The recent increase in support of the decriminalization of the schedule 1 drug, marijuana, by American citizens has caused a shift of the majority's favor in their direction. Thus, in accords with the nature of a democratic society, the opinions of such a group of citizens cannot go ignored forever; a change of federal policy regarding marijuana is inevitable, for citizens are beginning to speak their voice in larger, more confident numbers. Although support of prohibition no longer holds the vast majority of American public opinion, the rationale behind such a mindset still holds definite value to the discussion of marijuana legalization. The logic leading to a prohibition-free frame of mind, however, supersedes that of the opposition since it pertains more closely to the concept of personal freedom and the principles by which this country was founded. Personally, the debate of personal freedom and the right to one's own body has always been intriguing; I never have understood how another person can tell another what can and can't be done with his/her own body and life. Therefore, I have never understood the prohibition of a plant with which a person may do as he or she chooses. The whole debate has always seemed trivial to me because it, in it of its essence, is a matter of the government making decisions for its citizens rather than informing and allowing said citizens to dictate their own lives. When I was suspended from high school and faced legal repercussions due to a long story, I witnessed the unjustness of the decisions being made by the government for my life. A just legal system should institute punishments that fit the crime, and in no way is having the residue of a plant in your car worth the thousands of dollars that was caused by the court. I have been researching and intrigued by the ever-changing legal status of marijuana in this country for years prior to this incident at school, so I have a relatively sound understanding of marijuana's presence in society. 

In order to understand why marijuana prohibition is an existing facility in America, I first researched an informative article discussing the various negative effects of marijuana on a person's health. The article explained how the drug is used and, furthermore, how the drug affects a person both mentality as well as physically. Points are made concerning the ability of marijuana to lower overall IQ when habitual use begins during the developing, adolescent years of life, impair short-term memory, increase heart rate, and cause breathing issues similar to those of smoking cigarettes. The sole purpose of this article's creation was to inform readers about the potential side effects associated with the use of marijuana, and the author does so by pulling statistics from a wide array of sources. Such sources can be seen credited at the bottom of the article and allow the reader to see where the figures and factoids mentioned in the text derive from. The bias of this article can be seen in the nature of its context, for it was designed in attempt to bring marijuana's negative effects to point, but the information is rather plainly, disallowing for much personal bias inputted by the author.    

Nevertheless, when researching an argumentative article pleading for the continuation of keeping marijuana illegal, the bias became much more apparent. In the article I decided to use as a source for my final research essay, the author, Dr. Stuart Gitlow, states claims such as that of marijuana legalization will likely result in a less intelligent society due to the ability of marijuana to reduce IQ in some of its users. In correspondence with this statement, he also goes on to say that legalization reaps zero monetary benefit to this country since society will likely have to pay more for productivity and illness-related losses than marijuana industry could ever profit in a fiscal year. It is clear that Gitlow views marijuana as a negative property of earth and wishes to eradicate this country of the plant. Although he may perpetuate the stereotype of marijuana users as lazy stoners, there are legitimate studies and statistics used within the text. These sources are cited as hyperlinks in the text and prove that although his conclusions may be radical and opinionated, he has sufficient sources from he draws them.

Moreover, in an effort to investigate the current status of marijuana industry in America, I came across a scholarly-reviewed article pertaining to the federal government's interference in business. Abbey Roudebush, the author of this informative piece writes of the paradoxes put in place by federal law that make the starting of a marijuana business legally impossible, the restrictions put on banks who do business with companies dealing with marijuana (CDM's), and the faulty promises that are sometimes made by the federal government. In this article, Roudebush makes it clear that the federal government's involvement in the marijuana industry makes the running of a profitable CDM an unnecessarily arduous task. She writes from the standpoint of a person who is irritated with the federal governments blatant attempts to impede the progress of marijuana industry, and this is evident in her various rants in the text. Within this source, the various sources from which statistics and accounts of evidence were pulled from can be found at the bottom of each page, leading the reader to believe that the information presented in the text is credible and trustworthy. 

The question of why marijuana should be legal or if it should be at all always sparks a lively discussion amongst people because everyone seems to have their own opinion and theory regarding drugs, especially weed. Many of the scientific studies concerning the chemical construction and physical drawbacks of the drug are widely recognized, so there is no denying the effects or the properties responsible for such an effect caused by cannabis use. Yet, there are disagreements between the two parties regarding the benefits a flower like marijuana has to offer. Whereas the federal government states that marijuana has no medical value to offer society, scientific studies and numerous physical accounts of marijuana combatting disease state otherwise. Medicinal marijuana is a relatively well-known concept since it is legal in 23 of the 50 states to date, but the federal government stands by the view that such a concept is mythological. By keeping marijuana labeled as a schedule 1 drug, properly funded studies with large sample sizes are forbidden and law offenders in states where it is still fully illegal face maximum punishment for a drug that is widely recognized as one without drastic psychoactive effects. Because I am already aware of any arguments the opposition will use to rebut claims in support of legalization, the articles discussing the negative effects of marijuana use did not skew my view but rather confirm my speculation of the reasons used to justify prohibition. To further the argument, I must investigate the ways in which marijuana serves as beneficial to society whether it be due to the economic possibilities with the return of a cash crop like Cannabis or the many medicinal miracles marijuana is capable of. 

