Running head: Legalizing Marijuana
Legalizing Marijuana
Zack Summers
Nashville State Community College
Author Note
This paper was prepared for Psychology 1030,taught by Professor Maggie Wharton, Fall 2014
Legalizing Marijuana
Practical uses for marijuana, also known as hemp and cannabis, can be traced back as far as 2700 B.C. in China. Additionally, in the world’s oldest pharmacopoeia, also from China, drug recipes for more than 100 ailments including, gout, rheumatism, malaria, and absentmindedness were treated with marijuana. Non-medical uses for marijuana in ancient times included paper and sailcloth making as early as 1000 A.D. in the Arab world and continued to be used as such well into the 1800’s in Europe and its colonies. …show more content…
Due to the fact that marijuana is currently illegal, it reaches American teenagers and even preteens, through a black market, operated by criminals and organized crime. By legalizing marijuana and setting an age limit on the purchase of it, the black market for cannabis would virtually crumble. Without the black market, access to the controlled product would be greatly reduced to youth. Consequently, the same young people will be much less exposed to criminal drug dealers who have many more dangerous and addicting narcotics to entice them with. Much like prohibition of alcohol in the early 1900s, prohibition of marijuana has done nothing to stop the flow of it to American youth or adults. The illegality of marijuana has helped form violent organized crime families in the form of drug cartels, known for the exploitation of children as drug mules, with no concern for their health or well-being. “Authors reported overall “no statistically significant differences in marijuana use before and after policy change for any state pairing,” and acknowledged that some states that …show more content…
The positive effects of legalization from an economic standpoint are far reaching. The moral obligation to take measures to help prevent the youth of America from obtaining marijuana illegally, and consequently being exposed to truly dangerous substances is apparent. Finally, American citizens should not be forced to suffer unnecessarily from the harsh and painful symptoms of disease, nor the side-effects of the medications currently used to treat
Legalizing Marijuana
Zack Summers
Nashville State Community College
Author Note
This paper was prepared for Psychology 1030,taught by Professor Maggie Wharton, Fall 2014
Legalizing Marijuana
Practical uses for marijuana, also known as hemp and cannabis, can be traced back as far as 2700 B.C. in China. Additionally, in the world’s oldest pharmacopoeia, also from China, drug recipes for more than 100 ailments including, gout, rheumatism, malaria, and absentmindedness were treated with marijuana. Non-medical uses for marijuana in ancient times included paper and sailcloth making as early as 1000 A.D. in the Arab world and continued to be used as such well into the 1800’s in Europe and its colonies. …show more content…
Due to the fact that marijuana is currently illegal, it reaches American teenagers and even preteens, through a black market, operated by criminals and organized crime. By legalizing marijuana and setting an age limit on the purchase of it, the black market for cannabis would virtually crumble. Without the black market, access to the controlled product would be greatly reduced to youth. Consequently, the same young people will be much less exposed to criminal drug dealers who have many more dangerous and addicting narcotics to entice them with. Much like prohibition of alcohol in the early 1900s, prohibition of marijuana has done nothing to stop the flow of it to American youth or adults. The illegality of marijuana has helped form violent organized crime families in the form of drug cartels, known for the exploitation of children as drug mules, with no concern for their health or well-being. “Authors reported overall “no statistically significant differences in marijuana use before and after policy change for any state pairing,” and acknowledged that some states that …show more content…
The positive effects of legalization from an economic standpoint are far reaching. The moral obligation to take measures to help prevent the youth of America from obtaining marijuana illegally, and consequently being exposed to truly dangerous substances is apparent. Finally, American citizens should not be forced to suffer unnecessarily from the harsh and painful symptoms of disease, nor the side-effects of the medications currently used to treat