Benefits of Legalizing Recreational Marijuanas for American Society

Categories: Marijuana

In 2012, Colorado and Washington became the first two major states to pass the legalization of recreational marijuana. For many years' marijuana, also known as hemp, cannabis, or weed, was considered to be horrible for a person's health and was criminalized in the early 1900s in America. Only in the 1970s, states began to start to decriminalized marijuana and continues today. Humans have used marijuana for thousands of years for uses in food, textiles, and medicine. But in the past hundred or so years people have associated a negative connotation with marijuana until now.

I believe that legalizing of recreational marijuanas will be greatly positive and in this essay I explain why. While not everyone believes that legalizing cannabis is right because of the risk of creating more addicts and dependence disorders, I believe this is a very fair concern. However, I believe my side can help the other in the long run because legalizing recreational marijuana will help the economy, decrease drug violence allowing police to focus on extremely dangerous crimes and offenses, medicinal benefits, and tobacco along with alcohol is incredibly more dangerous than marijuana.

Benefits of Legalizing Marijuanas for Economy and Personal Well-Being

One positive of the many positives that come from legalizing the use of marijuana is the economic boost coming from the tax revenue and the scaling back of 'The War on Drugs.' With legalizing recreational marijuana, there is a boost to your local or state economy.

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Looking at small sample size, KLAS Las Vegas reported that the city will see 'more than twenty-seven million dollars generated in revenue and more than $3.6 million in taxes, the legalization of recreational marijuana seems to be positively affecting the economy.' (Economy) If it was legalized nationwide, we could see a huge economy boosts to cities.

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There would be funding for new roads, schools, and hospitals. The war on drugs has been ineffective and cost the American taxpayer greatly. In 2011, it was about $23.44 billion used to fight the war. But with it, not a lot of results have come through. With decreasing the money used to fight against legal usage of recreational marijuana we can see an economic boost and use the extra tax dollars toward something else.

Law enforcement is wasting their time and our money arresting and booking people who have a small amount of cannabis and were planning to use it. From 1965 to 2009 the number of arrests has generally increased to almost a million arrests a year. According to Newton on Marijuana a reference handbook, about half of all drug-related arrests are marijuana-related. And almost all of the marijuana arrests were due to possession of a small amount. If legalized, law enforcement can use their time on more violent crime and drugs with more damaging effects. We can use the money and efforts of our law enforcement on something else that needs more attention instead of trying to get a student who is just trying to relieve stress.

One of the most important positives of legalizing marijuana is the medical benefits of all sorts of diseases and conditions. According to cook from Medical and Recreational Marijuana Use, 'Research shows cannabis plays a beneficial role in pain relief, muscle spasms and seizures, appetite, and chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, among other conditions'. Peer-reviewed scientific studies support marijuana for treating medical conditions like 'glaucoma, cancer, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, and other seizure disorders, spastic disorders, Crohn's disease, and hepatitis C'. An example of this is the One Utah family. They have a son, Holden, who has epilepsy and who used experienced 40 to 100 seizures a day. After research found by the family, they moved to Colorado to use medicinal marijuana. Making the seizures reduce significantly to about one a day. Transforming him from being a boy sheltered and contained home to being a rambunctious and fun little boy. Marijuana is much more than just a fun and relaxing drug, it is a life changer to many people.

An effect of legalizing marijuana that not many people saw was the decreasing use of other drugs from recreational users. In Chicago, a study has been released showing a decline in OTC medications, beer, spirits for recreational marijuana users. Researchers believe that is the case because the users report using marijuana for relaxing to pain relief, which competes with prescription medicine and alcohol. (OTC) Research has found that alcohol is the worse of two evils. Alcohol is linked to more deaths than marijuana, as well as having the worst medical effects on your body. Linking to many more diseases or cancers than cannabis. As well as being even more addicting than marijuana.

Possible Drawbacks of Legalization

Despite the many benefits of the legalization, there is a possible negative consequence of creating more addicts and marijuana dependence disorders. According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, recent data suggest that 30 percent of those who use marijuana may have some degree of marijuana use disorder. Marijuana use disorder is when a user stops taking the drug and experiences withdrawal symptoms. The disorder can lead to addiction, which is where the user cannot stop taking the drug even though it interrupts their life in many ways. Even though the number of people who experienced this will possibly go up, legalizing marijuana will allow the government to regulate how much is being dispensed and prevent people from even getting to the disorder.

Conclusion

In conclusion, legalizing recreational marijuana is better for people in America. Legalizing recreational marijuana will help the American economy, decrease drug violence and help the police focus on violent crime, more medicinal benefits, and marijuana doesn't do any more harm than tobacco and alcohol. These benefits outweigh the negatives of possibly creating more addicts. In these recent years we have made great steps towards legalizing recreational marijuana, don't stop. Go out and vote to continue the fight for our freedom of use.

Works Cited

  • Cook, Robert, et al. “Medical and Recreational Marijuana Use.” Content.ebscohost.com, July 2018.
  • National Institute on Drug Abuse. “Is Marijuana Addictive?” NIDA, June 2018.
  • Newton, David E. Marijuana: A Reference Handbook : A Reference Handbook. ABC-CLIO, 2013.
  • 'OTC Medications, Beer, Spirits Use Drops Sharply in Recreational Marijuana Users in New Report from High Yield Insights.' Plus Company Updates, 8 May 2018. General OneFile
  • 'Video: Economy feeling positive effects of recreational marijuana s.' Local Broadcast Video Content, 30 Sept. 2017. Academic OneFile.
  • 'Video: One family's personal experience with medical cannabis.' Local Broadcast Video Content, 9 Nov. 2017. Academic OneFile.
  • Coyne, Christopher J, and Abigail R Hall. “Four Decades and Counting: The Continued Failure of the War on Drugs.” Cato Institute, 12 Apr. 2017.
Updated: Oct 11, 2024
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Benefits of Legalizing Recreational Marijuanas for American Society. (2024, Feb 13). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/benefits-of-legalizing-recreational-marijuanas-for-american-society-essay

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