Persuasive Essay On Legalizing Marijuana

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The opioid epidemic in the United States has been brought about by the over-prescription of opioids to the general population. Subsequently, this has resulted in scientists looking for other pain relievers that are of non-opioid in nature. Marijuana is one of these options, the drug is a known pain reliever, without a high risk of addiction and a relatively zero risk of overdose. At the turn of the decade, more states in the US passed laws that permitted medical and adult-use of marijuana making the drug to be more available to the general population.

Adult-use of marijuana permits anyone above the age of 21 to use the drug. Up until now, adult-use marijuana laws are in place only in states that permit medical marijuana use. Medical marijuana use is restricted to prescriptions to persons suffering from a specified list of conditions (including severe pain and chronic pain). This means that adults unable to acquire medical marijuana due to ineligibility can access it through adult-use marijuana laws enabling self-medication when the need arises. Proponents of marijuana liberalization have argued that the drug is a potentially harmless alternative to opioids and opponents on the other hand view the drug as a gateway drug to opioids.

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Indicators were put in place as independent variables. The indicators used were medical marijuana use indicator and adult-use marijuana use indicator. The medical marijuana indicator captured the association between medical marijuana law implementation and opioid prescription relative to no marijuana law. The adult-use marijuana law indicator captured the relationship between adult use marijuana law and opioid prescription regarding existing medical marijuana law. This is because no states without a medical marijuana law have an existing adult-use marijuana