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Pros And Cons Of Legalizing Marijuana

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The legalization of marijuana is a topic that is wildly argued with many ideas to support and reject it. Some states, such as Washington and Colorado, have already legalized marijuana throughout the entire state. Some states are still pushing for this opportunity. For instance, book editor Noah Berlatsky of Opposing Viewpoints tells that the states of Alaska and Florida have legalized initiatives on their ballots and are predicted to have majority vote towards the legalization of the cannabis plant in both medical and recreational purposes. On the other hand, health concerns oppose the idea of legalizing marijuana. The main reasons behind opposing the recreational use of marijuana is the effects of its “high” on mental and physical health, …show more content…

Perhaps one of the biggest concerns regarding the legal usage of marijuana are those regarding residual health issues with prolonged use. When smoking marijuana, like most inhalants, the smoke enters the lungs and travels through the blood stream reaching the brain and other organs. Through this process, chemicals are transferred throughout the entire body. When it comes to the smoke reaching the brain, most all functions carried out by the brain are effected, but the main areas revolve around memory and judgement. For this reason, it is commonly argued that marijuana ruins the brain in the sense that it alters your cognitive skills. Thus making people perceive an individual who partakes in the smoking of marijuana a “burn out”, or unmotivated and detached from the world. These are short terms affects that can continue into a permanent affect if continued use over extended period of time persists. Not only does the cannabis plant alter one state of mind, but it also takes a toll on the physical body. The lungs and heart are effected when symptoms such as increased heart rate and respiratory issues arise. The lungs are directly affected and can deteriorate, become weak, or get infections easier once exposed to marijuana smoke. However the risks of marijuana are greater than ever due to the countless ways to use marijuana including …show more content…

There are many diseases that are unaccompanied by cures that the medical use of the cannabis plant can help aid in. Although the prescribed marijuana is not a cure, it is considered a treatment because it can help relieve pain suffered by the patient. In addition, the medicinal effects of cannabis can calm ones mind for those suffering with anxiety or depression. Medical marijuana is most commonly known to be used for cancer patients, but can also be used for bodies who frequently have seizers, or epilepsy, and other diseases. By legalizing marijuana throughout the entire United States, it will become vastly more obtainable and therefore allowing more patients who are in need of its medicinal uses to get a hold of. The patients who suffered due to being unable to pay the costs required to be prescribed marijuana, due to insurance or other means, would then be given a chance to deal with the symptoms of their diseases which would otherwise be withheld. The pain and side effects of the diseases that are typically treated with this herbal drug are serious and sometimes unbearable. If this is the case and the drug was not offered to certain patient, the risk of that patient obtaining marijuana illegally

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Supposedly the benefit of appeasing society’s misconceptions toward marijuana is refutebale compared to the cost of death or severe pain imposed on patients in need of medical treatment. If governments are willing to prescribe drugs such as like OxyContin, Xanax, hydrocodone and Valium, to be used as

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Along with lung health, heart health can be an issue with any type of smoking. But heart health risks are slightly different than the usual with marijuana. “Using marijuana raises the heart rate from 20% to 100% for up to 3 hours after it has been smoked” That could lead to issues mostly for the elderly, or people with heart problems, because it raises the risk of heart attack or palpitations. There is theory after theory that marijuana is a “gateway drug”. Alcohol is also listed as a gateway drug, and it is legal.

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Pot or Not? One of the most popular drugs, marijuana, is causing many arguments throughout the United States. The famous drug is legally allowed in about half of the US states. Some states argue that marijuana should be legal for recreational use, some argue for medical use only, and some states do not think that the drug should be legal at all. With all of the advantages and disadvantages being argued about the legalization of marijuana, many different people have many different views about the argument.

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The short-term effects of marijuana are enough to cause alarm and to show that marijuana should not be legalized. The opposition tells us that marijuana is not harmful and that it is even considered less harmful than alcohol or the harder drugs in its category. But to say this is just ridiculous, as marijuana still effects the brain and its functions just like alcohol and other drugs. A person who is under the influence of marijuana can lead to poor judgment and impairment just like alcohol and other drug substances. It is shown the marijuana reaches the same pleasure centers in the brain that are targeted by heroin, cocaine, and alcohol.

