The issue of legalizing marijuana is a heated topic of debate. With more citizens using the drug and more money being invested to enforce the laws on marijuana this argument is exploding. Marijuana use has traditionally been frowned upon but with new scientific studies the benefits of the drug can hardly be ignored anymore. Should the U.S. government take the initiative and legalize cannabis or should it still be a denounced part of society unrecognized and illegal? Chances are you or somebody you know use marijuana so the debate of this drugs legalization effects everybody. The medical benefits of cannabis are undeniable. Marijuana’s therapeutic effect for patients of all illness’ cannot be achieved by one stand-alone medicine. For a patient to experience the pain killing ability of THC (the active ingredient in marijuana) a patient would have to take a concoction of multiple different and potentially harmful synthetic drugs just to mimic the effects of marijuana. And mind you, marijuana is completely natural, free of any harmful side effects those synthetic drugs have. Marijuana is said to “reduce the pain and muscle stiffness of multiple sclerosis" (Gerber 3). Multiple sclerosis patients are known to have some of the worst adverse side effects of their medication that tries to treat MS. Along with MS patients, cancer patients have benefited greatly from the states that have legalized marijuana. “Studies indicate that the active chemicals in marijuana directly mitigate pain signals and that marijuana, unlike prescribed opiate-based drugs, carries no risk of patients developing a tolerance requiring increasing doses” (Gerber 2). Cancer patients almost always develop a tolerance to chemotherapy. By the end of a chemotherapy cycle, a patient could be subjected to thousands of milligrams of drugs that in turn, make the patient very sick with a reduced appetite. This is the reason why many cancer patients become very skinny and ill because of the reduced weight and weaken immune system that chemotherapy results in. Most cancer patients do not die from the cancer itself rather than a non-communicable virus that ravages the immune system. This is where marijuana can be used to increase the appetite in these patients. Marijuana needs to be legalized in all states for medical purposes undoubtedly due to these reasons but the real question of debate is should recreational use be allowed as well. What can marijuana do to positively affect society if it was legalize and do those positives outweigh the negatives. That is a good question to ask concerning should marijuana be legalized not for medical purposes but for recreational use as well. Smoking marijuana is a social stigma because it is viewed as being uneducated, a hippie, a stoner, an airhead, or somebody without direction in life: all of those connotations being negative ones. A respectable person does not openly admit to smoking marijuana on a daily basis “The far greater and lasting attraction is in a life rooted in moral and spiritual values—not in a haze, a daze, or a munchies-craze, today's youth are tomorrow's world problem solvers—and the ones most likely to be affected if marijuana is legalized, future generations need to be clear thinkers for their sakes, those who oppose legalizing marijuana must become vocal, well-funded, and mainstream—before it's too late” ( Monitor 4). It needs to be understood that marijuana reduces the level of serotonin the brain produces which is the chemical responsible for motivation and critical thinking. The boundary between critical thinking and abstract thinking needs to be more clear because critical thinking is thinking that can be applied realistically to daily life as abstract cannot be. Marijuana users like to say they think more critical when they’re under the influence when really they are thinking more abstract and unpractical. Our society cannot function or be productive when a