When someone hears marijuana, they think of drugs such as cocaine and heroin, but should marijuana be in the same category? Are there benefits to this drug that we are hesitant to believe because of the stigma surrounding it or is it really just as destructive as all the other illegal drugs out there? More and more states are starting to legalize marijuana, but people are still on the fence on whether it’s beneficial or not. There is still an ongoing debate on whether marijuana is a harmful gateway drug or if it is helping medicine evolve, but the one thing we cannot deny about legalizing marijuana are the economic benefits.
Marijuana has been in the battle of being legalized for years. There have been many studies done, but of course there are reasons to think it’s a gateway drug because just like many other drugs that are medically distributed it was been abused and altered. Marijuana has been stigmatized for years and now that it is being legalized in multiple states people are trying to show everyone a positive side of the drug. There’s been a huge outreach in the medical field with this drug proving that it can be used for therapeutic reasons and has also been used to treat things such as depression, anxiety, and insomnia. It can also be used for pain control “Marijuana may have a safer therapeutic window than opioids for pain control, and an observational study found fewer opioid-related deaths in states with liberal marijuana laws.” (Monte par 6). Not only has this drug shown its benefits medically but also economically it has made a huge impact on the states that have gone through the legalization process.
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It’s completely normal for people to be skeptical of a drug that has been abused for decades and after all this time is now on the brink of being street legal. There are so many questions that have been unanswered or the ones that have been answered it’s hard to believe that the outcome can be anything but negative. Marijuana has been entangled with other drugs such as cocaine, heroin, and many others that have taken lives and created crime on the streets. People can’t help but wonder if this will only promote the problem of drugs rather than diminish it. One of the health concerns most have is the fact that edibles are now being sold and can be mistaken by children, “The most concerning health effects have been among children. The number of children evaluated in the ED for unintentional marijuana ingestion at the Children's Hospital of Colorado in creased from 0 in the 5 years preceding liberalization to 14 in the 2 years after medical liberalization.” (Monte par 11). With all of these doubts why should we let this drug loose in our streets?
According to a survey taken back in 2017, out of 16,280 adults 66% of them claimed that the biggest benefit from medical marijuana use was for pain management. The rest of the population of the survery had said it benefited treatment of diseases such as epilepsy and also helped with anxiety and depression (Keyhani et al par 1). Medical tests have been conducted using marijuana and has continued to thrive in area other than psychiatric disorders, “Patients with some seizure disorders may benefit from the cannabidiol component in marijuana, and several clinical trials will soon enroll patients. Marijuana likely has anti-inflammatory effects and may benefit some patients with inflammatory bowel disease.” (Monte par 6). The medical benefits aren’t the only upside of this deal, most people don’t realize the impact on crime that legalizing marijuana has had. By legalizing this drug, it takes the middleman out which means the state regulates the drug and ensures there is nothing wrong with the product before distributing out to the vendors. “First, a large black market largely nullifies efforts to prevent ready access to marijuana, with billions of dollars in profits enriching gangs and cartels and fueling egregiously high rates of violence and murder. The illicit marijuana that some 30 million Americans consume each year is therefore not subjected to regulations that might require accurate labeling of potency and cannabinoid ratios, testing to assure non-contamination, and limiting sales to adults.”(Roffman par 4). In other words there will be tampering with the THC levels and the drug dealers are out of the job when it comes to selling marijuana.
Marijuana continues to get legalized in more states for a reason and that is because of the positive impacts that it has been having in the economy and on the medical field. One effect that we cannot overlook is the face that the legalization of marijuana has drastically boosted the economy and exceeded expectations. The first two states that legalized recreational marijuana was Colorado and Washington and their sales were more than $1 billion annually (Keyhani et al par 2). The revenue from marijuana has actually helped with the medical research that is being conducted on itself. It has given the doctors the necessary funds and equipment to be able to branch out their experiments more and help find the answers they’re looking for. (Gravelle pg 12). This shows that the economic growth is self-efficient and is promoting its own research without dipping into the taxpayers’ pocket.
Change is scary especially when legalizing a drug that has been known for all of the negative effects it can have on people which makes it hard to see how it could possibly have any positive effects. Marijuana has been abused and is in question on how we will keep it under control when legalized, but people don’t look at the successful therapeutic and medical practices that have been done with this drug. They also haven’t seen the positive effects it can have on the economy either. Change is the inevitable but how we approach this change can make all the difference.
Work Cited
- Davis, Jonathan M, et al. “Public Health Effects of Medical Marijuana Legalization in Colorado.” American Journal of Preventive Medicine, vol. 50, no. 3, Elsevier Inc, Mar. 2016, pp. 373–79, doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2015.06.034.
- Gravelle, Jane G.; Lowry, Sean. Federal Proposals To Tax Marijuana: An Economic Analysis. , . HeinOnline, https://heinonline-org.ezproxy1.apus.edu/HOL/P?h=hein.crs/crsmthaachh0001&i=7.
- Keyhani, Salomeh, et al. “Risks and Benefits of Marijuana Use: A National Survey of U.S. Adults.” Annals Of Internal Medicine, vol. 169, no. 5, Sept. 2018, pp. 282–290. EBSCOhost, doi:10.7326/M18-0810.
- Monte, Andrew A, et al. “The Implications of Marijuana Legalization in Colorado.” JAMA, vol. 313, no. 3, Jan. 2015, pp. 241–42, doi:10.1001/jama.2014.17057.
- Roffman, Roger A. “Legalization of Marijuana: Unraveling Quandaries for the Addiction Professional.” Frontiers in Psychiatry, vol. 4, 2013, pp. 50–50, doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2013.00050.
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