“Almost two out of every 10 Canadians reported having consumed marijuana in the past year, but more than 30 percent of poll respondents said they would do so in the next year if it were legal” (Evans, 2015). In the past few years, many people have been expressing their opinions on why marijuana should be legal in Canada. It has been one of the most highly debated topics in Canada and in recent years more have been in support of legalization, “59 percent — support new laws that would legalize, tax and regulate recreational marijuana usage under some conditions” (Evans, 2015). Just last year in the Canadian election the population elected Justin Trudeau for Prime Minister, with one of his priorities being to legalize marijuana in the country. Majority of Canadians have greatly supported this idea. Legalizing marijuana may be the popular opinion in Canada, however there are far too many risks that prohibit it to make it truly beneficial to society as a whole. Due to the health risks, social-public relations risks, and the overall impact on the younger generation, the legalization of marijuana poses more disadvantages than benefits, and therefore should remain illegal in Canada.
Mental illness is a very serious issue that affects many people around the world. Cannabis use increases the likelihood of getting a mental illness, and creates a struggle for those who already have one. Specifically, cannabis use further increases the risk for depression, “young women [with] this level of use [were] associated with over five times the odds of depression and anxiety found in non-users” (Pattron et al., 2002). If marijuana gets legalized for recreational use, it will increase the usage across the country. However, with higher usage the risk ...
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...cation. The substance acts as a learning barrier for students as on it the drug, they will not reach their full potential.
All of these cons make legalizing too much of a risk to society. The negative influence of marijuana on adult and teenage lives makes it more of a threat rather than helping society as a whole. There are still many unknown facts about the drug, but I urge the Canadian government to wait until more studies show that it has minimal threat to human health and safety. Until more concrete facts are shown marijuana, should remain illegal in Canada to play it safe. Nonetheless, marijuana legalization is a topic that will be argued for many years to come and will likely never have a hundred percent of people on one side. However, right now with problems it has on the youth, human health, and public safety there is no point in legalizing marijuana.
Marijuana is a relatively harmless drug that governments around the world have made illegal. If legalized, marijuana can be beneficial to society in a number of ways: whether it be for medical, economic, or public safety reasons. Marijuana has been proven to treat several life debilitating, and even life threatening diseases. Although it is not a cure, marijuana can ease the pain and suffering of a dying person. Another benefit of legalization is the financial gains that governments will accomplish through the taxation of marijuana. This is a realistic claim if marijuana sales are compared to that of cigarettes; governments make billions each year from cigarette taxes (Caputo and Ostrom 484). Every year law enforcement spends countless man-hours trying to apprehend marijuana dealers and growers. This time would be better utilized in dealing with more serious crimes. This essay will display some main reasons why marijuana is a substance with beneficial uses and applications. First, marijuana can be used as a treatment for the effects of diseases such as AIDS, cancer, glaucoma, and other terminal diseases. A study carried out in California clearly demonstrates the effectiveness of marijuana as a treatment for cancer: “Over 74 percent of the cancer patients treated in the program have reported that marijuana is more effective in relieving their nausea and vomiting than any other drug they have tried.”(Zeese 1990). Chemotherapy for cancer patients often produces nausea and vomiting. Marijuana has been proven to relieve these symptoms and there have been no known side effects recorded (Ad Hoc Group of Experts part 4).
Willie Nelson once said, “I think people need to be educated to the fact that marijuana is not a drug. Marijuana is an herb and a flower. God put it here. If He put it here and He wants it to grow, what gives the government the right to say that God is wrong?”
Based on the conclusion made by the US National Institutes of Health, marijuana should remain illegal. Although it does have many medicinal benefits - including improving the appetite in chemotherapy and AIDS patients, reducing muscle spasms associated with epilepsy and multiple sclerosis, and alleviating eye pressure in glaucoma patients - there is no proof that marijuana is the most effective treatment. The main active ingredient in marijuana (THC) is already available in its legal form, Marinol; it does in fact have therapeutic applications; therefore, the whole substance of marijuana does not necessarily need to be legalized. In addition, marijuana has many side effects that may harm patients. If marijuana does become legal, multiple legal drawbacks would occur. For example, it is highly likely that doctors may take bribes from healthy patients to prescribe the drug for recreational use. This would make legalization too difficult to regulate because prescriptions may end up in the wrong hands. In addition, legal marijuana may provide drug dealers with an easy opportunity to escape prosecution for trafficking and dealing drugs. “Reversed psychology” would not work in this situation, for the legalization of marijuana would inflict more chaos and crime than it would attempt to prevent.
