Should Marijuana be legally recognized?
According to federal law, Marijuana is an illegal drug, but over 140 million people in the United States have abused it. In the U.S, many arrests are made every year, especially the youths with the cases of using Marijuana. There has been an ongoing debate in the United States to legalize Marijuana, whereby over 65% of the population has supported the initiative in recent years compared to 1969, whereby only a few of the population supported the initiative (Estoup et al. 2016). People who support the initiative of legalizing Marijuana argue that it will lead to a stop of discrimination against the people who are using it, and it will lead to an economic boost since more jobs will be created. However, there is a group of people who are against the legalization of Marijuana, and they argue that allowing Marijuana to be abused freely will lead to issues of medical such as harming the physical and mental functioning of the body, causing accidents which eventually will lead to many deaths. Therefore my presentation will concern the argument people are giving concerning opposing or supporting the legalization of Marijuana.
Presentation of argument that Marijuana should be legally recognized for recreational use
Many people who are using Marijuana have a belief that it should be legalized both for recreational and medical use; they also have a belief that it has many uses, and therefore its legalization should not be opposed in any way. The research and analysis and various studies that have been done by experts in comparing effects of Marijuana in the body have indicated that it has very minimal effects, the negative impacts that come with it were found to be less, and therefore people who are advocating for its legalization concluded that it should be allowed for recreational purposes because it has a medical purpose (Chadi et al. 2019).
Premises were used to present the argument of those supporting the legalization; they were as follows;
Premise 1: the economy will be boosted as a result of marijuana legalization
Premise 2: there will be low or minimal use of teenagers as a result of legalization
Premise3: legalization will result in a low number of arrests that are made, and traffic deaths will also reduce.
Premise 4: much money will be taken away from the drug cartels, street gangs, and organized crime as a result of legalization, which will wipe out black markets.
Premise 5: use of Marijuana is always leading to discrimination of racism, which results from colour, and therefore if Marijuana is legalized, this act will reduce.
Conclusion: therefore, according to the arguments that have been given by the supporters, Marijuana should be legalized for recreational.
Much solid argument has been given from the premises by the supporters of the legalization whereby they argue that failure in the legalization of Marijuana is becoming late and it will have more disadvantages if it is not legalized as more problems will continue to arise from marijuana use (Arnold and Sade, 2020). It has been realized that making Marijuana illegal has been preventing development from happening as the resources and money that could be used for development are directed to people who are misusing it. Enterprise will be created, which will result in taxation and marketing strategies that are properly due to marijuana legalization. More jobs will be created since much revenue will be created from the sales, which is competitive, Marijuana is produced from a tree known hemp, and this tree is very resourceful, which will have a positive impact on both the agricultural and environmental sectors. There will be import and export of products drawn from hemp, thus boosting the economy.
Presentation of argument that Marijuana should not be used for recreation.
The investigation was done on Marijuana, and its chemicals have been little, though they are many in the real sense. Use of marijuana cause effects in the body such as hallucinations, depression, panic attacks, and damage to the brain, which leads to effects such as perception and cognition.
Premises were used to present the argument of those people who were opposing the legalization of Marijuana; they were as follows;
Premise 1: legalization of Marijuana is leading to more emergencies of medical cases
Premise 2: black markets and organized crimes are increasing as a result of marijuana legalization.
Premise 3: the drug is addictive, and this leads to more dependence
Premise 4: deaths and accidents from traffic are increasing since one will be driving if already drunk.
Premise 5: more harmful effects will be caused, especially to groups like young youths and teenagers, since its legalization will lead to more use.
Premise 6: marijuana use is leading to costs that are steep, especially among the society and taxpayers in general thus, revenue tax will be outweighed.
Conclusion: the opposes from the premises have to give tangible reasons for argument as to why Marijuana should not be legalized as it will lead to more use, especially by the teenagers, thus causing their health to deteriorate, leading to deaths.
The argument of the opposes of the argument seems to have some fundamental reasons with it, and they are giving convincing reasons as to why Marijuana should not be legalized. They argue that smoking of Marijuana is producing a substance known as soot, which when it enters the lungs, it blocks its function due to many inhalations and, therefore that can cause death when the functioning of lungs is interfered with. The women who smoke tend to pose a danger to their fetus since the smoke being inhaled with lead to less development of the child’s brain (Chadi et al. 2019). The youths, especially at the adolescent’s stage, will be addicted to the use of Marijuana, and therefore the will start involving in organized crimes and illegal activities which ruin their life.
Evaluation of argument
The study in the two arguments as to whether Marijuana should be legalized or not has been discussed and reasons given in the premises and therefore conclusion should be given based on which premises have given tangible reasons to support their stand. There have been many h differences from the arguments given by scholars because the arguments they give are sometimes not supported fully by the people since they also have their stand (Estoup et al. 2016). Therefore the arguments are given by these people sometimes seem to persuade people from what is right to what is wrong. However, in order to solve this contrast in an argument, people will agree with the scholar based on the evidence they give in their arguments to support their points, and therefore one will come out with good reasons to believe whether to support or oppose depending on the sources given to support the argument.
Conclusion
This story has been very much interesting as we argue on whether Marijuana should be legalized or not. This argument on whether to legalize Marijuana has been a continuing discussion all over the world, but finding a result has been difficult as each party gives reasons to support their argument. Therefore, it is upon an individual to conclude depending on the evidence which has been given from the argument by scholars. More discussion will continue since people have not reached a single agreement on whether to legalize Marijuana or not since the effects are being studied on both sides of its negative and positive effects.
References
Arnold, J. F., & Sade, R. M. (2020). Regulating Marijuana Use in the United States: Moving Past the Gateway Hypothesis of Drug Use. The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 48(2), 275-278.
Chadi, N., Levy, S., & Weitzman, E. R. (2019). Moving beyond perceived riskiness: Marijuana-
Estoup, A. C., Moise-Campbell, C., Varma, M., & Stewart, D. G. (2016). The impact of marijuana legalization on adolescent use, consequences, and perceived risk. Substance use & misuse, 51(14), 1881-1887.
Related beliefs and marijuana use in adolescents. Substance Abuse, 1-4.