Legalization, marijuana, impacts
Today, there are many calls for the legalization of drugs, particularly marijuana. The campaigns are all around, from the Hollywood movies to the popular Jamaican dance hall music. The popularity of this genre of films implies that the society is ready for the legalization of the drug. In addition to the popular culture, it is common knowledge that many people take the drug (Friedman, 2012). Maybe the view of this paper is skewed by the exposure of the writer to many users, and the depiction of many people smoking in movies and still leading productive lives. However, it cannot be disputed that marijuana is central to popular culture, especially in the urban areas, and its legalization may have the potential of allowing the control of the drug. This paper will evaluate the potential of legalization of the drug, the potential effect, both positive and negative, and attempt to make a judgment on the usefulness of the measure.
Recently, the numbers of cigarette smokers has been going down. However, the baby boom generation had cigarettes as an important cultural element, and the result is that many members of that generation were smokers, and the ones that were not tolerated smoking (Friedman, 2012). One has to ask them themselves, what factors contributed to the decline in cigarette usage? The relevance of these factors may provide the key to dealing with the problem of increasing marijuana usage in the world today, if one is inclined to see it as a problem.
[...] As this paper has already proposed, taking a stand against the drug only serves to increase the popularity of the drug among the people, and actually enhances the pleasure derived from their usage. In fact, this is equated to the pleasure that is derived from cheating, for example by a spouse in a marriage. The forbidden fruit has its appeal (Yörük, 2011). Some politicians use their stand against drugs to increase their popularity. In recent years, politicians have used moral stands to increase their popularity. This makes them appealing to conservative members of the population and thus gives them an edge over their competition. [...]
[...] There is also the regulation aspect. Illegal drugs cannot be controlled. However, merchants who sell things like alcohol are prohibited from selling them to children, or people under a certain age. Street sellers sell to just about anyone, provided they pay them in cash. Therefore, legalization is actually a way of controlling the sale of drugs to underage people, and with the collapse of the illegal trade due to falling prices pushing illegal dealers off the streets; this is a potentially effective way of controlling drug use by school age children (Thio & Taylor, 2012). [...]
[...] There are also the economic advantages of legalizing marijuana. From the lucrative trade, the government may generate revenue through taxation. In addition, it has the potential of shifting international trade in the American direction (Thio & Taylor, 2012). This is because drugs lead foreign countries to earn dollars and thus empowering them in trade. Marijuana can easily be grown by regular people if it were legal, thus conserve foreign exchange. However, the biggest economical advantage lies elsewhere. Legal drugs have no regulations. [...]
[...] Legalization of marijuana and its impacts Today, there are many calls for the legalization of drugs, particularly marijuana. The campaigns are all around, from the Hollywood movies to the popular Jamaican dance hall music. The popularity of this genre of films implies that the society is ready for the legalization of the drug. In addition to the popular culture, it is common knowledge that many people take the drug (Friedman, 2012). Maybe the view of this paper is skewed by the exposure of the writer to many users, and the depiction of many people smoking in movies and still leading productive lives. [...]
[...] This is why there are rehabilitation facilities around the country. Legalizing the drug potentially has the potential of increasing the number of users, thus increasing the need for help instead of helping the existing conditions. In addition, there is a concern that the legalization of drugs will send a message to children that it is acceptable to use recreational drugs. This may create a problem of having a future generation that is entirely reliant on drugs (Amonini, 2005). There is also the case of the harm done by drugs to other persons besides the user. [...]
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