Why Marijuana Should Be Legalized

Legalization of Marijuana
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Introduction
There have been heated debates on the legalization of Marijuana. Marijuana was banned in 1937 by Anslinger in the united states citing it caused ‘insanity’ CITATION Joh172 \l 1033 (Harl, 2017). For many years, the public perception of Marijuana largely a reflection of myths surrounding the product rather than evidence from objective scientific studies. However, in recent years, many studies have been published showing the true beneficial impact of cannabis and debunked most of these theories. In the light of these new discoveries, Marijuana has been legalized in several states in the United States and other countries around the world. It has been found to have medicinal properties and actually, most of its consumption outweigh the negative effects. As the debate on legalizing Marijuana continues, legalization or lack of it thereof will have many direct and indirect effects on the public.
Why Marijuana should be legalized
Taxing Marijuana would help the growth of the economy.
Marijuana is still sold and consumed by millions of people around the world and many governments have been left out on this lucrative income generator. Many people use Marijuana for recreational purposes and if the utility of this product is put on the mainstream economy can generate billions of dollars in income for the respective governments that legalize it. At the moment all these monies go to strong mafia and criminal gangs which use the income to terrorize the community rather than helping it to develop. The silver bullet to tackle these criminal gangs is by legalizing the commodity such that the people can access it from a licensed retailer under safe conditions. Through the licensing and sales taxes imposed on the product, the government will be able to earn more income and provide safe conditions for the utility of the product which can monitor quality.
Legalizing cannabis will also create more jobs. Just like any other product that needs growing, harvesting, processing, distribution and marketing, Marijuana will create jobs in these respective areas. It will be the income generators for many farmers who would be producing it and the processors who prepare it for consumption. It will also create indirect employment in the sector of researchers who study cannabis strains and how to improve the potency through selective breeding of the product. There is also supporting industries such as manufacturers of fancy pot bong, pipes etc. The packing industries among others. All these jobs will be directly or indirectly produced by legalizing weed and they will be taxable hence will be providing income to the government.
Marijuana has medicinal properties
Though Marijuana has many adverse effects, it has been proven it has medicinal properties. First, some of the cannabis extracts such as Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and other cannabinoids are active ingredients to many drugs consumed for medicinal properties. Some of the painkilling drugs available today have cannabis extracts and they have been approved for consumption CITATION Kev181 \l 1033 (Loria, 2018). In some cases, cannabis is prescribed as a drug by physicians citing it is good in suppressing tumors and cancerous growths CITATION Kev181 \l 1033 (Loria, 2018). It is also prescribed to people with mental health problems such as depression etc. It has been studied and shown positive correlation between consumption and reducing schizophrenia and Parkinson’s diseases CITATION Kev181 \l 1033 (Loria, 2018). It has also shown a positive correlation between consumption and reducing and or slowing the onset of dementia.
Marijuana is also used in treating epileptic seizures and Dravet syndrome CITATION Kev181 \l 1033 (Loria, 2018). Dravet syndrome is a severe epileptic disorder which currently has no cure but clinical studies and trials have shown to greatly reduce the number of seizures. It also slows down the progression of Alzheimer’s syndrome and it has been used to study if it could eventually treat the condition. It also reduces chronic pain since some of its substances bi...