Based on the comments to the recent article by Catherine Cullen, Canadians’ opinions on the legalization of marijuana are consistent with Silbey and Ewick’s three narratives on people’s perception of the law. For instance, a commenter stated: “Marijuana will be legalized and nothing will change. Life will go on” (Cullen 2016). This is a clear example of an individual who is before the law because he perceives the law as an objective sphere that is distant from his personal life. According to
Should marijuana be sold at corner stores to anyone? Recently, some of Canada¡'s politicians have claimed to introduce the legislation of legalizing marijuana. According to the policy, the possession of marijuana will not be considered as a criminal sanction. Indeed, marijuana will become a legal substance. People who are over 16 can buy it over the counter just as alcohol or tobacco. Although legalizing marijuana may be beneficial to those people with medical purposes, it will create more problems and dangers to the society. The problems that associated with legalizing marijuana are causing negative impacts on public health and increasing marijuana consumption among youths. Also, the misuse of marijuana may cause people to drive under the influence of the drug, and hence, more accidents may occur, causing more expenses on public health care. Clearly, the downsides of legalizing marijuana outweigh its benefits.
Many people have a bad and dirty drug as an image of marijuana, and many children have been told to stay away from drug, but some adults are involved. If Canada can be one of the countries that are legalizing marijuana, then it will have multiple beneficial impacts, such as medical purposes, personal uses, economics, and societies. Hence, legalizing marijuana is a step that can make people to live in a better place.
Marijuana has long been the subject of many heated debates and political platforms. With lack of un-biased materials on marijuana, it quickly became victim to publications and political propaganda in the early 1900s. Richard Isralowits writes, “Publications from the period had such titles as Marijuana-Sex Crazy Drug Menace, Marijuana-The Weed of Madness, and Marijuana: Assassin of Youth”(Use of Marijuana,105). Surely in this modern age and heightened public awareness our marijuana laws, drafted in a time of extreme bias, have got to be obsolete. Although many people still have strong opinions against the legalisation of marijuana, after review of current un-biased studies and reports they will find that this is not the case. Marijuana should be legalised in Canada because of the cost, the justice system, and the health concerns.
In conclusion, Canada should not be legalized for marijuana because it causes a lot of negative effects to everyone. Nowadays, everyone knows how bad marijuana is, how can it affect on people’s lives, and how terrible to human. Therefore, people should not use marijuana in their lives for maintaining their health, having a better relationship with their partners and families, and improving the public safety. Also, there are several ways for people or education institutions to avoid using marijuana, schools should teach the right information about marijuana to the next generation, and parents should be good models for their children.
Lately it seems that drug policy and the war on drugs has been in the headlines quite a lot. It is becoming increasingly apparent that the policies that the United States government takes against illegal drugs are coming into question. The mainstream media is catching on to the message of organizations and individuals who have long been considered liberal "Counter Culture" supporters. The marijuana question seems to be the most prevalent and pressed of the drugs and issues that are currently being addressed. The messages of these organizations and individuals include everything from legalization of marijuana for medical purposes, to full-unrestricted legalization of the drug. Of course, the status quo of vote seeking politicians and conservative policy makers has put up a strong resistance to this "new" reform lobby. The reasons for the resistance to the changes in drug policies are multiple and complex. The issues of marijuana’s possible negative effects, its use as a medical remedy, the criminality of distribution and usage, and the disparity in the enforcement of current drug laws have all been brought to a head and must be addressed in the near future. It is apparent that it would be irresponsible and wrong for the government to not evaluate it’s current general drug policies and perhaps most important, their marijuana policy. With the facts of racial disparity in punishment, detrimental effects, fiscal strain and most importantly, the history of the drug, the government most certainly must come to the conclusion that they must, at the very least, decriminalize marijuana use and quite probably fully legalize it.
