Cannabis Argumentative Essay

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It took 45 years for the United States to change Cannabis laws by creating a loophole, allowing states to legalize the drug without any federal enforcement. Forty-five years in which alcohol abuse was on the rise and law-abiding citizens became criminals in federal penitentiaries. These advancements in drug use are only stepping stones. In order to create further change, these prohibitions must be broken as acts of civil disobedience. Current cannabis laws are based on racist and religious stereotypes, disproportionately affecting minorities. Furthermore, Richard Nixon, the creator of current day cannabis prohibitions, advocated the banning of cannabis because of his hatred for Jews. Additionally, African Americans are four times more likely …show more content…
Additionally, veterans with PTSD use cannabis due to its great calming effect. In fact, according to Dr. Sanjay Gupta, chief medical corespondent for CNN, cannabis is significantly less likely to be abused and have dangerous side affects than alcohol, tobacco, or heroin. Its non-adictive nature is a major improvement from current drugs such as tobacco, where nicotine causes a near irrepressible urge to smoke and cause severe lung damage. When the brain stops to develop wrinkles on the outer surface, its development begins to slow down, and cannabis’s effect becomes irrelevant, creating a safe pain reliever and anxiety suppressor. Furthermore, critics state that not enough medical research about cannabis has been conducted to ensure that it’s safe to a reasonable degree of scientific certainty. Their ideas are hypocritical because scientific research is stymied by the same government policies that ban medical and recreational use. The only way to conduct proper scientific studies would be to legalize the drug in its entirety. The same critics also state that cannabis can be a gateway to other drug usage that can be harmful as seen in the past. Even though some of the data between cannabis users also correlates with other drugs, it doesn't mean that cannabis causes the usage of the other

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