Global Legalization of Marijuana
April 22, 2013

Cannabis is a naturally grown plant that is found across the world in various locations. When grown, cultivated, dried, and mixed with certain items, this plant yields a mentally soothing effect on anyone that smokes this plant. Cannabis is known by many other urban names. Nicknames such as weed, kush, dope, reggie, “refer” and “loud” are all used to identify this potent herb with mental affects to people who use it. While cannabis currently present a challenge to societal norms because of its abuse, it does not have to debilitate society from functioning at its maximum capacity. Marijuana as a raw and unhampered substance could be sold for recreational use with the entire ecosystem of American social life collapsing. If correctly managed, legal cannabis could be introduced into the world as a recreational drug open to the public. In many countries across the world, cannabis is illegal by full extent of the law. From growing outside of scientific study to selling and making it, it is demonized by the media and the public for its effects on the human brain. However, the negative effects of cannabis are often due to the irresponsible excessive smoking or mixing the plant with certain types of cleaners, solvents, or other dangerous chemicals. The cannabis plant itself has mild effects on cognitive brain function and only under mass inhalation would ever cause any real danger to the recipient. In some countries, there is even a death penalty for selling illegal cannabis. The marijuana plant would have to be introduced in a raw form that is cut so that the plant is not as potent as usual. The process of diluting the weed would have to use safe chemicals for human consumption. The illegal use of marijuana incorporates so many deadly chemicals to intensify the effects. Once the a safer form of the drug is created, society will be more capable of tackling the problems it presents. For the United States legal system, the punishment for the misuse of this drug is dependent on the overall circumstances surrounding the offense as well as the amount of contraband in its weight. The view on cannabis varies from culture to culture. In other countries such as the Netherlands, North Korea, and Uruguay allow for the personal use of cannabis. However, these countries do not allow for the free range cultivation and distribution of cannabis. Across the board, on an international level, that is still looked down upon. Cannabis has also been proven to have some very healthy effects if used to treat certain diseases such as glaucoma and cancer. The effects of cannabis have proven it slows down the growth of cancerous cells and helps to effectively manage glaucoma. Countries like the US, Canada, and Israel all recognize and facilitate the medicinal use of cannabis. Many countries allow the use of cannabis for recreational use because it is respected as not being overly dangerous to the human state of mind. "There is no evidence," says the Institute of Medicine study, "that marijuana serves as a stepping stone on the basis of its particular physiological effect." (Dowskin, 2012 ) Overall, the use of cannabis for recreational use is still a rarity and has stringent rules associated with it In order for cannabis to be effectively introduced into society, the growth of cannabis would need to be a carefully monitored event. The plants would require constant supervision and when being harvested, the plants would always need to be watched. The most effective way to make cannabis safe for the public would be to dilute the effects of the plant for recreational use. This would help manage the lucid effects of the drug, provided the substance used to dilute cannabis did not present a danger to the consumer. New laws would also have to be written prohibiting the use of cannabis while driving, being in a school zone, and other legal clauses.