The Impact of Legalizing Marijuana

Legalizing marijuana will have a huge impact in society. People’s behaviors will change completely about it and new laws and discipline will need to be assigned for it. People use marijuana for many reasons; some use it as treatment in medicine most of the time as pain killer while others use it for their particular pleasure. Marijuana should be legalized because it is less toxic than cigarette, yet cigarette is legal, people have been using it and still use it for medicinal reasons, people will make legal benefit money from selling it, and the government will take control of the illegal selling of marijuana in the street and will make taxes money.

Nicotine is one of the most heavily used addictive drugs in the United States. Cigarette smoking has been the most popular method of taking nicotine since the beginning of the 20th century (Karen 101). Marijuana is less toxic than cigarette because marijuana contains tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) while cigarette contains nicotine. In cigarette, the nicotine increases the threats of cancer while in marijuana THC reduces the risk of getting cancer. If cigarette is legal despite of all the damage it can bring to smokers because of the nicotine it contain, marijuana should be legalized because it is less dangerous than cigarette. Also marijuana is not a lethal drugs and it is also safer than drinking alcohol. Alcohol tends to make people became violent while marijuana does differently. Marijuana should be legalized because it is safer than alcohol and cigarette which are legal and dangerous.

People have been using marijuana for ages, and it is more popular now these days. Clayton and Scott note that “Marijuana has a long history globally. Hemp was used for shipbuilding around 470 B.C, and cannabis plant was cultivated for its psychoactive properties throughout Asia and the Far East” (6). But now people use it for its importance in medicine where marijuana plays an important role. Marijuana is important in medicine because of the THC its main active substance. According to medical marijuana ‘’THC can be prescribed legally in pill form, however, in a medicine known as marinol.” Marinol has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1992. Marijuana can be used to treat and prevent nausea and vomiting caused by cancer medicines. People use marijuana because it has been proven in treating many symptoms of medical illnesses.

By making marijuana legal, it will reduce street crime since most of the crimes came from illegal activities.