
Weed, pot, grass, kush, however you say it, marijuana has always had a negative connotation. Marijuana has always been viewed by society as evil and harmful simply because it is categorized as a drug. However, marijuana is just the opposite. It is almost harmless, has proven to have tremendous healing abilities, and has no major physical or mental consequences. Marijuana is very prominent in pop culture and in teen society today. The drug is already used my teens and adults alike, and only takes money away from the government by not mandating the sale of marijuana and also forces taxpayers to pay for the imprisonment of people who are put in jail simply for a marijuana charge. The legal sale of marijuana also brings in a ton of revenue to communities. These communities can use the money to build new roads or improve the public schools or public playgrounds. Marijuana is already legal in some pioneering states for recreational and medicinal use, and other states are soon to follow suit. Marijuana has consistently shown positive health benefits when given to patients who suffer from diseases such as Alzheimer's, Arthritis, Chronic Pain and many others. The positives with the drug extremely outweigh the negatives and with more and more research being done on the effects on the brain and the body, more and more states will soon realize its benefit and will legalize marijuana and lift the ban. Recreational usage should be legalized as well because of recent studies and findings that have been discovered across the country regarding the effects of marijuana on all aspects of human life and well being. 

Medicinal marijuana has gained more and more attention in today’s society, especially in recent times. NBA champion player and coach Steve Kerr recently came out and said that he tried marijuana to help his chronic back pain. Kerr said that marijuana undoubtedly has positive impacts on the human body and should be used to treat patients with similar diseases and ailments (Haynes). Similarly, a recent video went viral showing a parkinson’s patient smoking marijuana and the amazing healing effect that the drug had on sick person. Just over half of the states in the United States have legalized marijuana for medicinal use. With the recent overwhelming news about the drug coming from the influential video of the parkinson’s patient to NBA legend Steve Kerr speaking out about the drug in a positive light and having many of his players and other NBA personalities support him. We are witnessing a marijuana movement, a transition from where marijuana was completely frowned upon to today’s day and age where marijuana can be a crucial treatment in the healing of many common diseases that plague the world today. The world is finally beginning to face the facts, the truths about marijuana. The drug has positive impacts on the human body physically and mentally. 

There are a plethora of health benefits from using marijuana. There are two known active chemicals in marijuana that can have medical implications, THC and CBD. CBD, also known as Cannabidiol, may have the ability to stop cancer cells from spreading, according to a study conducted at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco (Welsh, Lauria). Medical marijuana is also quite common in treating anxiety. A study in 2010 at Harvard Medical School found that, “Medical marijuana users claim the drug helps relieve pain and suppress nausea — the two main reasons it's often used to relieve the side effects of chemotherapy.” The biggest epidemic in the medical world today is cancer, and if marijuana is proven to help the treatment of cancer, there is no reason why medicinal marijuana should be illegal. 

The other active chemical in marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol or THC, also has shown tremendous medical health benefits. According to a 2006 study led by the Scripps Research Institute, marijuana may be able to slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease. Kim Janda found that THC slows the formation of amyloid plaque by blocking the enzyme in the brain that makes them. These plaques are what kill brain cells and cause Alzheimer's (Welsh, Lauria). THC can also help ease the pain that comes from multiple sclerosis. Jody Corey-Bloom published a study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal that focused on 30 patients who suffered painful contractions in their muscles from multiple sclerosis. Other treatments did not work on these patients but after a few days of smoking marijuana the patients agreed that they were in less pain. THC binds to receptors in the nerves to relieve pain. Marijuana has been studied for years and has recently been proven by numerous doctors to help relieve pain and help treat all kinds of different diseases, yet some patients are not allowed to receive the beneficial treatment they need because medical marijuana is still illegal in about 20 states in the United States.  

