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I Support The Legalization of Marijuana

Before I start this, let me clear something up. Just because I support legalized marijuana, does not mean I use it.

In today’s society, marijuana isn’t as big of a deal as it used to be. Granted, there are only three states that have legalized it, but it’s not a huge concern like it was in earlier eras. 

The ban against marijuana started because of racism. Think I’m kidding? Look it up. In the early twentieth century, a massive amount of Mexican immigrants moved to the United States and brought with them a part of their culture…….smoking marijuana. They used it for medicinal and relaxation purposes.

This was about the same time that America started segregating blacks and whites. As you’d expect, the political authorities jumped on the chance to use marijuana as their grounds to completely segregate races. They blamed the drug on interracial relationships, “satanic” music, violence… Every sin committed was a result of smoking pot. 

And since the majority of the marijuana population was made up of Hispanics and African-Americans at the time, legislators used it to disregard any race that wasn’t white.

Eventually, they trashed marijuana enough to push the Jim Crow Laws into effect, and make it illegal for any purpose (as you can imagine, this new law outraged the medical community).

This article will backup the information above- I actually found it pretty interesting.   

http://elitedaily.com/news/real-reason-marijuana-illegal-united-states-will-shock/1466667/

Today, segregation laws are no longer in place thankfully, but marijuana use is still illegal in most states. And even being the twentieth century, despite the progress society has made into equality, marijuana still stands as a racial problem in some aspects.

But the controversy over marijuana continues. Most people still believe that it causes “trouble” in society, and thus deem it better unused. It is claimed to be a gateway drug that leads to more dangerous and potentially fatal drugs. 

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and if that’s how you feel about marijuana, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. However, I have slightly different views on the green plant.

One of the biggest illustrations you could use is the comparison between alcohol and marijuana. I won’t go into details because I’m sure you can figure it out yourself, but most people would agree that alcohol is more harmful than weed is, both physically and health-wise. Alcohol is most certainly more fatal than marijuana and has a higher chance of ruining your health.

*Fun fact: medical cannabis has been used to help treat alcohol addictions*

Now, if you wanted to look at it from a financial standpoint, you would see that legalizing marijuana would be more beneficial to our economy. The government would profit more taxing the plant than they do throwing people in jail for it. There are far too many child molesters walking the streets to be wasting time and money arresting stoners who pose no threat to the community.

The logic behind MY support of the legalization is medical. For years now, even before it was made illegal, marijuana has been used for several different medical purposes. Some of those purposes include treatment for nausea caused by chemo, seizure disorders, weight loss caused by chronic illnesses (HIV for example), migraines, etc.

I don’t judge or condemn anyone that doesn’t agree with the use of marijuana. Once again, everyone is entitled to their own beliefs and opinions. But if someone has a debilitating illness that could be helped (or treated) with medical marijuana, I feel it’s unconstitutional to withhold that help from them. 

I don’t have much of an opinion on the recreational use of marijuana, it is one’s own decision. But I fully support the legalization of it for medical uses. And I do believe that eventually, it will be legalized. 

Once enough research is done and treatment is proven, I believe there will be enough support for the legalization of marijuana. And I promise, once that happens, you will not find me in the crowd of protesters.