Synthesis Essay On Legalizing Marijuana

2869 Words12 Pages

Through the perspective of America’s war on drugs, marijuana turns out to be the most hated enemy. When one approaches the question, “should marijuana be legalized?” The natural response to this inquiry should be why it was illegal in the first place. The legal reprimands on marijuana began when congress passed the Marijuana tax act of 1937. This tariff put an excise tax on the sale of the drug. (Wikipedia) This resulted in the fruition of corrupt business officials trying to make quick money on the plant. A legislation passed in the 1930’s, when virtually nothing about the drug was known, should not align with our drug and health legislations in the 21st century. Should such notions in the 1930’s be the basis of 800 thousand prosecutions every year? (Drug Policy) Also, should our society turn a blind eye to all the positive economic implications the drug could have if it were legalized? Anti – legalization laws have hindered the ability of marijuana to be put to positive use. Legalizing marijuana would benefit the socio – economic status of the United States by decreasing debt, lowering the rate of abuse of the drug, increasing the economic stature of the United States, and by providing medical benefits to …show more content…

This test was conducted by performing FEV1 and FVC tests. These tests measured breathing patterns and found out that the duration of breath and the volume exhaled was greatly increased in marijuana smokers. (Pinelli) This means that people who smoke marijuana have increased lung capacity. Decreased pulmonary function is one of the biggest problems that prohibitionists advocate. With the success of one of the largest and longest studies to date, proving that marijuana is not linked to chronic breathing problems, marijuana users can breathe easy.