Legalization_of_Marijuana

Cannabis is a naturally grown plant that is found across the world in various locations. When grown, cultivated, dried, and mixed with certain items, this plant yields a mentally soothing effect on anyone that smokes this plant. Cannabis is known by many other urban names. Nicknames such as weed, kush, dope, reggie, “refer” and “loud” are all used to identify this potent herb with mental affects to people who use it. While cannabis currently present a challenge to societal norms because of its abuse, it does not have to debilitate society from functioning at its maximum capacity. Marijuana as a raw and unhampered substance could be sold for recreational use with the entire ecosystem of American social life collapsing. If correctly managed, legal cannabis could be introduced into the world as a recreational drug open to the public. In many countries across the world, cannabis is illegal by full extent of the law. From growing outside of scientific study to selling and making it, it is demonized by the media and the public for its effects on the human brain. However, the negative effects of cannabis are often due to the irresponsible excessive smoking or mixing the plant with certain types of cleaners, solvents, or other dangerous chemicals. The cannabis plant itself has mild effects on cognitive brain function and only under mass inhalation would ever cause any real danger to the recipient. In some countries, there is even a death penalty for selling illegal cannabis. The marijuana plant would have to be introduced in a raw form that is cut so that the plant is not as potent as usual. The process of diluting the weed would have to use safe chemicals for human consumption. The illegal use of marijuana incorporates so many deadly chemicals to intensify the effects. Once the a safer form of the drug is created, society will be more capable of tackling the problems it presents. For the United States legal system, the punishment for the misuse of this drug is dependent on the overall circumstances surrounding the offense as well as the amount of contraband in its weight. The view on cannabis varies from culture to culture. In other countries such as the Netherlands, North Korea, and Uruguay allow for the personal use of cannabis. However, these countries do not allow for the free range cultivation and distribution of cannabis. Across the board, on an international level, that is still looked down upon. Cannabis has also been proven to have some very healthy effects if used to treat certain diseases such as glaucoma and cancer. The effects of cannabis have proven it slows down the growth of cancerous cells and helps to effectively manage glaucoma. Countries like the US, Canada, and Israel all recognize and facilitate the medicinal use of cannabis. Many countries allow the use of cannabis for recreational use because it is respected as not being overly dangerous to the human state of mind. "There is no evidence," says the Institute of Medicine study, "that marijuana serves as a stepping stone on the basis of its particular physiological effect." (Dowskin, 2012 ) Overall, the use of cannabis for recreational use is still a rarity and has stringent rules associated with it In order for cannabis to be effectively introduced into society, the growth of cannabis would need to be a carefully monitored event. The plants would require constant supervision and when being harvested, the plants would always need to be watched. The most effective way to make cannabis safe for the public would be to dilute the effects of the plant for recreational use. This would help manage the lucid effects of the drug, provided the substance used to dilute cannabis did not present a danger to the consumer. New laws would also have to be written prohibiting the use of cannabis while driving, being in a school zone, and other legal clauses. Most importantly to this process, the law would have to clearly identify who can sell cannabis, who can buy it, and the difference between legal and illegal cannabis. After that, the different challenges that would come with the business would have to be managed accordingly. Also, legislation would have to be created in order to manage how much weed individuals would be allowed to purchase, how much marijuana would be permitted to be grown and sold, where, when, and to whom may it be sold, and even where the drug may or may not be consumed. The sale of weed would be sold under the same guides of other tobacco products, saving sale until the patron is 18. However, because of the debilitating effects that marijuana can present, the concept of saving marijuana for patrons 21 years of age or older may be safer. The recreational drug would also have to be consumed under controlled circumstances. This would include not consuming it around infants or minors, nor partaking of it while operating any have machinery or any motorized vehicle. Also, a limit would have to be set based on the chemical imbalance the drug introduces to the body. After studying the body and how it responds to the cleaner form of marijuana, a legal toxicity level would be created. If someone were to be arrested over the legal limit, they would be charged under the circumstances. Also, just because a certain crime is committed while under the influence would not exhume the criminal from the responsibility of their actions. Their ability to monitor the effects o this recreational drug on their mind and body would be their responsibility to bear. If incapable of doing so, they would be at the mercy of the full range of the law. A large part of the reason that marijuana is such a pandemic today is because it is sold illegally wherever anyone goes. If marijuana were to be sold as a domestic product in the United States, the government would have to truly crack down on the sale of illegal cannabis. This would mean the United States would have to shut down illegal pot farms and go to war with extremely well-funded and dangerous drug cartels. This includes the Mexican drug cartels, paruihs, crypts, MS16, and other deadly gangs along the Southern and