Javon Tyrek Wade

Instructor Jinaki Abdullah

ENG 1313.02
December 7, 2016
Legalizing Marijuana
The legalization of marijuana is a big issue in the United States right now. You have
different states who support it and then you have states like this one who dont support the
legalization of marijuana. Theres different type of reasons why people support the legalization
of marijuana.
Marijuana is a drug where there are be a lot of different reasons why some people support
the legalization of the drug. One reason why is the medical usage. For instance marijuana is used
medically to treat Glaucoma. Glaucoma increases pressure in the eyeball, damaging the optic
nerve and causing loss of vision (Welsh and Loria). When being studied in the early 1970s
showed that when you smoke marijuana, that helped lower intraocular pressure in people with
normal pressure and those with glaucoma(Welsh and Loria). Another medical reason is that THC
slows the progression of Alzheimers disease. In 2006 there was a study that was published in the
journal Molecular Pharmaceutics, which found that THC, slows the formation of amyloid
plaques blocking the enzyme in the brain that makes them (Welsh and Loria). Those are the
plaques that kill the brain cells and ultimately causing Alzheimer's.
Marijuana does has a way of helping with different health reasons but if you make
recreational marijuana legal then you can have a revenue boost. We have local and state
governments who are struggling with rising cost, and decreased revenue(Pros and Cons of
Legalizing Recreational Marijuana). They are looking for different ways to pay for everything

from road repairs to new parks. I say that because if the government legalizes recreational
marijuana then they get the profit. Last year Americans spent 5.4 billion dollars on legal medical
and recreational marijuana(How Marijuana Legalization in Washington, Colorado and Oregon
Is Working out so Far). Colorado is projected to make $140 million in tax revenue on marijuana
sales in 2016, washington state is projected to make $270 million in tax revenue on marijuana
sales in 2016(How Marijuana Legalization in Washington, Colorado and Oregon Is Working out
so Far). Oregon collected $3.48 million in the first month that recreational marijuana became
legal. In Washington, Colorado and Oregon recreational marijuana tax revenues has been used to
fund drug abuse prevention, build schools, and law enforcement. Some say that the states
without legal marijuana lose out on $28 Billion per year(How Marijuana Legalization in
Washington, Colorado and Oregon Is Working out so Far).
Although there are a lot of good reasons to use marijuana there are some people who still
disagree with the legalization of the drug. One reason why people are against it is that some
americans believe that marijuana ingestion is immoral, and that their moral standards should be
required of all Americans(White). Another reasons is that long term or abusive use of marijuana
can be harmful to a person's health and well-being. many people believe that regular marijuana
use can lead to use of harder, more harmful drugs such as heroin and cocaine(White).
In conclusion I do feel as if marijuana should be legal in all states. I say that because
marijuana is drug where it helps with medical problems and it also brings in a lot of money to the
government. Why is that some states legalize marijuana and others dont? Well for North
Carolina I feel like they wont legalize marijuana because the state is considered to be in the
bible belt. The bible belt is basically all of the southern states who tries to follow the bible and

push their beliefs on other people. If it goes against the bible in their eyes then automatically its
a problem or a sin. The legalization of marijuana would cause the world to be a better place.

Welsh, Jennifer, and Kevin Loria. 23 Health Benefits of Marijuana. Business Insider. 20 Apr.
2014. Web. 9 Dec. 2016.

How marijuana legalization in Washington, Colorado and Oregon is working out so far. The
Washington Post. 29 Aug. 2016. Web. 09 Dec. 2016.
White, Deborah. Pros & Cons of Legalizing Marijuana. About News. 18 Oct. 2015. Web. 09
Dec. 2016.
Pros and Cons of Legalizing Recreational Marijuana. Drug Rehab. n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2016.