The Pros And Cons Of Marijuana

What is being Smoked?

Pot, weed, ganja, Mary Jane, bud, better known as Marijuana or cannabis is a psychoactive drug that is being used more and more in today’s society. Marijuana is a big issue today in the United States as it is slowly being legalized throughout the nation. Marijuana is a confusing substance that not everyone fully understands yet. People are not well educated in the area of marijuana, history, the health benefits, economic benefits, short-term and long-term effects, as well as the dangers of using marijuana. “Marijuana has been used as an agent for achieving euphoria since ancient times”( Narconon 1). This specific drug is a plant that has green leaves that are dried. “ It was described in a chinese medical reference traditionally

The English introduced it in Jamestown in 1611 where it became a major commercial crop alongside tobacco and was grown as a source of fiber”( Narconon 1). It was also used as hemp which isn’t a drug, it is less than 1% of THC. By 1920, marijuana was commonly used in the United States. During the Jazz era of the United States clubs called tea pads, showed up in many major cities. Law enforcement did nothing about these facilities because marijuana was not illegal and members of the clubs never disturbed the public. “A campaign conducted in the 1930’s by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Narcotics( Now the Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs) sought to portray marijuana as a powerful, addicting substance that would lead users into narcotics addiction. It is still considered a gateway drug by some authorities”( Narconon 1). In the 1960’s marijuana was used by hippies and college students to rebel against the government. Over time more and more research was done on marijuana to discover its

The state’s Oregon, Washington, Colorado, and Alaska have legalized marijuana medically and recreationally. These four state’s economies have benefitted tremendously. Denver, Colorado had a monumental $10 million dollars from tax revenue on the product alone just in the first 4 months of it being legalized. The rise of the legal marijuana industry has created thousands of jobs in just the first few months as well. This is just what is happening in Colorado, there are still three more states to go. In the state of Washington, almost $83 million dollars have been collected from tax revenue. In Oregon, over just the first week of sales, $11 million dollars in tax revenue was raised. This happened in just the first week! In Alaska, they will have raised close to $19.2 million dollars from tax revenue. A total of somewhere around 520,000 people of age in Alaska out of 736,732 people were recorded to have purchased marijuana. In Oakland, California $1.3 million dollars was raised from medicinal marijuana.It is also estimated that $1 billion dollars can be saved every year from inmates that have been arrested for possession or use of the drug. As well as prison costs, taxpayers pay millions a year just on marijuana prohibition itself. “ It’s estimated that illegal marijuana is a $36 billion industry in the U.S., MadameNoire reports”( Bradford 8). Among the taxpayers and users of marijuana, many of them are influential