Northern border where illegal marijuana deals are facilitated. The difficulty behind shutting down the illegal in the United States is that it is a billion dollar a year enterprise. So many people make so much money off of the sale of illegal weed that there would be critical lash back from those who would be hampered in their business dealings by the legalization of marijuana. However, because this type of movement would start with a bill being written into law, this movement would threaten the life of whatever politicians would support it. Politicians would have to be guarded to make sure of two separate and equally important reasons. The first reason would be to protect the life of the politician. It would be important to make sure politicians could stay alive long enough to finish making the bill into a law. If politicians started to die during the process, other members of the house and the senate would lose faith in the bill and allow it to languish. The second reason we would have to protect our politicians is because they would need to be monitored to ensure they are not dealing under the table to build clauses into any form of American law that would allow those who sell marijuana illegally to somehow benefit from marijuana becoming legal. The only way to effectively introduce cannabis into society would be to effectively identify, isolate, and eliminate the illegal forms of weed made available. With the introduction of cannabis into the public for legal use, the media would have to be careful about how they present the product. Society would reject the thought of cannabis as a legal substance at first. But gradually over time, it would become an adult societal norm that would need to be managed much like smoking tobacco products or drinking alcohol. In Canada, some parents are monitoring their children’s introduction to the drug from a recreational level.. “..the 1.5 million Canadian adults who, the Canadian Medical Association reports, smoke marijuana recreationally may not agree. Some parents prefer to keep the lines of communication open, discuss the genuine risks of individual drugs with their children, and to help them develop their own good judgment about the use of any drug. Whether parents are strict or permissive, however, the majority of kids will experiment with cannabis at some point.” (Jackson, 2005)This is a perfect example of the concept that weed does not have to be a drug that consumes the lives of minors and corrupts youth, turning them into leeches who suck life out of the system. That much like drinking, smoking, or sex, if patrons are educated about how to entertain the recreation safely, there will be less damage done across the board. Also, a big part of actually selling the drug would be marketing. With marketing laws where they are right now, business would be unable to advertise this product. “…under federal law, the cultivation and sale of marijuana for any purpose is considered drug trafficking. The minimum federal sentence for growing 100 cannabis plants is five years in prison, and sellers face up to $25 million in fines.” (Alexander 2001) Legislation such as this would have to be removed in order to allow businesses to safely market their products. Introducing legal cannabis into the open market would create a shift in overall economic structure. More than likely, there would be an extremely large demand for this new product. Every place that would sell this product would be sold out quickly. So, the overall cost of the product would have to increase in order to cover cost, as well as supplying the demand for this product. Also, the price would have to be reasonably set yet still a little expensive. Other things such as cost of food as well as gas would be the first fields to experience a fluctuation in price. The stock market in the United States would take an interesting turn, overall affecting the global economic climate and causing the stock market in Europe and Japan to respond as well. This would be especially true if marijuana began to become an export US product as opposed to a domestic grown and sold product. Overall, the legalization of cannabis would turn into a world movement given the political and influential power that America has with other leading nations. However, protecting the youth would be a major leading question as to whether or not it should be sold worldwide. "There is no evidence," says the Institute of Medicine study, "that marijuana serves as a stepping stone on the basis of its particular physiological effect."(Lowry, 2001) In conclusion, the introduction of marijuana into society under well managed legal guide as well as flawless judicial execution could potentially benefit the United States a whole. We could use this product in a safe controlled environment and enjoy the positive attributes of this untouched and untainted cannabis plant. The United States would carefully monitor its production of marijuana as a recreational drug. Overall, there would be a period of time for society to adjust to this new drug as an accepted part of everyone’s life. But once that adjustment period is passed, and then society will began to experience the full positive effects of marijuana without to many of the negative attributes. Marijuana as a recreational drug has a possible future if it can be carefully monitored from growth to processing. If cannabis can be written into legislation effectively and well monitored on a global scale, it can have positive and healthy effects on those who decide to partake. As with any type of change, there is an inherent amount of risk. But the risks that come legalizing cannabis are more than capable of being cautiously controlled for the benefit of society as a whole. Reference Page 1. Alexander, T. (n.d.). Weed gets wacked. (2001). Essence, 32(5), pgs. 98-99. 2. Dwonskin, E. (n.d.). This weed is totally legal. it is also totally illegal. (2012). Bloomberg Businessweek, 43(7), Pgs. 26 -27. 3. Jackson, M. (n.d.). Pass the weed, dad. (2005). Maclean's, 118(45), pgs. 26 - 31. 4. Lowry, R. (n.d.). Weed whackers. (2001). National Review, 53(16), pgs. 36-38.