Legalization of Marijuana

Marijuana, also known as cannabis, hash, or weed, is the new trend rising in America. This psychoactive drug has been used for thousands and thousands of years; from Ancient China, to Colonial America. It has recently come into the light because of the legalization of the plant in two states: Colorado and Washington. This law legalizes the use of the plant for recreational purposes, and allows the growing of 12 plants in each household for personal use. How will this affect our economy? What are the health benefits / advantages? The use of the Cannabis plant throughout history is surprisingly large. The earliest documented use of it was in Ancient China, around 4000 B.C. To most cultures, Marijuana was viewed as a gift, or treasure, from the Divine spirit. It was used during ceremonies, ingested for deep meditation, smoked for pleasure, or used as clothes. The Chinese emperor and herbalist Cheng-Nung wrote about its medicinal uses 5000 years ago, stating its effects on malaria, and many other illnesses. In England, King Henry VIII required the cultivation of one quarter acre of it for every sixty acres of farming land. When the Pilgrims landed in early America as early as 1632, the Native American people taught them about the farming of Marijuana. The first president of the United States, George Washington, grew Indian Hemp, or Cannabis sativa, on his farm. Marijuana is the dried blossom of the Cannabis sativa and Cannabis indica plants. Parts of the plant are used for herbs, animal food, medicine, and as hemp for rope-making. There are certain health benefits and hindrances that the drug causes to your body. The pros of it are that it has medical benefits for cancer, AIDS, glaucoma, depression, and other illnesses. It is used as a pain reliever and an anti-nausea treatment. It is safer than other medicines that treat the same symptoms. It can relieve the spasticity of muscles that is sometimes associated with multiple sclerosis and paralysis. Studies have shown that smoking Marijuana alone with no tobacco use does not increase the risk of lung diseases. The cons are that frequent Marijuana use can seriously affect your short-term memory and impair your cognitive ability. Smoking anything, whether it’s tobacco or Marijuana, can seriously damage your lung tissue after long use. Some of the main chemicals in Marijuana that cause the psychoactive and pain-reliving effects is tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC for short, Cannabidiol, Cannabinol, and Tetrahydrocannabivarin. There are several different types and strains of the plant. The two main types are Cannabis Indica and Cannabis sativa. There is also hashish, which is a Cannabis product made up of compressed preparations of resin from the trichome gland of the female plant. Cannabis Sativa is an annual, leafy plant that is used for industrial fiber, seed oil, and food. When smoked, Cannabis sativa strains produce more of a euphoric high, lifting the user’s mood, and relieving stress. Cannabis indica is also an annual plant, and is mainly grown for the production of hashish. When smoked, it relaxes muscles and works as a general analgesic. Users say that it gives them more of a “stoned” feeling than “high”. It also helps with sleep. A cancer patient dealing with body pain would benefit most from this plant, when a person dealing with depression would benefit with the sativa. There is also synthetic marijuana, which was created in a lab and usually sold in stores as incense. It has street names such as “Spice”, “Black Mamba”, “K2”, and “Fake Marijuana”. This type of marijuana has angered pot activists, because unlike regular marijuana, it does not give the same high effect and is highly dangerous and unstable. It also has a lot of negative effects on the brain. It can lead to seizures, hallucinations, and convulsions. John W. Huffman, the creator of the synthetic drug to test the effects on the receptors in the brain on animals, issued this statement to the Los Angeles Times in 2011: “These things are dangerous – anybody who uses them is playing Russian roulette,” Since pot is such a popular drug among people, the government had to start making laws about it early on. In the early 1800s, Cannabis was legal in most states, using hemp to make ropes, sails, and clothes. It was also a very highly used ingredient in medicine and was sold in almost every pharmacy. After the Mexican Revolution of 1910, a lot of Mexicans immigrated to the United States and introduced the recreational use of the drug. In December 19, 1914, the Harrison Narcotic Act prohibited the possession of narcotics unless prescribed by a physician. In June 14, 1930, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, or FBN, was established, and was credited for criminalizing drugs, such as cannabis, and strengthening the Harrison Narcotics Act. The Narcotics Control Act of 1956 made a first time cannabis possession offense a minimum of two to ten years with a fine of up to $20,000, but in 1970, Congress repealed the mandatory penalties for cannabis offenses. In 1970 the Controlled Substances Act regulates the prescribing and dispensing of psychoactive drugs, saying that cannabis has “high potential for abuse”, “no medical use”, and “not safe to use under medical supervision”. Not long after, in 1973, the Drug Enforcement Administration, or DEA, was formed, tasked with combatting the smuggling and trafficking of drugs in the United States. After this, it would be about 20 years before California passed the “Compassionate Use Act” of 1996, which legalized medicinal use of marijuana. That was the spark that ignited a wave of bills, and reintroduced medical marijuana to many states. In November of 2012, during the presidential election, voters in Washington and Colorado legalized the recreational use of the drug. Colorado and Washington’s laws on it are very similar but have some differences. Washington limits the number of sales licenses for the state, and does not allow personal growth of the plant. Colorado, however, gives out an unlimited number of licenses, and allows the personal growth of up to 12 plants per household of the plant. But they both have the law prohibiting the public consumption of the drug. This has sparked a lot of controversy in the state, because not everyone agrees with the legalization of it. In the election, only 52% of the state was for the legalization of it, while 48% voted against it. It also is controversial because it is still illegal federally. Even though the state voted for the legalization of it, the federal government still has it illegal.