Legalizing Marijuana

Benefits to Legalizing Marijuana

Reggae artist Bob Marley said, "herb is the unification of mankind". Marley believed that if more people smoked marijuana the nation would come to together, rather than be at war and bringing harm to one another. Bob Marley is just one of the many weed activist, explaining how marijuana actually has not caused as much destruction to this world as the legal drug, alcohol. This essay will go on to display how Bob Marley had the right take on marijuana usage and that if legalized how it would in fact improve the United States in various ways. If legalizing marijuana, can be of use medically and economically, as well as improve public safety.

Medical marijuana research gained some serious progression over the course of 2013, with a number of important studies published that signify the importance of cannabis as a life saving medicine. There has been plenty of evidence for decades that marijuana can kill cancer cells, however, in 2013, “researchers from the University of London discovered that the non-stoner ingredients found in marijuana, specifically cannabidiol, cannabigerol and cannabigevarin, could be used as powerful agents in combating this life-threatening disease” (Adams). Other studies performed in 2013 have shown that marijuana can aid in epilepsy, can help cigarette smokers quit, help with Parkinson’s disease, and may help to make you thinner and less prone to diabetes.

Economically, marijuana is too expensive for the judicial system, thus it should be taxed to support beneficial government programs. Annually, over 750,000 arrests are made in connection to marijuana. These arrests make justice more expensive and less productive in the U.S., wasting jail space, clogging up court systems, and diverting time of police, attorneys, judges, and corrections officials away from more violent crimes. Moreover, taxing marijuana will, “provide needed and generous funding of many important criminal justice and social programs”...