Marijuana legalization has been on the ballots of many state elections, starting in 1996 with California. Since then 24 states have legalized it for recreational purposes. The movement has been considerably successful over the past 28 years.
However, many question marijuana health complications and long term effects. What are the problems and benefits of legalising marijuana?
We will start with the legalization side of the argument. Decriminalization of marijuana allows for the regulation of marijuana. Banning may be an option, but is it actually one that will work?
From 1920 to 1933, all alcohol was banned to sell or drink in the USA. This movement was stirred by huge amounts of alcoholism/alcohol addiction in the USA. Still, Prohibition was a massive failure that didn’t end in less alcohol use but instead led to the illegal brewing of alcohol.
Since brewing alcohol was illegal in the first place, there was no regulation or honesty that dealers and brewers needed to follow. This led to people drinking more dangerous alcohol that they were not aware of and this is a commonly cited phenomenon for the argument of legal weed for those same reasons. When a product is legal you can regulate it and in turn save many lives.
Now let’s talk about decriminalization of drugs. If you were voting in Massachusetts last November, you probably remember Question 4. If this had passed, psychedelics in Massachusetts would have been decriminalized, meaning that you would not be arrested for using psychedelics but you could be fined.
Drugs like weed, alcohol, and nicotine are highly addictive and lead to terrible health problems. The reasoning for decriminalization would be that it could be a way to help people rise above their addiction and quit. There seems to be a wide consensus when it comes to weed that this would help people and has been accepted in many more states even if they aren’t legal.
What are some of the health risks of marijuana? Health effects are much more clear today than they were before. Over 55 million people in the United States currently use marijuana, and this allows us to understand the health effects. Marijuana produces THC which is responsible for mood changes, thought changes, and changes in our perceptions of reality. However, marijuana also contains many of the same toxins and irritants that are found in cigarettes.
Long term use of marijuana will cause many common health problems associated with tobacco such as: large airway inflammation, increased airway resistance, lung hyperinflation, and chronic bronchitis.
Marijuana tends to only be as dangerous as cigarettes and alcohol. So why should we ban marijuana and not cigarettes which have a long history of lung cancer and other debilitating heart problems? Looking at it from a different view, why should we allow cigarettes and alcohol to be normally used drugs at all? By making alcohol and cigarettes legal, it’s only logical that we also allow marijuana to be used recreationally.
In conclusion, while there are obviously complications that come with marijuana usage, it should be legalized as the damaging effects of marijuana are as comparable to legal drugs. Until those are no longer legal, there is no sound reasons for making marijuana illegal.