Besides the ample health benefits that marijuana gives to a person, there are also economic benefits that can have a significant impact on a person, family, or even a community. A small town in Colorado called Trinidad has begun to rely on the sell of medicinal and recreational marijuana. The town was formerly a mining town, however business suffered and moved to neighboring towns and put the city of Trinidad in serious trouble, until the legalization of marijuana in Colorado. Trinidad is using the money to rebuild roads and pipes that were installed in the 19th and early 20th century. The dispensary says that they see anywhere from 100-300 customers per day and expect over $100 million of revenue within the next five years (Weed Money Could Save Small Town).  Similarly, Washington state is expected to bring in $500 million worth of revenue from the sale of legal marijuana. Including lost tax revenues, a 2007 study found that enforcing the marijuana prohibition costs taxpayers $41.8 billion annually (Bradford). This spike in revenue for these legal states could help rebuild communities or struggling and beat up neighborhoods in the big cities. Colorado was the first state to legalize and regulate recreational use of marijuana, and decriminalization has been a success for the state’s tax base. Colorado collected more than $6 million in tax revenue in the first two months of 2014, and state legislators expect the value to multiply substantially by the middle of 2015. This projection has led to a planned marijuana money earmark of $40 million for the state's public schools. Washington appears just as well off, as it estimates that the state will raise nearly $200 million over the next four years in marijuana taxes and fees.This means states that lag behind in the land of criminal marijuana are potentially denying themselves access to an opportunity that could lead to balanced budgets and improving their public schools and communities (Brewer). 

 Legalization could not only represent a potential tax windfall, but also a chance to relieve the immense burden that our country faces when managing its prison systems. Since the start of the decade, our prisons have incarcerated nearly 12,000 federal prisoners and about 33,000 state prisoners for marijuana-­related crimes.The average cost of each federal prisoner was about $29,000 in 2011 and every state prisoner cost taxpayers $31,286 as of 2010 (Brewer). Prisons in the United States are already overcrowded and underfunded, so it is irresponsible to continue imprisoning otherwise law ­abiding citizens and contributing to an already difficult penal problem over something as minimal in consequence as pot distribution or use. Studies still point to marijuana having potentially harmful effects on teens’ and young adults’ brains, however, up to and including development of schizophrenia, and we should remain cautious until the dangers are more clear.

When considering why marijuana is illegal, one might wonder why some drugs, like alcohol, are far worse for you than marijuana. There are many reasons why alcohol is worse for your body than marijuana. For example, it is very possible for a person to die from an alcohol overdose, however it is impossible to die from a marijuana overdose. Furthermore, “alcohol use is associated with a wide variety of cancers, including cancers of the esophagus, stomach, colon, lungs, pancreas, liver and prostate. Marijuana use has not been conclusively associated with any form of cancer. In fact, a 2009 study contradicted the long-time government claim that marijuana use is associated with head and neck cancers. It found that marijuana use actually reduced the likelihood of head and neck cancers. If you are concerned about marijuana being associated with lung cancer, you may be interested in the results of the largest case-controlled study ever conducted to investigate the respiratory effects of marijuana smoking and cigarette smoking. Released in 2006, the study, conducted by Dr. Donald Tashkin at the University of California at Los Angeles, found that marijuana smoking was not associated with an increased risk of developing lung cancer. Surprisingly, the researchers found that people who smoked marijuana actually had lower incidences of cancer compared to non-users of the drug” (Marijuana is Safer Than Alcohol: It’s Time to Treat it That Way). Alcohol also has a much more severe impact on the community than marijuana does. According to a study conducted by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, it is estimated that 25-30% of violent crimes in the United States are linked to the use of alcohol (Marijuana is Safer Than Alcohol: It’s Time to Treat it That Way). On the other hand, the government does not even follow or track the amount of violent crimes linked to marijuana usage, probably because they are almost nonexistent. This is why not only medicinal marijuana should be legal, but the recreational use of marijuana should be legal as well. 

