Refuting “Six powerful reasons to legalize marijuana” by Owen Poindexter from NY Times The use, sale and possession of cannabis (marijuana) in the United States are considered as a schedule I control substances and illegal under federal law. However, five states have legalized marijuana for recreational use and thirty one states for medical use only. While proponents say there are legitimate reasons for cannabis legalization, concerns remain about the marijuana’s effect on users and their communities and so the controversy over marijuana legalization continues. This argument refutes one of these claims that tries to support the legalization of Marijuana by highlighting some of the details and evidences that look helpful in convincing the readers but leaving the other sides unsaid while explain the reasons. The NY Times’ argument concerning marijuana legalization: (Six powerful reasons to legalize marijuana), published on July 31, 2014 refers to six reasons of: Prohibitions costs, Miniscule benefits of marijuana criminalization, Racism in its prohibition, Medical benefits of marijuana, discarding the idea that usage increases after legalization and…
In 1996, California voters passed proposition 215, this made California the first state in the U.S to allow for the medical use cannabis. (3) Even in 2014 the President of the Unites States Barack Obama has showed support in the decriminalisation of cannabis, he himself was a smoker of the herb in his youthful days and is quoted saying “I think carefully prescribed medical use of marijuana may in fact be appropriate and we should follow the science as opposed to ideology on this issue, but I’m…
Mysterious Marijuana When it comes to marijuana, majority often have a negative perspective on the substance, but is this really the case? If so, why have other countries begun to legalize marijuana? The decision on whether to legalize this drug has become a heated debate over the years. Moreover, with today 's media-rich culture, it is not a surprise to find endless aspects on cannabis as our uncertainty and ambivalent attitude slowly radiates towards the substance. However, the contention…
United States has fought and spent billions on the “War on Drugs.” Most recently, cannabis (marijuana, weed, THC) has been the focal point of this costly war. Since 1990s, twenty-three states, with California being the first, have legalized cannabis for personal, medicinal, and recreational usage. However, controversy over this not-so-new public enemy remains because it is still illegal under federal law. The War on Drugs is one without end. Advocates of marijuana prohibition believe it…
economic decline and continues to face a growing national debt. Marijuana legalization could solve this issue. Legalizing cannabis seems inevitable as Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, and the District of Columbia have legalized recreational marijuana and many other states have legalized medical marijuana and decriminalized possession of marijuana, despite cannabis being considered a Schedule I drug at the federal level. Some argue against its use and consider it dangerous, although this…
They’re either curious about it or are exposed to it by friends, and other peers. The fact that marijuana is illegal doesn’t stop them from pursuing it. It seems like it does just the opposite; it makes teenagers want to get their hands on it even more. It increases the use of cannabis because there’s a thrill that comes with doing something that is prohibited. It’s also easier to have access to marijuana than it is to get alcohol for most high school students. Since we have restrictions on…
associated with alcohol and tobacco use in the United States dwarf those associated with marijuana use.” Alcohol abuse is a proven culprit of chronic and incurable liver diseases like hepatitis and liver cirrhosis. And to make matters worse, both can lead to liver cancer too. Newborns can acquire congenital birth defects because their mothers drank during their first trimester of pregnancy. In medicine, the causal link between alcohol and diseases caused by alcohol are so obvious and…
the last few decades, marijuana has been used for textiles, medicine, and recreational use. Society tends to correlate marijuana with lazy, unproductive, and food munching individuals suffering from a drug addiction, but the public opinion has changed in recent years. This shift in opinion is due to the fact that scientific research has disproven many of the myths created by reefer madness in the 1960s. The legal use of marijuana recreationally and medically has been a subject of controversy…
In comparison to alcohol and cigarettes, while driving under the effects of cannabis, no reliable studies have proven the relationship between cannabis and an increased risk of accidents. However, the relationship between alcohol and the increase risk of accidents is unanimous. Secondhand smoke, the smoke from the tobacco product or the smoke respired by the smoker, allows for nicotine and carbon monoxide to be transmitted through the air into the lungs or blood stream of any nearby person. …
restrict access to marijuana” by spring 2017 (“Marijuana”, 2016), it is crucial to examine the impact on the health, social, and economic aspects of society (“Toward”, 2016). As prevalence and accessibility of the drug to the population continues to increase, a negative health impact is being made through lack of regulation (Rotermann & Langlois, 2015). The Canadian government’s plan to legalize recreational marijuana consumption will regulate the consumption of the drug thereby helping decrease…