For years now, marijuana has been labeled as a schedule 1 controlled substance; this means that it is classified in the same category as the dangerous street drug heroin. The spot on this list is a result of the United States Government prohibiting the sale and use of weed with the federal Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 (Sullum 2). Removing the prohibition of marijuana in the United States would boost the economy, lower the crime rate in densely populated areas, and provide medicine to those who do not have access to it currently. The time for change is now, and we need to remove this negative outlook on marijuana in this country. Keeping weed illegal actually costs the taxpayers of this country half of what it costs to pay for public schooling. …show more content…
Using the medicine can help these patients to live a normal life where their pain is treated and they can carry on a easier life. Today, in places where medical marijuana is not allowed, citizens will often be given highly-addictive opioids that can be treated just as easily with cannabis (LIBN 2). The big pharmaceutical companies would rather have weed not prescribable, due to the fact that, prescribing addictive painkillers would be more profitable in the long run. They can do this because they know that it would be more largely accepted by society to take prescription medicine, rather than using cannabis. If the people taking your medicine need it, then they will pay what it takes to get better. Even if that means they are taking strikingly addictive drugs. A lot of these incurable diseases may not be cured with marijuana, but it definitely provides a safer alternative to the medication being used now. Now that marijuana is gaining recognition as a medicine with great benefits, the industry has a chance to boom. Patients can start to be granted access to the safer drug they have needed all along. Medicine that comes from the Earth should be prescribed to someone before a pharmaceutical that alters the brain in a negative way. Older generations may not agree with the future of cannabis, but it’s just another industry that will become a normal choice for consumers when it is found needed. Legalization of Marijuana in the United States would be beneficial in; increasing economic revenue for states, eliminating street dealers, and helping the everyday life of those who suffer from incurable diseases. These are all things that we as a country strive for everyday, but we can’t achieve them without giving the American citizens what they