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Should Marijuana Be Criminalized Essay

1387 Words6 Pages

Marijuana is a drug that comes with a very complicated and nuanced history. The drug is made organically, planted and harvested naturally, just like countless other drugs or foods that humans consume. Marijuana has been used for medicinal purposes by humans for thousands of years, dating back to usage in ancient China. Since then, the drug has been consistently used both medicinally, and recreationally by different societies, without much controversy surrounding the drug. However, in the past 50-60 years or so, marijuana has been violently stigmatized by society, and the government, consequently making the drug somewhat taboo. For a multitude of reasons society in the United States decided to villainize the drug, causing marijuana users to …show more content…

Criminalizing any drug will always disproportionately affect the poorer demographic, as they are more likely to turn to illegal drugs and get caught with them, when compared to their more affluent counterparts. Moreover, it is no secret that black communities are disproportionately affected by poverty, and live in overall lower income communities, when compared to other demographics. This causes black Americans to be far more likely to use drugs, causing marijuana to be extremely prevalent among black communities in the United States. Therefore, criminalizing marijuana will inevitably disproportionately negatively affect black Americans, as “Black Americans are arrested for cannabis offenses at a rate of nearly 4:1”(Hudak, …show more content…

It has been observed time and time again that hard paternalism regarding the use of drugs and alcohol. For example, drug abuse resistance education, or DARE program was meant to educate kids on the dangers of substance abuse, and prevent future addiction. However in “a test of cumulative significance to determine whether differences existed between D.A.R.E. participants and non–D.A.R.E. participants”(West, 2004), the test “produced nonsignificant results”(West, 2004). This shows the ineffectiveness of hard paternalism tactics in which you only show one side of the story to try and discourage the use of certain substances. D.A.R.E would often not give a thorough education but rather show only the negative consequences and exaggerate them at that. This fear mongering of drugs is ineffective because kids will eventually grow older and realize some of the terrible things said about substances such as marijuana are not true. Furthermore they lack the education of the true

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Within the last ten to fifteen years marijuana has been looked at less and less as a taboo or in a negative light. This is due to medical research finding benefits for the use of marijuana and also the pop culture world like music, television, and movies have put marijuana in this light that makes it “cool” if you smoke marijuana. You have rappers

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The question being asked is why? One may think because peers or other influences such as celebrities on now on the “pot train”. However, teens also don’t believe marijuana is that harmful. Seeing peers and others around you smoking, doesn’t seem like marijuana is all that bad. However, these are the facts provided by Scholastic Choices.

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Truth Behind the Smoke During the 1940’s marijuana was seen by the United States in a negative light and Americans believed it offered no positive impact to American society. Since this time America has slowly changed its view by legalizing marijuana for medicinal use in very few states. The full transition began, however, once the following states Washington, Colorado, California, and Oregon legalized the use of marijuana for medicinal and recreational use. The legalization of marijuana has caused the United States to see the positive effects through marijuana’s medical benefits, lower incarceration rate, and an influx of revenue for the government.

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Marijuana has had a significant amount of medical breakthroughs in its ability to help treat many diseases and disorders such as, glaucoma muscle spasms and even anorexia and bulimia. However, despite these many medical advances, there still lay many controversies surrounding the topic. Marijuana supporters argue that the drug should be used in medicine and be legalized for recreational purposes; on the other hand, those against marijuana argue that it is a gateway drug and should not be used in medicine or recreationally.

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The use of drugs and substances gradually increased over the fast five decades. During 1920s in Prohibition Era many children and adolescents used marijuana , just like heroin usage in1950s in New York and 1990 crack epidemic . These serious concerns caught the attention people who are involved in their children’s live and education. They were trying to understand the reasons of substance abuse and ways that it could be more effectively prevented. Researchers and scientists came up with three combinations of biological , psychological and sociological theories of why they might think adolescents use drugs and alcohol.

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If the programs that we are so eagerly enforcing in schools have little to no effect on the outcome of the students being, then there needs to be another method to teach the negative end result of drug usage. If our incoming generations are not being properly educated on the habit forming manipulation of drugs, then it will increase the likelihood of the students becoming addicts. For this society to remain sustained, we need to pay attention to our incoming generations because they will be the future of this world. We need to raise and educate the incoming generations with the intentions of them some day becoming our leaders. In order for this to happen, we need to acknowledge the problems in the world and educate them on the subject; one being drug addictions.

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The United States government has an approved list of drugs that are considered legal and illegal that create adverse side effects and hold diverse political views. Marijuana is one of the drug substances that has received a lot of notoriety in the public domain. Marijuana has causes a lot of controversial debate that has it attracted over it use. Marijuana is even referred to in today’s media mainstream sources that then youth enjoy like music, movies, and TV shows, do not even bother to leave the drug out of their system. Today marijuana is commonly used by the youth

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Growing up, we were all taught to stay away from illicit drugs, such as marijuana, because they could harm both your physical and mental health. Well, we were taught wrong. Weather it be uneducation or just pure ignorance, these drugs can, in fact, can increase your overall quality of life, and we as a country have yet to accept that. Especially considering if marijuana was indeed legal, all of the marijuana would be regulated and sold by the government, making the drug even safer. It is an outrage how we can sit and watch benefits of a relatively safe drug fly out the window.

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Top 25 countries where cannabis is legal Cannabis has been frowned at for decades, but in recent times, some countries have decimalized and also legalized the use, possession and cultivation of cannabis. Countries where cannabis is somewhat legal include: Argentina Argentina has a very loose policy on smoking cannabis. You can use cannabis without fear in this country. Possession of cannabis is a different ball game. Cultivating, selling or transporting cannabis is a crime in Argentina.

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Marijuana, formerly known as Cannabis, has been looked at in a medical sense for centuries. Marijuana was seen as a household drug throughout the seventeenth to the early twentieth century as a remedy to reduce nausea or vomiting, headaches, an anti-inflammatory, and the choice of pain reliever. In the 1920s, the Eighteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution outlawed the manufacture and sale of alcohol, also known as Prohibition. As a result, marijuana flourished as a psychoactive drug.

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Some adolescents are exposed to drug use in their own homes. Kids observe people using various substances. They observe their parents drinking alcohol, smoking, and using illegal substances. Adolescents feel that certain forms of drugs, such as marijuana, are not harmful. The legalization of marijuana reinforces this belief.

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Each year the (DEA) Drug Enforcement Administration come up with different reasons why marijuana is harmful to society. Reasons like causing psychological and mental issues to the brain or the comparison that marijuana is closely related to tobacco. The real question is why is there so much money being invested in putting people behind cells for possession of marijuana. That money could have been funding towards the education system or feeding the less fortunate. The United States as a unit is so focused on how marijuana is hurting the people that they are forgetting how much money is being invested in the wrong area.

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984 Words | 4 Pages

Starting from the beginning, I will tell you what marijuana - also called grass, ganja, pot, and various other slang terms - is. Marijuana comes from the Indian hemp plant and is the greenish-brown mixture of the dried flowers of cannabis sativa. When I was younger I used to believe that speaking positively about Marijuana, makes you look like a bad personage or either worse, a criminal. This opinion was based on the false information media produced and on the government laws of my country. However, by enhancing my knowledge, I have decided that cannabis offers so much to humanity, that not only it has many benefits, it has to be legalized.

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Some people think education and imprisonment does not reduce the use of drugs, so they suggest the legalization of drugs. I don't agree with this view. Now there are many new drugs, the medicinal properties of these drugs may be lower than the previous drug, but still great harm to human body. More teenagers try drugs, for the development of society and human health, so drugs must be banned.

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