The debate to legally sell weed has been going on for decades. Many see it as only a bad drug that causes harm and ruin lives. They think weed will lead people to trying other worse drugs. Some also think weed will lead to more crime or that weed will become addictive. But others know it can be used for medicine. It can treat anything from anxiety to chronic pain. Weed is also proven to be a less harmful drug than legal substances like alcohol. Those who want to sell weed legally also know it will be good for the country economically. The pros outweigh the cons. Weed should be sold legally.
Some people think that weed will lead people to trying worse drugs like cocaine and heroin. They are afraid that if the United States starts selling weed legally to everybody soon the people will all be addicted to drugs that are much worse. It is true that weed can act as a drug that makes people use other drugs. Andrew Golub and Bruce D. Johnson said in an article titled “The Shifting Importance of Alcohol and Marijuana as gateway Substances Among Serious Drug Users” that people with addictive personalities could use weed and end up using worse drugs (610). People who have addictive personalities are at a higher risk of experiencing the gateway effect.
There has also been evidence of people doing drugs and committing crimes. If somebody is high they may be more into the idea of doing something that is illegal and want to commit a crime or think that it is a good idea. People think that those who use weed will also act in this way. There are studies like the one called “Alcohol, Drugs, and Violent Crime” by Sara Markowitz, published in International Review of Law and Economics that shows this can be true (24-26). Some people with trace amounts of weed in their system have committed crimes..
The majority of people do not want weed to be legally because they are afraid it will become addictive. They think everybody who uses it will get hooked on it and never be able to stop, even if they start using it for medicinal reasons. There are studies though that show marijuana is not actually addictive. There is something called a motivation use, shown in an article published in Addictive Behaviors. It explained that weed is not actually addictive but people may want to use it for specific reasons, giving off the look of addiction. For example a young person who has anxiety might use weed to feel better. If they use it a lot this will look like addiction. Weed itself has no addictive properties (58).
Once thought to only be a drug for teens to waste their life, weed is now used for medicine. Medicinal weed can treat patients who have panic attacks, anxiety, nausea from cancer, chronic pain, depression, and bipolar disorder. These things can be treated naturally because weed does not have bad chemicals in it like many medicines. It is natural. Many people prefer it also because it does not have bad side effects like other medicines. Medical weed can be used to help patients in need all over the world.
Weed is sold illegally through most of the United States. You can go to jail for selling it. But if you are old enough you can buy beer which is much more harmful. According to “An Analysis of Marijuana Toxicity”, published in Clinical Toxicology and written by David E. Smith, nobody can overdose on weed and nobody has ever died from using weed. There is nothing in the natural herbal plant that can cause anything bad to happen to a person (110-111). But legal things like beer and liquor cause liver disease, liver failure, kidney disease, addiction and depression. Over a 24 year study period 287,365 people alone died from liver disease caused by alcohol, according to an article titled “Alcoholic Liver Disease Mortality Rate in the United States: 1980-2003” published in The American Journal of Gastroentology . Many people also died from accidents and other health problems beer causes. If weed were legal to sale less people would drink beer and they would be safer.
Selling weed legally would be good for the country too. If states sold it legally it could be taxed. The taxes could be used to help the country’s debt. Selling weed would also create jobs. In the article “Grass Is Always Greener When Its Legal: Policies For State Regulated Marijuana” in The Economist’s Voice, Evan Cohen and Richard McGowan say taxing weed would earn $5 million in three years. (45-48). Robert A. Mikos thinks California will get $1.4 billion in weed taxes in a year (223).
The debate on saling weed legally is hot. Many think weed is bad. They think young people will use it to explore other drugs, commit crimes, or get addicted to it. But weed would mean many good things for the United States and for people. It is true that some people may try using harder drugs after trying it but those people could be denied the use of weed to help save them. Weed has many good properties. It can be used as medicine for the sick. It is safer than beer. Beer causes many bad things to happen to a person’s body. It is also a way for the country to earn more money and make jobs. Selling weed should be legal.
References
Bonn-Miller, Marcel O., Michael J. Zvolensky and Amit Bernstein. "Marijuana use motives: Concurrent relations to frequency of past 30-day use and anxiety sensitivity among young adult marijuana smokers." Addictive Behaviors (2007): 49-62. Print.
Borgelt, Laura M, et al. "The Pharmacologic and Clinical Effects of Medical Cannabis." Pharmacotherapy: The Journal of Human Pharmacology and Drug Therapy (2013): 195-209. Print.
Cohen, Evan and Richard McGowan. "Grass Is Always Greener When Its Legal: Policies For State Regulated Marijuana." The Economist's Voice (2012): 1-51.
Golub, Andrew and Bruce D. Johnson. "The Shifting Importance of Alcohol and Marijuana as Gateway Substances among Serious Drug Abusers." Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs (2003): 607-614. Print.
Markowitz, Sara. "Alcohol, Drugs and Violent Crime." International Review of Law and Economics (2005): 22-45. Print.
Mikos, Robert A. "State Taxation of Marijuana Distribution and Other Federal Crimes." 2010.
Paula, Helga, et al. "Alcoholic Liver Disease-Related Mortality in the United States: 1980 - 2003." The American Journal of Gastroentology (2010): 39-50.
Ramsey, Alexandra. "Medical Marijuana: The Legal and Clinical Facts Regarding Medical Use." 2013.
Smith, David E. "An Analysis of Marijuana Toxicity." Clinical Toxicology (1970): 101-115.
