Argumentative Essay: The Legalization Of Marijuana

Utilized for thousands of years for a plethora of ailments and other uses, cannabis, has been illegal at some level in the U.S. since the 1930s, and officially ban in the 1970s. The topic of illegal vs. legal marijuana has been a highly controversial subject for the past 9 decades. Political, economical, medical, and personal points of view have been made. It seems there is plenty to be said about a plant weed. Recently as many as thirty states and the District of Columbia have laws legalizing marijuana in some form or fashion. There has been widespread research for the benefits of cannabis. Enough to evidently sway the perceptions positively in many states, but should the federal government follow suite? I think the pros outweigh the cons

Hemp cord was found in pottery of an ancient village approximately ten thousand years old. It was first documented for medical use in 2,737 BCE in China. However, it was not until the 20th century that marijuana was introduced to the American culture. Mexican immigrants brought cannabis with them across the border after the Mexican Revolution of 1910. Marijuana gained a negative association during the depression when fear and anti-drug campaigners warned against cannabis usage. They feared a connection of the drug to the flooding of Mexican immigrants and the increasing unemployment rate. By the 1930s, after a national propaganda campaign, including the film “Refer Madness”, the United States government passed the Marijuana Tax Act. This act criminalized cannabis and restricted possession. The La Guardia Report released in 1944 was issued by the New York Academy of Medicine. They reported the academy’s research on the usage of marijuana. The research conflicted with the popular belief that the drug was directly linked to acts of violence, insanity and/or sex crimes. It falsified these claims as well as stating that marijuana was not addictive or a leading cause to additional drug use. Barry Warff sums it up in his article on livingscience.com, stating, “The idea that it (marijuana) is an evil drug is a very recent construction, and the fact that it is illegal is a historical anomaly.” Despite the evidence and

An extremely diverse and hardy plant, cannabis can be grown with relative ease. One of the first agricultural crops produced, hemp, has a multitude of benefits, and is an effective rotational crop. Hemp is the fiber of the cannabis plant. Several functional uses of hemp include, but are not limited to, paper, biofuel, clothing, plastic and construction materials. Also used in health products, hemp can be found in food, soaps, oils, and lotions. According to the Hemp Industries Association the value of retail hemp products in the U.S. is around $620 million. However, because it is illegal to grow hemp in the U.S., all retail hemp has to be imported. It should be noted that this verity of cannabis has less than 1% of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the chemical attributing to the “high” of cannabis users. What is reason for the federal government to still have a ban on hemp producing cannabis? The facts show that there are massive utilitarian resources this plant can supply. Nonetheless, the government has decided to outsource this product; a product that could easily be produce on American soil.

Another verity of cannabis is used as medical marijuana. A major controversy throughout the years, medical marijuana was originally used in China. Reported for its’ medicinal benefits, cannabis has helped millions of people over thousands of years. The most common documented use for