Marijuana, also known as cannabis, is a plant that is consider one of the many illegal sustains. Marijuana is a plant that clams to make people addicted like other drugs like meth, cocaine, and other harmful sustains. Marijuana has been refer as pot, grass, reefer, weed, herb, mary jane, or mj by National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). (34) When mentioning of this plant, it cause sirs among the public about the dangerous use of the plant. The news media portal marijuana as harmful plants that changes people for the worst. For the past years, states has proposal to legalize marijuana for medical purposes. While other states has taken the actions of making the plant completely legal. With the change of the laws changing, marijuana has been the subject of debate if marijuana should be legalize or not. The United State people are divided from the supportive uses of marijuana uses, while other are against the use of marijuana. For example, nowadays most young people are in the favor of marijuana use for either the benefits or the fact that they have easy access of the drug. By a group of young people that are supportive with the legalization of an illegal drug, there a sign of support that U.S citizens are in favor of legalizing of marijuana. While the older generation, who are oppose with the use of marijuana, shows disagreement of marijuana use due of believing that it will bring more harm than good in their society. Whatever the case might be, the supporters are in favor of legalizing the plant, while the oppose people are not interested of legalizing it. Since some states are election for the legalization of medical marijuana uses, it recommend to the public that they should vote on the legalization of medical marijuana uses. ...
Legalizing Marijuana has been a common subject for debate in the United States. As the debate continues on in the political system, marijuana has become the most popular illegal drug in the United States. There are many arguments for and against the legalization of marijuana ranging from the effects on the mind and body to the economic possibilities after legalization. Both sides embrace strong facts and stronger support, but much of these facts consist of similar research with contradicting results. The side that tends to have the most and the strongest support in the most prominent arguments, economics, health, and criminal association, is the group for legalizing marijuana.
According to Martin Luther King Jr., “There are two types of laws: there are just and there are unjust laws” (King 293). During his time as civil rights leader, he advocated civil disobedience to fight the unjust laws against African-Americans in America. For instance, there was no punishment for the beatings imposed upon African-Americans or for the burning of their houses despite their blatant violent, criminal, and immoral demeanor. Yet, an African-American could be sentenced to jail for a passive disagreement with a white person such as not wanting to give up their seat to a white passenger on a public bus. Although these unjust laws have been righted, Americans still face other unjust laws in the twenty-first century.
The cannabis plant has been the topic of much debate throughout the history of this country. Many people don't know that it was not the effect of cannabis that originally spurred its banning. It was actually originally the work of the cotton industry who put big money behind illegalization for the plant's mind altering effects. The cotton industry was afraid that hemp, a product of the cannabis plant, would soon overpower the strong hold of cotton since it was a more durable textile that required less work, less ground depletion, and could be grown almost anywhere. Since the time when cannabis first became illegal it has been grouped with other narcotics as a counterpart. The truth is cannabis has many benefits to society and other than the effects of smoke inhalation has very few negatives. Those against legalization try to put cannabis in the same light as other more potent drugs like cocaine and heroin. There are many misconceptions about the substance and it is clear it should be looked at separately.
America is wasting it’s money and resources. It’s trying restrict something on which restrictions don’t have any effects: drugs. People who don’t use recreational drugs don’t do so because of the health risks; people who do use drugs would whether or not they are legal. The fact that they are illegal makes little difference. Nevertheless, $15,000,000,000 goes directly into drug prohibition every year, and has very little effect. Very much money is spent to pay police narcotics officers, fund the D.E.A., and house drug-offenders in prison. The prisons are full of drug-related criminals, and violent offenders go free earlier because of this. Which would you prefer walking the streets, a rapist, or a potsmoker?
National Institute of Mental Health. "Teen Marijuana use Worsens Depression." 2007. National Institute of Mental Health. Web. 22 March 2014.