Abstract
The controversy of having marijuana legalized has been going on for years. In 1996 marijuana became legal in California for medicinal use although in the 2012 it became legal to even grow it in your back yard. The states have the choice to legalize marijuana, Texas is still state where marijuana is illegal. Texas is a border state and with the war with the cartels across the border wouldn’t this help Mexico get rid of so much crime. There has been another controversy where it is claimed that marijuana is un-harmful to the human body. Marijuana became a big topic in the 2012 because of so many users active on weed. Have there been any deaths because of marijuana, and how many people use marijuana now-a-days.
Marijuana
Marijuana is known to be an illegal and medicinal drug for various reasons. Marijuana is a dry shredded mix of flowers, stems, seeds and leaves of the hemp plant Cannabis sativa. (NIH) Marijuana not only has one name but several different ones to be identified in the streets as a more common substance. Those names are referred to as “street names” since it is where they are mostly used. Marijuana is known as cannabis, ganja, grass, hash, boom, pot and weed although the most common slang name is weed. Marijuana can be smoked on either a blunt or a joint, although it can also be eaten with certain foods and occasionally it can be found in a drink. Marijuana takes various forms for people not to spot it since it is an illegal drug in most places. The use of marijuana has become more frequent to where people put weed into a snack such as brownies known as “special brownies.”(drugabuse) The most common way to know if someone is under the influence of marijuana it would be to see their eyes. Commonly weed users eyes are bloodshot red and pupils are dilated. (Hubbard, J.)
History of Marijuana
Marijuana can be traced back to as early as the 2737 B.C and this is known to be when it started be cultivated for medicinal use. Chinese were the ones who used marijuana to treat several diseases, such as rheumatism, malaria, and absent-mindedness, with the hope of curing the ill person. For the recreational use marijuana is treated back to as early as 1000 B.C. In the U.S the use of marijuana was first sighted in the boat with the pilgrims on their way to Jamestown in 1607. It was more widely known in the 1920s, also known as the jazz era, where the tea pads were first seen. These were pouches filled with marijuana and at this point with jazz concerts started moving marijuana to different states. President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937. This Act was to ban marijuana from the public unless the person had a government permission to sell or distribute marijuana. (Miller, S) In 2012 the House of Representatives passed a bill stating that the states had the option of legalizing marijuana in their own state. (HOB) This is when the world found out of what states legalized marijuana and whether it was for medicinal or recreational use. The states have the option for to state what will happen in their state. This is in the hands of the Representatives, Governor and Senators of the particular state. The states that have marijuana legalized are Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. The only city that has marijuana legalized is the U.S Capitol, DC, because Virginia has not legalized marijuana. (Procon)
Medicinal use of Marijuana
The most common usage of Marijuana medically is when it is used in a hospital for cancer patients although there is something that is now surpassing the hospital. In the state of Colorado the Doctors don’t prescribe Marijuana but recommend it. The patient goes through an examination and gets a license for a year to buy their “prescription” in a clinic(Marijuana USA). There are several clinics through the state of Colorado that sell pure marijuana that the owners have harvest to make the marijuana more pure. To get the license to buy marijuana, a doctor must see you and evaluate your pain to see if you are even a candidate for marijuana. These doctors who have the license to license others to buy marijuana have the power to deny someone if they can see that it is for recreational use. In Colorado State Marijuana is not a drug but a seasoning in many foods including chocolate and traditional dishes.
Health problems from Marijuana
Many people believe that Marijuana is harmless because it is a medicine although it is still a drug. Every drug has its set of side effects and harms to the human body. The harms that marijuana causes is that it relaxed the whole body relaxing your muscles, causing slow reactions if you are driving this is dangerous(NHI). Not only does it relax you but it reduces blood to your brain causing the slow reactions. Private Universities are doing research to what marijuana is doing to the human body, and have discovered that smoking marijuana will cause cancer in the lungs just like a cigarette.(Harrison) The study was conducted in college students and how the brain was reacting to the marijuana and in effect the neurons stop functioning and decrease in number.
Effects of Marijuana
Marijuana gives the effect of a person being relaxed and having their muscles numb. This effect is most commonly known as being high. After smoking weed the person feels a need to feed themselves because marijuana gives their body the urge of wanting food and or more weed. Marijuana affects people physically by having tremors, nausea, headaches, decreased coordination, breathing problems, increased appetite, reducing blood flow to the brain, and changes in the reproductive organs. The effects are trouble remembering things, slowed reaction time, difficulty concentrating, sleepy, anxious, paranoia, altered time perception, and red bloodshot eyes. Marijuana usually makes people lose interest in how their life was, cause legal problems since it is an illegal drug, and it is dangerous to drive under the influence of it because of the reaction span. (Hubbard, J.) These effects will stay depending if the person smoked a joint or blunt and the weight and height of the person.
