Marijuana should be legalized in all fifty states and it should be recategorized as a Schedule 1 drug. It is a commonly used as an illegal drug, that consists of dried leaves of the marijuana plant that people smoke for recreational purposes. Washington and Colorado have legalized marijuana for medical and personal use and seventeen states and the District of Columbia have decriminalized possession of marijuana for personal and medical use. But only twenty-one states allow the possession and use of marijuana for medical purposes only. The legalization of marijuana is constantly battling the the war on drugs, which has been a useless effort that has landed us with harsh drug laws that have put millions of peaceful drug offenders in jail. When …show more content…
It was also a main product that was regulated by the government in the early 20th century. The United States Pharmacopeia, is a book of medicines and pharmaceutical recipes endorsed by the United States Government, identified cannabis as a medicine from 1850 to 1941. However by the 1930’s, the development of pain medications such as Advil took the role of Marijuana as an everyday pain killer. Soon a public health campaign raised public concerns on the dangers of marijuana. They acted as an anti-marijuana crusaders believing that the drug was influencing the country's youth. In 1930, the United States government founded the Federal Bureau of Narcotics to enforce the ever growing body of the drug legislation. Harry Anslinger, a passionate supporter of criminalizing cannabis, lead the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and directed the federal government to crack down on what he stated "The menace of marijuana addiction”(“Addiction and Substance Abuse”). In 1936, every state in the United States passed a legislation outlawing or controlling marijuana. Some citizens, including representatives of the medical industry, argued against the measure saying it would strip patients who required marijuana for medicinal causes. Despite the efforts of some citizens, the law had marijuana removed as Pharmacopeia product from the