When we received this assignment I was conflicted on deciding what would be my topic but as I thought more about what I really wanted to write about, I came down to a final decision that I wanted to write about something that was a very controversial topic and also something that I was passionate about. Before the first ILP I decided that I wanted to write on the legalization of marijuana within the United States, not only medically but recreationally. Personally I've been pro legalization for several years about since I was 15 and I've always had a strong passion for changing the mindsets of many Americans that believe marijuana is a really harmful drug not only to the user but to society itself. Not only because of personal experiences but because of a lot of problems I recognize throughout society simply because marijuana is still illegal in most states, for these reasons I am pro legalization. Marijuana has not been utilized by society in ways that are statistically beneficial to the user and the communities where it has already been legalized recreationally. 

As someone who comes from a family with deep roots of loss due to several types of cancer and disorders such as anxiety, insomnia and depression. When you have to watch someone throughout your life constantly day in and day out deal with immense pain, appetite loss and insomnia from having to go through chemotherapy due to cancer. You take a good look at the all the possible things that could be used to help the patient get through or at least dull the effects of the chemotherapy where it can be at a manageable level. Now based on my personal experiences we went through this in a state who still had not legalized marijuana for medical use and they were not even close to getting to it. Medical marijuana in this situation could have been a major help and made it where my grandmother would have been able to start eating again, actually being able to sleep at night, and been able to tone down the amount of pain she was in day in and day out as she struggled to even make it to her chemotherapy sessions. This is one of the many situations within my personal life that pushed me towards marijuana not only being medically legalized but recreationally legalized as well. Marijuana has many positive effects that most people are blind to simply because it has been such a controversial issue for a very long time. Marijuana is known to help with anxiety, depression, bulimia, other eating disorders, insomnia, and especially beneficial to thousands of cancer patients across the United States.

I would strongly agree that I am a stakeholder when it comes to the legalization of marijuana, not only do I have vested interest within the topic but it also directly affects my personal life. As someone who has been a marijuana enthusiast for several years and actively tries to shed light on the truth about marijuana to everyone that I possibly can, it directly affects me. My research question strongly relates to my personal values since I hold the legalization of marijuana so closely to my heart. It's not only from experience that I have learned the benefits of marijuana but it's also from experiences that could have been bettered or avoided if it was simply legalized. Not just thousands, millions of dollars of taxpayer's money are wasted on simple possession charges, now this includes distributing as well but that is a very small percentage of the total arrest rate. Out of all arrests within the United States averaging about 52% of them are due to simple possession/distributing charges but only 6% of these account for distributing. While there are some people who distribute large amounts of marijuana and serve federal time for it, most of the arrests made every single year are for simple 1-3 gram possession charges which can cause a blemish on your record and depending on the employer can sway his mind to not even give you a chance at the job you're applying for. 

Marijuana is looked at as a drug that reduces intelligence and disables you from becoming a successful person within today's society by the Republican Party for the most part but there are many influential figures that prove that this stereotype is simply made up. Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Phelps, Morgan Freeman, Maya Angelou and countless others have admitted to previously or currently use marijuana within their own lives. The truth is marijuana is illegal simply from false statements and facts that have been transferred by word of mouth throughout generations because it's "Bad for you". Now statistically if you look at thousands of articles and research studies on marijuana you would know that this is simply false. Alcohol and cigarettes have been around and legal for a very long time and if you know the truth about these, either from personal experience or reading studies on the effects of both you would know that they are way worse than marijuana. Cigarettes cause several different types of cancer, highly addictive, and if you get hooked on them you will start to see that you become dependent on smoking cigarettes on a daily basis due to the nicotine, but not only that all of the chemicals that are included within a cigarette. Statically cigarettes have an addictive quality of about 30% whereas marijuana only has a 6% addictive quality, you drop the nicotine and you drop all of those harsh chemicals for something that also benefits you, especially if you're suffering from an illness or disorder such as the ones previously talked about. 

Alcohol on the other hand is known for leading to belligerent crime within the United States and simple arrests that can easily be avoided if you just know how to handle your liquor and not turn into an angry drunk who wants to fight and be aggressive for no reason. Many people are seriously injured every year not only due to drunken misconduct but to citizens who believe that they can still drive at a moderate level after they have had a few drinks or a few too many drinks. Getting behind the wheel of a car when intoxicated not only endangers yourself but everyone around you on the road and countless lives have been taken due to this. Now looking back at the United States both cigarettes and alcohol that are legal to buy have caused not only thousands but millions of deaths. Marijuana on the other hand has never accounted for a single death throughout history, you cannot overdose on it and it's not known for leading people to commit crimes like alcohol does. The only thing you would kill if you smoked marijuana would be that bag of chips you have at home because you have the munchies. 

The main thing I hope to accomplish with this paper would be to shed some light on the looked down upon topic of marijuana by providing facts and convincing people who have been otherwise mislead that it can be beneficial if it were legalized. I think I could definitely effectively address my research question within 8-10 pages, honestly I think I could write way more than 8-10 pages on this topic, simply because I'm so passionate about it. Throughout looking for research sources I have discovered many opinions on marijuana, positive and negative and while there were way more positive opinions on legalization, there will always be someone who disagrees with it. Many people have false beliefs about the effects of marijuana on not just the user but how it could negatively affect society, but basically 98% of these people who have these views have never personally used marijuana. So as far as their credibility on the matter of the topic, most of the effects that they use to argue their point seem made up to me, they simply just want it to stay illegal because that's how what they were raised to believe. 