In the Border
Even though Marijuana is legalized in twenty states and in DC most of those states don’t have a border. Unlike Washington that has Canada as a border there isn’t much violence in Canada like in Mexico. In the state of Texas Marijuana is not legalized, although there are 70,000 inmates in jail for being in the possession of Marijuana. The government is paying for these people to live in jail when the state of Texas could be taxing marijuana for the benefit of the state and help Mexico as well In state of Texas the law states “Having two ounces of Marijuana can result in you being placed in jail for up to 6 months or a fine up to $2,000.”(cannabis news). According to a UTEP student who lives in Juarez, Mexico he says, “It would be a smart idea to legalize marijuana to help the families with all the violence that is occurring in Juarez and end the cartel to gain money for the state of Texas.”
What Professionals think
The Representative of El Paso, Congressman O’Rourke has not stated his opinion in Marijuana although has said, “It would be smart if marijuana was legalized and to have more control of the drug for our youth.”(House) President Obama is for marijuana being legalized to have control over the youth to make difficult to obtain (white house). In Harvard University medical teachers are against the use of marijuana in their patients (procon). These professors have been worldwide known for studies and making the future of medicine better therefore their credibility is important. These professors are now engaging their students to do research to help the world understand why marijuana is harmful to the body.
Conclusion
This research is shown to have pro’s and con’s on Marijuana, although it is still a very controversial topic. There are new updates on a daily basis on this case because laws are constantly being shifted. In Texas it is a conservative state where it will deny most of the problems to be overseen by others. This is topic is never ending until the US legalizes marijuana but if more studies are shown of harms that will mostly be unlikely.
Prezi Presentation
http://prezi.com/p3cd-8oyr2yx/marijuana/
Resourses:
Cannabisnews. Retrieved from. http://www.cannabisnews.org/texas-voters-want-to-legalize-marijuana/2013/10/09/
Drug abuse. Retrieved from http://www.easyread.drugabuse.gov/marijuana-facts.php
Hubbard, J. Retrieved from http://familydoctor.org/familydoctor/en/diseases-conditions/marijuana-use.printerview.all.html
Harrison, P., & Deborah, Y. Retrieved from http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=396766
Marijuana Policy Project. http://www.mpp.org/states/texas/
National Library of Medicine. Retrieved from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/marijuana.html
ProCon-ProCon.org. (2013, September 16). 20 Legal Medical Marijuana States and DC. Retrieved from http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000881
ProCon-ProCon.org. (2009, October 23). 90 Physicians' Views on Medical Marijuana. Retrieved from http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=001529
ProCon-ProCon.org. (2012, July 27). Top 17 Hospitals' Positions on Medical Marijuana. Retrieved from http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=004805
ProCon-ProCon.org. (2012, October 15). Should marijuana be a medical option? - 2012 Presidential Election - ProCon.org. Retrieved from http://2012election.procon.org
Regan, T. R. () (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.cnbc.com/id/39617671/
White House. Retrieved from http://www.whitehouse.gov/ondcp/ondcp-fact-sheets/marijuana-legalization
The controversy of having marijuana legalized has been going on for years. In 1996 marijuana became legal in California for medicinal use although in the 2012 it became legal to even grow it in your back yard. The states have the choice to legalize marijuana, Texas is still state where marijuana is illegal. Texas is a border state and with the war with the cartels across the border wouldn’t this help Mexico get rid of so much crime. There has been another controversy where it is claimed that marijuana is un-harmful to the human body. Marijuana became a big topic in the 2012 because of so many users active on weed. Have there been any deaths because of marijuana, and how many people use marijuana now-a-days.
Marijuana
Marijuana is known to be an illegal and medicinal drug for various reasons. Marijuana is a dry shredded mix of flowers, stems, seeds and leaves of the hemp plant Cannabis sativa. (NIH) Marijuana not only has one name but several different ones to be identified in the streets as a more common substance. Those names are referred to as “street names” since it is where they are mostly used. Marijuana is known as cannabis, ganja, grass, hash, boom, pot and weed although the most common slang name is weed. Marijuana can be smoked on either a blunt or a joint, although it can also be eaten with certain foods and occasionally it can be found in a drink. Marijuana takes various forms for people not to spot it since it is an illegal drug in most places. The use of marijuana has become more frequent to where people put weed into a snack such as brownies known as “special brownies.”(drugabuse) The most common way to know if someone is under the influence of marijuana it would be to see their eyes. Commonly weed users eyes are bloodshot red and pupils are dilated. (Hubbard, J.)