On the recent November 8th ballot, five states (Massachusetts, Arizona, Maine, California, Nevada) were up for legalization of marijuana for recreational use. Arizona is the only state who voted to keep recreational use of marijuana illegal. The other four states approved the legalization of recreational marijuana and the laws are currently in effect. Many people, in Massachusetts in particular, spoke out against the legalization. The Massachusetts Medical Society, Republican Charlie Baker, Massachusetts governor, and Democrat Marty Walsh, Boston mayor, all did not support the vote for legal marijuana. These people argued that marijuana is a gateway drug and the effects on the brain are still somewhat unknown. Marijuana is not just free to use for anyone, however, there are still strict regulations on the drug. Massachusetts adults 21 and older can possess an ounce of dried weed or five grams of concentrate in public (you can have up to another nine ounces at home, but it has to be locked up, literally). Residents are allowed to grow as many as 6 plants at home, with a limit of 12 per household. And it can be grown outdoors for personal or commercial use, but has to be planted where the public couldn’t see it. And it can not be smoked or consumed in stores or public places (Wong). 

Many people are concerned with the legalization of marijuana because they feel it will have a terrible influence on America’s youth. People claim that marijuana is a gateway drug, meaning the use of marijuana increases the likelihood of using harder drugs, such as heroin or cocaine. However, former United States Attorney General Loretta Lynch said that marijuana is not a gateway drug.  She spoke at a high school last year and said, “There a lot of discussion about marijuana these days. Some states are making it legal, people are looking into medical uses for it, and I understand that it still is as common as almost anything,” Lynch replied. “When we talk about heroin addiction, we unusually, as we have mentioned, are talking about individuals that started out with a prescription drug problem, and then because they need more and more, they turn to heroin. It isn’t so much that marijuana is the step right before using prescription drugs or opioids.” Loretta Lynch says that marijuana is not the drug problem that Americans and parents should be concerned about. Lynch argues that prescription pills are much more of an issue with teens today than marijuana is. Recreational marijuana is illegal in almost every state in the United States, yet that doesn’t stop teens from obtaining and using marijuana. According to a study conducted by the University of Michigan, 21.2% of high school seniors have reported to have used marijuana in the last month, 16.6% of high school sophomores, and 6.5% of eighth graders. The legalization of recreational marijuana would not allow teens to use marijuana, you would have to be 21 in order to do so, so marijuana would still be illegal for them. Clearly, with marijuana being illegal, that does not stop American teens from obtaining and using marijuana. The legalization of marijuana would also free up America’s prisons and save taxpayers’ money. Police should not be focused on cracking down on marijuana usage because there are far more serious and dangerous crimes being committed and marijuana should be the least of law enforcement’s worries. 

Marijuana should still be regulated and strictly governed, that is not the argument. Legalizing marijuana across the country would mean enforcing appropriate age restrictions and consumption limits, just as states enforce regulations for alcohol and cigarettes. Moderation is as important when using marijuana as it is for anything else. But ending the ban on marijuana use has been a long time coming. The world is changing so quickly that it is very hard to keep up with all the advancements in technology and science. The world is altering at an alarming rate that mankind has never before seen. Society needs to come to the realization that marijuana use is not harmful, contrary to popular belief about 30 or 40 years ago. Thanks to our advancing scientific knowledge, scientists have come to the conclusion that marijuana does far more positive things to your body and to society than is does harmful things. Many people across the country do not support the legalization of marijuana because it goes against everything they believe in. These people can not imagine a society where people are legally allowed to use marijuana. The legalization of marijuana would not turn the country into a collection of marijuana fiends. The drug is not addictive. It is still illegal in every legal state in the country for teens and anyone under 21 to purchase or smoke or consume marijuana. It is still illegal to smoke marijuana in public in every legal state. Not wanting a society of pot users and having the use be legal is reasonable, however it is not the case and is not what would happen if and when marijuana becomes legal in all 50 states. This stance on the drug is understandable, but one must realize that this drug is a drug unlike any other and has serious medical and economical implications. Marijuana has been proven to have the capability to slow down cancer and to treat other horrible diseases that harass the country. It is time for a change to be made, and for people to open their eyes and realize the facts about marijuana. 