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Marijuana has less toxics, unlike alcohol cigarettes, and others licit drugs, the negative side effects have been proven to be greater than marijuana. In fact, alcohol consumption or abuse has been reported to cause more damage to society then use marijuana. It is rarely seen, in fact hardly ever seen where an individual smoking marijuana alone has led to violent behaviours, compared to alcohol abuse. In fact, according to MSNCB, “… study drew a link between marijuana and alcohol use, surmising that the legalization of pot could cause the number of alcohol-fueled crimes to decline” (Delmore, 2014). So compared to other drugs, there are more advantages of the use of the illicit drug marijuana, than some licit

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Marijuana can cure severe illness. It is proven that medicinal marijuana is a safe and natural drug to use that do give nasty side effects to human. Legalizing marijuana can be a useful and a great benefit to the

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This side of the argument believes that marijuana negatively affects different parts of the body. Marijuana is said to affect the brain and cause loss of memory and lack of comprehension. They also believe that it creates 5 times the tar as tobacco does in the lungs. Also that it causes cancer in many parts of the body. Many also consider marijuana as a gateway drug.

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Marijuana is a public health issue because it poses direct and indirect cost to the society. Researchers say that marijuana harms extend beyond the person using it thereby increasing the societal cost of managing the drug (Isaacson). When marijuana is legalized, the society and taxpayer has to dig deep to pay for increased emergency room visits, addiction

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580 Words | 3 Pages

Medical marijuana is defined as “as a medicinal agent available to individuals suffering from pain, glaucoma, wasting syndromes associated with HIV and AIDS, nausea from chemotherapy, and a host of other medical conditions and symptoms...” (Palumbo and Simoni-Wastila 59). With the help of medicinal marijuana, patients have been able to reduce the severe, life-threatening symptoms that they would normally experience as a result of their medical conditions. Marijuana has been proven to reduce depression and anxiety, relieve symptoms of inflammatory bowl disease, and possibly treat epilepsy and several gastrointestinal conditions (Bell 23-24). Twenty three states and the District of Columbia have gone about legalizing medical marijuana and other states are considering following suit (Benson).

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So take a minute to think about the kids of tomorrow living in a world that marijuana is legal. Like most other drugs marijuana affects the parts of the brain that allow us to make plans, solve problems, and make decisions. As a kid/teen our brain is still developing and this will mess with their ability to learn and move forward with their education. Smoking marijuana can cause long-lasting changes in the brain's reward system and critical brain regions involved in learning and memory. Teens who start smoking marijuana risk becoming addicted.

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871 Words | 4 Pages

The Legalization of Marijuana has been the topic of discussions for some time now and there has been many people opposed to legalizing it. However, there are a vast majority of benefits that come along with legalizing this natural substance. Fortunately, there have been many people that have been able to subdue their pain from many medical illnesses by consuming marijuana, without needing to take prescription medications and suffering from the ailing side effects of pharmaceutical medications. Although, there are still many states that don’t allow the use of marijuana, due to a rise of concerns from driving under the influence of marijuana and the inability to test and the fear of more kids consuming the drug, but with proper laws set beforehand

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2337 Words | 10 Pages

Marijuana works by making your brain release more THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) which affects memory, pleasure, movements, thinking, concentration, coordination, and sensory and time perception. This makes the

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639 Words | 3 Pages

“Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States(SAMHSA,2014)”(drug abuse). Marijuana affects how the brain develops, and can affect the user's learning functions. Many say that only good can come from legalizing marijuana, but that's not the case marijuana can be very harmful if it were to be legalized. Marijuana can change a person’s mood and affect their senses and their sense of time. There has been an ongoing debate about whether or not marijuana should be legalized.

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1017 Words | 5 Pages

However, excessive consumption of marijuana would cause the THC (tetrahydrocannabidol), one of the components in marijuana, to quickly pass from the lungs to the bloodstream when smoked, hence, affecting the whole body. It also causes anxiety, increased heart rate, depression and red eyes. According to the United Nations, 158.8 million people around the world use it, which is more than 3.8% of the world's population!

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Marijuana use also interferes with brain functions, such as memory and attention. Since most first time users of marijuana are teenagers and this is the time when the brain is going through many important changes, this can lead to permanent problems with memory. This makes it harder for teens to focus and succeed in school. Teenagers who use marijuana regularly are known to less likely be able to finish high school, more likely to use other drugs and to commit suicide. The use of marijuana can also ruin a teenagers’ future.

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