Marijuana has been one of the biggest controversial drugs in America and is still is. The reason why people do not agree on the use of marijuana is that people think that marijuana could be one of the leading causes of a gateway drug. However, others think that marijuana is not a gateway drug nonetheless, they think the opposite. They see good in the plant and the properties that it contains. Marijuana helps people that have medical conditions, for example, cancer, seizures, and eating disorders, or to help get rid of their addictions, for example, drinking, smoking cigarettes and getting off some hard drugs. This brings me to this question, will marijuana legalization enhance or undermine our society? It already has enhanced our society because …show more content…
They further anticipate that legal marijuana will be a significant source of tax revenue, and it will reduce the high costs related to law enforcement (American Society, par 1). Here it talks about how if we legalize marijuana it will reduce illegal trade and any crime with it marijuana; in addition, marijuana will be a good source of tax and will reduce the high price of law enforcement. American Society points out a really good point about legalizing marijuana they say, Removing criminal penalties for marijuana possession (i.e., marijuana decriminalization) could substantially reduce the large number of marijuana possession arrests depending upon laws regarding limitations on possession, use, transportation, etc. Likewise, under marijuana legalization, marijuana possession arrests would likely plummet in those states; however, under both circumstances, other marijuana-related arrests would still be made (American Society, par …show more content…
Stimson says, “Marijuana advocates have had some success in arguing that is a "soft" drug, similar to alcohol, and fundamentally different from "hard" drugs like cocaine or heroin. To equate alcohol with marijuana, however, is both uninformed and misleading. Their similarities run only skin deep.” (Stimson, par 1). Here Stimson starts off telling that marijuana supporters argue that cannabis is similar to alcohol because cannabis is a “soft” drug not like other drugs that are considered “hard” for example, cocaine or heroin. Then he starts talking about how marijuana is not good for our society he says, ‘ "long-term use of marijuana may alter the nervous system in ways that do promote violence." ’No place serves as a better example than Amsterdam ( Stimson, par 5). Stimson starts by quoting the National Research Council on how they said that the long-term of use of marijuana can cause some violence in California. He also gives an example of how Amsterdam is one of the most violent countries in Europe because of cannabis legalization. Overall the articles were interesting Stimson and American Society really supported their claims really good. I really got to understand why people do not want cannabis to be legalized and how it could undermine our society. Now we are going to transition to why cannabis should be