The debate on legalizing marijuana in the USA
Today we find the topic of marijuana’s legality penetrating all forms of media and every level of politics. It is now the polarizing topic in an endless display of public debate. The goal? To answer the question that refuses to die; should cannabis be legalized?
The legal history of marijuana, a mixture of dried leaves and flowers taken from the hemp plant, which alters the mental state of a person by the natural occurrence by a chemical known as THC, in the United States describes the regulation of marijuana use for medical or recreational purposes in the United States. Regulations of the drug marijuana began 1619 and the increasing of restrictions and labelling of cannabis as a poison began in many states from 1906 onward. The absolute prohibition of marijuana began in the 1920s and by the mid-1930s cannabis was regulated as a drug in every state.
There are two sides on the case as to whether cannabis should be legalized. People who argue that cannabis should be legalized typically centre their case around the financial and economic benefits. The online newspaper The Huffington Post reveals that more than one hundred well respected economists have
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The anti-marijuana side believes that measures such as fines and jail time will decrease marijuana use. But however, in a lot cases, people who are thrown in jail for use of marijuana are often times non-violent and minor criminals. Studies actually show that these people, who only used marijuana before their jail time, often times, come out of jail using more dangerous drugs such as heroin. These studies also show that the criminals sometimes tend to move on to other more violent criminal behaviours as well. Hence, jailing these people is not only a waste of federal funds, but also causes over-crowding in the prisons which is something the United States are notorious for doing with marijuana