You hear names of banned substances every day. Cocaine. Heroin. Ecstasy. What do these drugs have in common? Dangerous, addictive, deadly. Then, you look at another banned substance. Cannabis. Is it deadly? No. Is it proven to be dangerous? No. Is it addictive? No. However, many think different. Some believe cannabis is dangerous and addictive. For years, American citizens have wondered why marijuana is illegal for recreational use. The federal government classifies cannabis as a Schedule I substance, meaning that it cannot be prescribed, possessed, or sold under the federal law. It is hard to believe that more dangerous drugs, such as tobacco and alcohol are legal, but cannabis isn’t. Research from the National Institute on Alcohol and Abuse and Alcoholism depicts that the use of alcohol has negative effects on the brain, the heart, the liver, the pancreas, and causes cancer. The use of tobacco has been proven by many researches, and one from the CDC shows that cigarettes are the leading preventable cause of death in the United States (Health Effects of Cigarette Smoking). Also according to the CDC, there is little to no correlation between marijuana and cancer. The United States currently has nine states with marijuana legalized recreationally, and 29 states that have it legal for medicinal use. Hypothetically, all of the points listed could be true if the drug was legalized recreationally.

These four main points, in my opinion, are why marijuana should be legalized. However there are some cons that go along with each category. Number one: medicinal use. There are tons and tons of articles and research done on marijuana, and the health benefits, such as helping with anxiety and depression, but can also be used on cancer patients or terminally ill patients as a pain reliever. There is research that shows it helps with preventing vomiting in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy (Marijuana and Cancer). However, the issue is that doctors have little to no knowledge on how medicinal marijuana should be prescribed. It can be consumed in numerous ways, such as smoking, eating, vaping, and more. If marijuana was legalized, medical schools would have required training for doctors on how to prescribe medical cannabis, thus making it a great medicine for people who need it. However, the negative side as for health effects, cannabis affects the brain, but more research is to be done to determine its positive and negative effects. The research on what marijuana can do to a teenage user’s brain is very little, but some side effects include short term memory loss, decreased concentration, loss of attention span, and decreased learning skills. This is because human brains are not fully developed until around the age of 25.

The next reason for legalizing cannabis is the fact that it would bring in a lot of income for states. It is the state’s decision on the legalization of marijuana, but in Colorado, where marijuana is legalized for recreational use, it has brought the state in over $78 million in just in one year of retail sales. The state of Washington has brought in a total over over $220 million from cannabis sales. Research shows that marijuana tax revenue could be over $132 billion in one year, because it would create a whole new tax revenue stream, adding on to the fact that the US could save billions of dollars by stopping the drug trade, as well as creating over one million jobs.

Next, the legalization of marijuana would help stop or slow down the international drug trade, and take money away from the black market. Cannabis is one of the most highly illegally traded drugs internationally. Whether it is through cartels, or black market type selling, if it was legal more throughout the US, then those illegal sellers would not be making enough profit off of the drug, which would slow down and potentially stop the drug trade.

One argument against the legalization of marijuana is along the lines of how it affects drivers. Driving while impaired is illegal in every state, and that includes all drugs. Driving while high on marijuana is also dangerous and illegal. Many would argue that the use of marijuana increases DUI, however according to Benjamin Hanen, an economics professor at the University of Oregon said that “Public safety doesn't decrease with increased access to marijuana, rather it improves” (Should Recreational Marijuana Be Legal?).

The last reason for legalizing marijuana is for recreational use. People drink alcohol sometimes to cope with stress, have fun, and take their minds off of things. If you talk to a cannabis user on why they use the drug, they would tell you it is because it is fun and makes you happy, and many people use it for coping with stress, similar to alcohol. It is estimated that over 15 million Americans suffer from some sort of depression. Why not make something legal if it makes you happy and creates positivity? Yes, it is a drug, but there is a lot of research that shows it is less dangerous than other legal drugs used by a lot of people, like alcohol and tobacco. There is much more to cover on this topic, such as going into detail on the health effects of marijuana and how it affects drivers, but the points of medicinal use, economic boost, slowing drug trade, and recreational use are four main reasons for why I believe marijuana should be legalized. There are clearly many positive and negative effects that would occur if the drug was recreationalized, but I believe the positive outweigh the negative.