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Marijuana Public Policy

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Public Policy Essay Marijuana is a drug that, with responsibility, can be used and enjoyed without threat to the user or society and should be legalized not only for this reason, but also for the many positive economic, political, and societal impacts that legalization would bring. My public policy paper will be discussing the legalization of cannabis for recreational and medicinal use, along with the benefits and reasons for doing so. Despite its legalization around the globe and now in some parts of the country, marijuana is still often regarded with a negative view by many and possession or use can result in extreme criminal consequences. This negative view is often caused by irresponsible users and teenage angst. It is such a shame that …show more content…
We are looking at an herbal medicine that has no comparison. Cannabis has long been known as a medicinal plant and a medicinal product. The latest findings are in a tomb in China where the medicine bag of a medicine man was discovered, and one of the contents in it was cannabis. Cannabis is found in every major materia medica that has ever been written, that includes the Ebers Medical Papyrus from Egypt, the writings of Dioscorides who was Niro’s doctor, and it was included in the United States pharmacopeia from 1854 until 1941. Marijuana has been a medicine for a lot longer than it hasn’t been a medicine. Evidence shows that it was used in ancient China for either chauvinistic practices, religion, or healing. The culture of cannabis as medicine moved across the world. In India it was very big as medicine and it was in India that W.B. O’Shaughnessy, who worked for the British East Indies Company, picked up cannabis and brought it to the United Kingdom where it was Queen Victoria’s favorite treatment for her menstrual cramps. Ultimately, it came to the United States in the early part of the twentieth century where most of the major drug companies were producing cannabis medicines. Up until the beginning of the twentieth century, cannabis was probably the second or third most commonly used medicine in the world. Cannabis was found in patent medicines that were manufactured by such familiar names such as Eli Lily, Squib, Merk, Park Davis, Smith Brothers Cough Drops, and it was available powdered, chopped, or whole. It was only in 1937 when congress enacted the marijuana tax act that was the beginning of the end for marijuana as a medicine in the United States. It was in 1942 that it was totally removed from the United States Pharmacopoeia, but up until 1942 physicians could still write prescriptions for cannabis. Marijuana hasn’t been a medicine for 72 years in this country, but it has

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