Dear Next President,

There has been a lot of negative bias on the use of cannabis. But, marijuana should be legal for recreational and medical use nation wide. Marijuana is not harmful to your body, it is not addictive, does not lead to other drugs, and has been proven to lessen seizures, cancer and mental illnesses. Apart from marijuana being beneficial in health, it should also be legal so that the government can regulate what goes into it. So many people are going to jail for more time than rapists or murderers for having marijuana in their possession. Is pot really that bad?

There are two sides to the idea of legalizing marijuana that I would like to discuss. The first side are the people who believe that marijuana is bad. This is a quote from ‘the marijuana smokescreen’. It is about why marijuana should not be legalized ; “principled libertarians, aging hippies, and legions of unabashed pot-lovers who want marijuana decriminalized and see the medical angle as the easiest way to sell the public on their favorite intoxicant”. First the examples of people who they list who they think are the only people who support marijuana is ignorant because the definition of principled means is someone who acts with integrity and honesty, with a strong sense of fairness, justice and respect for the dignity of the individual, groups and communities. And the meaning of unabashed is to not be embarrassed or ashamed for your views. So, calling someone principled or unabashed is a complement. Also discrediting someone’s opinion for their age is shallow. Second, the writer of this article is saying that people who are supporting marijuana are lying about their reasons.

Marijuana is a medicine that doesn’t need to be validated because the studies already show that it helps sick people. Medical Marijuana could be used instead of potentially addictive painkillers. 7% of people who are prescribed painkillers get addicted. Thats 4.7 million people, according to Palm Beach Institute. When treating glaucoma, the THC in marijuana helps keep the intraocular pressure in the eye down which is helpful because glaucoma is when you have too much pressure in your eye. A little girl named Charlotte has Dravet Syndrome was recently aired on CNN. Dravet syndrome is a rare genetic epileptic encephalopathy or a ‘dysfunction of the brain’.An extract of cannabis she was given slowly titrated over weeks and given in conjunction with her existing antiepileptic drug regimen, reduced Charlotte's seizure frequency from nearly 50 convulsive seizures per day to now 2–3 nocturnal convulsions per month. This effect has persisted for the last 20 months, and Charlotte has been successfully weaned from her other antiepileptic drugs. Also, there is the emotional connection to marijuana some people have because it helped them overcome anorexia, insomnia, anger or depression. When smoking marijuana people get an increased appetite, a more mellow mood, a bit sleepy and happier in general. That’s why Marijuana can help people overcome these illnesses.

The second article is written by a student who attends Charleston Catholic High School in 2010 , ‘marijuana legalization: legalization would benefit a nation’ expresses the other side of the spectrum on marijuana. It has most of the same points as me like the medical uses, marijuana causes no physical dependency, marijuana is not a gateway drug, and no risk to the users lungs. But, there was some things they worded very well, like this quote about marijuana leading to harmful drugs.“Another misconception is that marijuana is gateway drug. Again, this is not based on fact but preconceived bias. According to government statistics, less than 25 percent of marijuana users move onto heavier drugs like cocaine or heroin.” This is very important because it shows that people who smoke marijuana aren’t just ‘druggies’. One thing that they did say in their article that was incorrect, however, is that “only two people have died from marijuana”. It is actually that no one has ever died from marijuana compared to the 2.5 million people who die from alcohol annually or the 5 million who die from tobacco use.

Another thing that the author of this article said was that “ Anyone who disapproves of marijuana usage or sees it as the root of all evil won’t be forced to use it”. My solution for this problem is to make marijuana legal in all states because it does not harm anyone and it can be used for many medical reasons. Marijuana legalization would benefit a nation. I hope you seriously think about legalizing marijuana, as the facts support it.

Sincerely,

Maggie