Most doctors would agree that it's not very harmful if used in moderation. It's only when you abuse the drug that problems start to occur. But isn't abuse of almost any bad substance a problem? If you abuse alcohol, caffeine, cigarettes, or even pizza, health problems are sure to follow. Would you want the government limiting how much coffee you can drink or how much cheesecake you take in? Most doctors believe that marijuana is no more addictive that alcohol or tobacco.…

    • 915 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Marijuana is the most commonly used illegal substance in United States and in many other countries; this is a statement that seems to be in each article that is written about the legalization of marijuana. This is a subject that has been up for debate for quite a few years now. There are many people who support the legalization of this drug and are strongly convinced that marijuana is not a drug in which one should be punished for, but rather a drug that should not be frowned upon and seen as a way to help our nation economically and medically. On the other end, there are also many people who support the criminalization of marijuana and believe it is a drug that should remain illegal or else further use of the drug may increase and become dangerous. There was a time in history when the use of marijuana was quite popular until it became illegal, like many other substances, it did not stop people from using. The question still remains, should marijuana be legalized? Throughout this writing piece, information regarding different views and opinions on the legalization of marijuana will be presented, along with positive and negative effects this would have on our nation economically and medically.…

    • 1383 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    How would you feel if you had a degenerative disease and the one medicine that helped you the most was not allowed to be prescribed to you and was also illegal for you to obtain? That is the case for many Multiple Sclerosis(MS)patients today. MS affects patients in many different ways, but medical marijuana (Cannibis) can help releive the symptoms of MS in these patients, if only it was legal to prescribe.…

    • 563 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Reefer Madness

    • 1409 Words
    • 6 Pages

    What is marijuana? marijuana, as most know it, is derived from the plant cannabis indica. The leaves and flowering buds of the female cannabis plant are harvested and dried. The product of this process is called, among many other titles, marijuana. Cannabis is a schedule 1 drug, considered illegal in the United States. The reason for this? Smoking marijuana gets you high. The sensation of a high is hard to describe. THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, mimics the neurotransmitter anadamide, producing a slightly euphoric, stimulated, thought provoking high. Recently, marijuana has been a strong topic of debate, support for its legalization has been growing steadily. It has already been decriminalized in 18 states, and is now legalized in 2. It seems marijuana is on the fast track to social and legal acceptance, and for good reason. marijuana should be federally recognized as legal because of its relatively insignificant ill side effects, adversely positive medical value, and public support. Alcohol is one of, if not the most, popular drug in America, and its not exactly safe. Alcohol is linked to upwards of 75,000 deaths per year. To put that into perspective, thats twice as many deaths per year caused by firearms (suicide and homicide alike). This toll is accepted for a simple reason, we love alcohol. Bars and liquor stores line our city streets.. On weekend evenings, getting drunk with your buddies is a social norm. As a nation, our government attempted to end this statistic via prohibition. Making alcohol illegal didn’t stop Americans from drinking, crime…

    • 1409 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Marijuana is one of the most controversial topics in the U.S today. Many associate the substance with some of the most highly addictive and dangerous drugs used in our society. While others claim marijuana to be the safest substance to use to date. One of the biggest debatable topics amongst marijuana use is the legalization of the substance medically. Many people believe marijuana should be accessible to those with terminally ill diseases. While others believe the drug should be illegal at all cost. Medical marijuana presents many negative issues in our society emotionally, medically and socially. Due to the negative effects from the substance, the use of marijuana should remain illegal in the United States.…

    • 1079 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes has been an extremely controversial topic, one that has it supporters who have long fought the opposition. Although marijuana has been used for thousand of years to provide relief from many health problems, it still remains an illegal drug in the United States. There are many doctors who support the effectiveness of the use of marijuana as treatment for many medical conditions. People who oppose the legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes would claim that legalizing the drug would lead to abuse of the drug for recreational use. This is important claim for the opposition. However, after looking at all the information that has been gathered…

    • 1121 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    “Marijuana is an addictive gateway drug” (Drug Policy Alliance Network, 2009). There is no good reason to use it, and it does nothing but ruin lives. These statements are frequently made by people who oppose the use of marijuana for medicinal reasons. Unfortunately, these statements are false. Medical breakthroughs would never be a reality if different risks were not taken. For example, long ago radiation was something that everyone was afraid of, but because a risk was taken, cancer patients now have hope of recovery. Someone somewhere believed that just maybe radiation would work, and it did. Marijuana deserves the same opportunity. Many studies have proven that marijuana does have significant medical benefits. There is no proof that marijuana is physically addictive, and furthermore, it is not physically possible to overdose from marijuana consumption (WAMM Organization, 2008). Despite these facts, over the years society has developed a very negative view of marijuana when in reality this drug has far more benefits than negative attributes.…

    • 2050 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Marijuana Research Paper

    • 2977 Words
    • 12 Pages

    In America today, marijuana is the most commonly used illegal drug. The name marijuana is a Mexican slang word, which became popular in the 1930’s, which refers to the medicinal parts of the cannabis plant. Marijuana is a green, brown, or gray mixture that is created through drying the leaves and flowering tops of the cannabis plant. Some of the more popular street names are weed, pot, herb, grass, Mary Jane, boom, gangster, and chronic. One question that has haunted Americans for a long time is “Should the use of marijuana be legalized?” Some say, “Yes”, while others say, “No”. Owning marijuana was made a criminal offence in 1937 when Congress passed the Marijuana Tax Act. Even with this new law, people continued to use the drug.…

    • 2977 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Cannabis is the main ingredient in marijuana. The National institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) reported that its effect on the body is just like any other natural made chemical in the body. The benefits range from treating simple headache to slowing down cancer cells. Drugs sold over the counter are more dangerous than marijuana yet those drugs are approved and are sold. Donald Abrams, chief of hematology-oncology at San Francisco general hospital, has done more research on marijuana than anyone in the United States (Weil, 127). He concluded in his research that inhaling cannabis can help reduce pain associated with nerve damage and can also increase effect of opiate pain relievers as well help patients sleep. This is greatly important because of how tough nerve damage can be on a person. They are usually recommended to use over the counter pain relief pills but if marijuana is stronger in relieving pain as well as helping them sleep more calmly why would anyone decline. Another usage for marijuana is that the cannabinoids have an ability to relieve chronic pain which included nausea and vomiting from chemotherapy (Park). Cancer is something that troubles every human because currently the current treatments to battle it are very costly on the human body physically and mentally. Chemotherapy is so frightening that some people are even tempted not to try to that method. If they were told about marijuana,…

    • 1806 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Hall & Schiefelbein, J. (2011, March). The political economy of medical marijuana laws. International Atlantic Economic Society, 2011(39), 197-198. doi:10.1007/s11293-011-9266-2…

    • 1979 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Medical Marijuana

    • 2250 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Eighteen states have legalized the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes. (How Weed Won the West, Kevin Booth) Two of those states have legalized it for recreational use which basically means it is like tobacco or alcohol. But just because a state has medical cannabis legalized does not mean people can just do whatever they please with the substance. There are very strict laws for the use and distribution of medical marijuana. First you have to…

    • 2250 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Marijuana is a greenish-gray mixture of the dried, shredded leaves and flowers of Cannabis sativa. It's overall a safe drug, much safer than alcohol or any other hardcore drug. The democratic party for the most part agrees with the legalization of marijuana, which is best because it's a non harmful drug, you're way more likely to die from alcohol overdose than marijuana overdose, and also legalizing it would be good help for the economy. There's much worse things the government should be worried about rather than a simple drug that doesn't even affect you in a negative way.…

    • 498 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays