Overdose. Addiction. Disease. Expenses. All have one thing in common. They can be solved or reduced with the legalization of marijuana. Unfortunately, cannabis is still seen as a highly dangerous drug and is illegal in most states throughout the US. However, some states are beginning to take a different viewpoint on marijuana, and some have legalized it. With legalization, the full plethora of its uses can be explored.
In the 17th century, marijuana was used for producing clothing, textiles, ship sails, rope, and more. In the late 1800’s, cannabis was beginning to become a widely used ingredient in many pharmaceutical drugs and was also sold legally in drug stores. Then around 1910, Mexican immigrants began rushing into the United States,
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This mixed with a fear and prejudice that the public had on these newcomers, which in turn gave cannabis a generally negative view in the public eye. During the great depression, public resentment of Mexican immigrants, and all immigrants for that matter, escalated due to the already low employment rates. The general view of marijuana continued to become more negative. Investigators rushed to find reasons to outlaw the drug, and released large amounts of research associating marijuana with violence and crime, “primarily committed by minorities” (Marijuana Timeline Busted NP). Fast forward to 1986, when president Ronald Reagan signed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act, requiring jail sentences for all citizens convicted of drug-related crimes. Federal penalties for marijuana were raised, and it was illegal throughout America. This greatly affected the potential for the positive use of marijuana, and research was all but at a standstill. It stayed like this until 1996, when the state of California voted to pass Proposition 215, which allowed the sale and use of marijuana for patients with serious medical diagnoses, including AIDS and cancer (Marijuana Timeline Busted NP). This is the first major event in recent times that began to