Essay on Legalize Marijuana

The Road to Legalizing Marijuana Maureen Pelton COM/150 July 16, 2013 Selena Flowers

Legalizing (and TAXING) Marijuana, just like alcohol, would give much-needed revenue to the government that desperate needs the funds, put many criminals out of business, and free our prison and court systems for serious criminals. Marijuana has many other names such as grass, pot, weed, herb, and cannabis. It is a psychoactive medical drug. The psychoactive constituent is tetrahydrocannabinol or THC. There are other known compounds in the plant that include 84 cannabinoids such as CBD, CBN, THCV, and CBG. The price of this drug varies on the area and potency. In the United States, marijuana is the 4th value crop, and in the states it is the 1st, including California, NY, and Florida. The average price per pound is 3,000.00, is estimated to generate $36 billion on the market. The reason it is so expensive is because the suppliers need to smuggle it to the buyers. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime in its 2008 World Drug Report that “the average U.S. retail price is $10-15 per gram, which is around $280-420 per ounce. In North America, depending on the quality, the known range is around $150 to $400 per ounce. This can be good in terms of revenue, because Marijuana can be taxed. In a 2010 study from Cato, legalizing this drug would generate $8.7 billion in state and federal tax revenue annually. Marijuana is used in recreational, medicinal, and in religious/ spiritual, it has been used since the Third millennium BC. In the United States, weed is the most commonly used illicit drug. Since the 20th century the drug has been illegal, including possession, use, and sale”. Marijuana has many medical benefits, it helps with amelioration of nausea and vomiting, it stimulates hunger in chemotherapy and AIDS patients, and it lowers intraocular eye pressure. It can be used as a pain reliever, and it has also showed beneficial effects to people who have multiple sclerosis and people with depression. Researchers from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine failed to get substantial, neurological effects from long-term recreational use of marijuana. The research team, headed by Dr. Igor Grant, found that marijuana use did affect perception, but it did not cause permanent brain damage. Researchers looked at data from 15 previously published controlled studies involving 704 long-term marijuana users and 484 nonusers. The results showed long-term marijuana use caused little damage on memory and learning. Other functions such as reaction time, attention, and language, reasoning ability, perceptual and motor skills were unaffected. States and the District of Colombia have legalized marijuana for medicinal purposes. In an U.S. Supreme Court case, the court has ruled that it’s the Federal Government’s right to regulate and criminalize marijuana even for medicinal purposes. Other countries such as Canada, Spain, Austria and the Netherlands have legalized it for medicinal uses. Marijuana is also a non-addictive drug. Nicotine a very addictive drug, along with cocaine, alcohol, heroin and caffeine. Three of these highly addictive drugs are legal in the United States. Still marijuana is still illegal. People who chose to use marijuana recreationally in America probably pay taxes like everyone else. These are people who work, have families, go to school and probably work hard to have and to make a better life for their children and family. When they are “caught” with marijuana they are taken to jail and treated like people who chose to use drugs that cause harm and murders, etc. People who work for the state

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Legalize Marijuana Essay

legalize marijuana Essay

legalize marijuana Essay