Is Marijuana Legalization a Good Choice?

Marijuana has become a hotbed of legislative measures for some time now. We’ve seen the majority of U.S. states legalize cannabis for either recreational or medical purposes which has been extremely beneficial to not only the public but the state as well.

A poll by Gallup has shown that as many as 64% of Americans support the legalization of cannabis and agree that it is a safe plant with a large amount of health benefits. Those who oppose however believe that legalizing cannabis could be harmful to society and may not be as harmless as most think.

Of course, this is truly up to a subjective opinion, but from an objective standpoint, the dangers of cannabis are extremely low. For one, there has never been a reported death from simply using cannabis. If one chooses to smoke more than they should, at the worst they might get a bout of nausea followed by the munchies and then subsequently falling asleep. Not bad right?

In addition to its relatively harmless nature, many studies have shown that cannabis can be an effective treatment in anything from cancer treatment all the way to insomnia relief and more. These studies are still very much in their early stages as it is often difficult to study the plant given the federal laws at least in the U.S.

As far as the U.S. is concerned, studies are showing the overwhelming majority of Americans supporting the legalization of cannabis. Senator Corey Booker last year stated that new laws should legalize cannabis in addition to expunging marijuana-related offenses from criminal records.

One report on this stated that the new bill “would withhold some criminal justice funding from states that haven’t legalized marijuana if they exhibit racially disproportionate arrest or incarceration rates. In effect, this would apply to each state in which marijuana is not currently legal: A 2013 ACLU report found that nationwide, blacks were nearly four times as likely to be arrested on marijuana charges as whites, despite similar rates of use of the drug.”

Of course, there is a large racial disparity when it comes to marijuana legalization as the study shows. The legislation put in place by Booker would help to begin to break down the racial barriers that we’ve seen for so long regarding cannabis law. The bill, however, has seen a large amount of trouble being passed as the Republican-controlled Senate has yet to be in favor of most Democratically supported bills.

We are seeing a new light in regard to cannabis law as new officials in government are beginning to show their support for marijuana reform. Marijuana has also been shown to be an extremely solid alternative for pain which is quite important considering the overprescription and subsequent opioid epidemic plaguing this country. For all of these reasons, it seems as though legalizing marijuana on a federal level would be beneficial for not only the public but the government who could benefit greatly from the taxation of the substance and more.