Final Essay Marijuana has been used for over five thousand years. However it has gained a large amount of attention over the past century with prohibition and many antiwar movements. Now more than ever there are many states trying to pass propositions to legalize the plant. According to a recent poll taken by the USA Today forty-four percent of Americans say that marijuana should be made legal. California, Colorado and Utah have propositions in place that make the sale and use of marijuana legal. Marijuana is the most commonly used drug in the United States and considered to be the most harmful by the government. With marijuana use rising every year, and the United States national debt at an all time high. Just think of the benefits that marijuana legalization would have. So by legalizing this plant we would gain new tax revenue, and we would be able to push forward on medical studies and research. Finally we would also be able to utilize the hemp plant with its many industrial and agricultural uses.
The most popular of all recreational drugs, Cannabis, or Marijuana, Grass, hemp, Weed, Pot, Hash, Dope or a variety of regional names has been cultivated for thousands of years. It is native to central Asia but its cultivation and use is global. Since this plant is so popular think of the impact marijuana legalization would have on tax revenues. It would be felt in two ways. First, the Tax money currently funding the war on drugs would be redirected since marijuana would not be considered an illegal drug anymore. Last year alone they’re where 1.5 million arrests for drug abuse of these arrests forty-nine percent were for marijuana. So by legalizing marijuana the money that we had been using to keep marijuana illegal could be redirected to programs designed to crack down on cocaine, heroin, PCP, and many of the other hard drugs out there. The legalization of marijuana would also be felt by the criminal justice system. Reports state that 12.7 percent of state inmates and 12.4 percent of federal inmates incarcerated for drug offences are serving time for marijuana offences. This roughly means that these prisoners are costing taxpayers 1 billion dollars annually to house them feed them and provide legal and medical facilities for them. So by legalizing marijuana we could possibly save our country billions of dollars each year. However some of the funds would be needed to be devoted to the regulatory system set up to control productions and distribution, at the state and federal levels. This funding needed would eventually be offset by the taxes on both the marijuana sales as well as taxes on the income derived from sales, licensing fees, and so on.
A commonly asked question associated with medical marijuana is why we use it when so many other legal medications are available? Many supporters say that patients don’t simply use cannabis to fell good. Instead use it for medical purposes to relief certain symptoms and diseases. For example, marijuana has been shown to decrease nausea and increase appetite, which can be great for patients under going cancer treatment. It also helps patients suffering from glaucoma aids and many other diseases and disorders. Many patients undergoing chemotherapy often say the worst thing about the therapy is the constant nausea and loss of appetite. Studies taken by the scientist in California say that cancer patents that used medical marijuana to control their symptoms of the chemo said that there nausea had decreased and there appetite had increased.
In states where medical marijuana is legal doctors are recommending medical marijuana for chemotherapy, chronic pain, anxiety, arthritis, cancer, AIDS, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, insomnia, ADHD, epilepsy, inflammation migraines and many other mental health disorders. This drug is also used to ease the pain and improve the quality of life for people who are terminally ill. Finally with the legalization of marijuana we would eliminate