Should Marijuana Be Legalized?

Below is a short sample of the essay Should Marijuana Be Legalized?. If you sign up you could be reading the rest of this essay in under two minutes. Registered users should login to view the essay.

Should Marijuana Be Legalized?

In this year of the millenium, the American populace, even while in the midst of the most prolonged economic boom in the history of the Republic, is confronted with some serious problems. Any randomly chosen group of people asked to list the most dangerous of these, would include among their immediate answers: The Drug Problem.
By the Drug Problem, do they mean the proliferation in our communities of all illicit, mood-altering, physically dangerous drugs? Or do they really mean the accompanying problems bought on by these proscribed substances: crime and the threat of crime, violence, disease, the growing number of users on public welfare, the loss of productivity to the countrys industry, the congestion of the court system, the over-crowding of our penal institutions, the diversion of our tax dollars from more productive areas, the corruption of our law enforcement agencies, and directly and indirectly the erosion of our civil rights?
Since I am confining this paper to discussing the laws prohibiting marijuana use, I will concede that it fits the first two categories above; i.e. it is by law, illicit, and by its nature, mood-altering. With the third category we enter upon shaky ground. There is no scientific proof that the prolonged use of marijuana exacts a greater physical toll on the user than the equivalent abuse of nicotine or alcohol.
Under the name Extract of Cannabis, marijuana was once widely used medicinally in the United States, and still has minor medicinal uses in other countries. There is only one species - Cannabis Sativa - which yields both a potent drug and a strong fiber long used in the manufacture of fine linen as well as canvas and rope. The seeds are valued as birdseed and the oil, which resembles linseed oil, is valuable because paints made with it dry quickly.
A Chinese treatise on pharmacology alleges to date from 2737 B.C. contains what is usually cited as the first reference to marijuana. Through out the history of man in just about every culture the mention of this substance is found used both as a fiber and a drug.
The first definite mention of the marijuana plant in the New World, dates from 1545 A.D. when the Spaniards introduced it into Chile. The Jamestown settlers brought the plant to Virginia and cultivated it for its fiber. In 1762 Virginia awarded bounties for hemp culture and imposed penalties on those who did not produce it.
George Washington was growing hemp at Mount Vernon t...

The complete article is about 6291 words and 25.16 pages long.

To continue reading the complete article, subscribe below and get free instant unlimited access.

Once you have registered for an Account, No refunds can be issued.
Please make sure you look over the site before you purchase an account!!!