Essay On Why Marijuana Should Not Be Legalized

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Throughout the past few years, one of the most popular debates in politics and the media is whether marijuana should legalized or not. Throughout these years filled with heated debate, more and more states have been legalizing the use of marijuana under specific modifications, the most popular being medicinal use only. Marijuana is a plant based drug consisting of shredded leaves from the hemp plant and can by consumed through smoking. More and more states are beginning to legalize marijuana due to the penalties of possessing marijuana being worse than the drugs actual effects and as they come across more benefits that will bring to many aspects of The United States. However, some might argue it should not be legal because the negative aspects …show more content…
Everyone knows how dangerous and life threatening alcohol can be as it is always on the news or some other media source about how someone was killed or in an accident due to the effects of alcohol. Also, the serious effects of tobacco products are made clear through their vivid commercials, but you never hear anything about a death caused by marijuana. In an NBC news article regarding the dangers of alcohol and tobacco versus marijuana it was said, “The report, published in Scientific Reports at the end of January, compared the potential of death from the typical, recreational use of 10 drugs: marijuana, alcohol, tobacco, heroin, cocaine, ecstasy, methamphetamine, diazepam, amphetamine and methadone. Marijuana was, by far, found to be the safest, even when compared to alcohol and cigarettes” (NBC). These results may be surprising, but “Meanwhile, most experts say there has never been a documented overdose death from marijuana use in someone without an underlying condition” (NBC). That right there proves how much safer marijuana is when you compare it to the toll tobacco products have on the body and all the deaths and health problems related to alcohol consumption. As you can see, the use of marijuana is much less dangerous than the use of alcohol and tobacco products, which are both …show more content…
When legalizing marijuana was first even mentioned it was regarding medicinal use and how beneficial it could be in many different cases. It’s often questioned why harmful substances that can severely damage the body are legal, but a substance that is not dangerous and could help those who are sick is illegal. One of the most prevalent health benefits of smoking marijuana is its effects on cancer patients. The American Cancer Society says that “A number of small studies of smoked marijuana found that it can be helpful in treating nausea and vomiting from cancer chemotherapy and few studies have found that inhaled (marijuana can be helpful treatment of neuropathic pain” (ACS). An article in Time magazine described the results of a study that was conducted researching how marijuana can have health benefits. “The studies evaluated marijuana’s ability to relieve a range of symptoms including nausea from chemotherapy, loss of appetite among HIV positive patients, multiple sclerosis spasms, depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, psychosis and Tourette syndrome. Most of the studies showed improvements among the participants taking the cannabinoid products over those using placebo” (TIME). Although medicinal marijuana is legal in some places, it’s hard to believe that marijuana is illegal elsewhere if it can help to treat so many different types of pain

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