History of Marijuana
Marijuana can be traced back to as early as the 2737 B.C and this is known to be when it started be cultivated for medicinal use. Chinese were the ones who used marijuana to treat several diseases, such as rheumatism, malaria, and absent-mindedness, with the hope of curing the ill person. For the recreational use marijuana is treated back to as early as 1000 B.C. In the U.S the use of marijuana was first sighted in the boat with the pilgrims on their way to Jamestown in 1607. It was more widely known in the 1920s, also known as the jazz era, where the tea pads were first seen. These were pouches filled with marijuana and at this point with jazz concerts started moving marijuana to different states. President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937. This Act was to ban marijuana from the public unless the person had a government permission to sell or distribute marijuana. (Miller, S) In 2012 the House of Representatives passed a bill stating that the states had the option of legalizing marijuana in their own state. (HOB) This is when the world found out of what states legalized marijuana and whether it was for medicinal or recreational use. The states have the option for to state what will happen in their state. This is in the hands of the Representatives, Governor and Senators of the particular state. The states that have marijuana legalized are Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. The only city that has marijuana legalized is the U.S Capitol, DC, because Virginia has not legalized marijuana. (Procon)
Medicinal use of Marijuana
The most common usage of Marijuana medically is when it is used in a hospital for cancer patients although there is something that is now surpassing the hospital. In the state of Colorado the Doctors don’t prescribe Marijuana but recommend it. The patient goes through an examination and gets a license for a year to buy their “prescription” in a clinic(Marijuana USA). There are several clinics through the state of Colorado that sell pure marijuana that the owners have harvest to make the marijuana more pure. To get the license to buy marijuana, a doctor must see you and evaluate your pain to see if you are even a candidate for marijuana. These doctors who have the license to license others to buy marijuana have the power to deny someone if they can see that it is for recreational use. In Colorado State Marijuana is not a drug but a seasoning in many foods including chocolate and traditional dishes.
Health problems from Marijuana
Many people believe that Marijuana is harmless because it is a medicine although it is still a drug. Every drug has its set of side effects and harms to the human body. The harms that marijuana causes is that it relaxed the whole body relaxing your muscles, causing slow reactions if you are driving this is dangerous(NHI). Not only does it relax you but it reduces blood to your brain causing the slow reactions. Private Universities are doing research to what marijuana is doing to the human body, and have discovered that smoking marijuana will cause cancer in the lungs just like a cigarette.(Harrison) The study was conducted in college students and how the brain was reacting to the marijuana and in effect the neurons stop functioning and decrease in number.
Effects of Marijuana
Marijuana gives the effect of a person being relaxed and having their muscles numb. This effect is most commonly known as being high. After smoking weed the person feels a need to feed themselves because marijuana gives their body the urge of wanting food and or more weed. Marijuana affects people physically by having tremors, nausea, headaches, decreased coordination, breathing problems, increased appetite, reducing blood flow to the brain, and changes in the reproductive organs. The effects are trouble remembering things, slowed reaction time, difficulty concentrating, sleepy, anxious, paranoia, altered time perception, and red bloodshot eyes. Marijuana usually makes people lose interest in how their life was, cause legal problems since it is an illegal drug, and it is dangerous to drive under the influence of it because of the reaction span. (Hubbard, J.) These effects will stay depending if the person smoked a joint or blunt and the weight and height of the person.
In the Border
Even though Marijuana is legalized in twenty states and in DC most of those states don’t have a border. Unlike Washington that has Canada as a border there isn’t much violence in Canada like in Mexico. In the state of Texas Marijuana is not legalized, although there are 70,000 inmates in jail for being in the possession of Marijuana. The government is paying for these people to live in jail when the state of Texas could be taxing marijuana for the benefit of the state and help Mexico as well In state of Texas the law states “Having two ounces of Marijuana can result in you being placed in jail for up to 6 months or a fine up to $2,000.”(cannabis news). According to a UTEP student who lives in Juarez, Mexico he says, “It would be a smart idea to legalize marijuana to help the families with all the violence that is occurring in Juarez and end the cartel to gain money for the state of Texas.”
What Professionals think
The Representative of El Paso, Congressman O’Rourke has not stated his opinion in Marijuana although has said, “It would be smart if marijuana was legalized and to have more control of the drug for our youth.”(House) President Obama is for marijuana being legalized to have control over the youth to make difficult to obtain (white house). In Harvard University medical teachers are against the use of marijuana in their patients (procon). These professors have been worldwide known for studies and making the future of medicine better therefore their credibility is important. These professors are now engaging their students to do research to help the world understand why marijuana is harmful to the body.
Conclusion
This research is shown to have pro’s and con’s on Marijuana, although it is still a very controversial topic. There are new updates on a daily basis on this case because laws are constantly being shifted. In Texas it is a conservative state where it will deny most of the problems to be overseen by others. This is topic is never ending until the US legalizes marijuana but if more studies are shown of harms that will mostly be unlikely.
Prezi Presentation
http://prezi.com/p3cd-8oyr2yx/marijuana/
Resourses:
Cannabisnews. Retrieved from. http://www.cannabisnews.org/texas-voters-want-to-legalize-marijuana/2013/10/09/
Drug abuse. Retrieved from http://www.easyread.drugabuse.gov/marijuana-facts.php
Hubbard, J. Retrieved from http://familydoctor.org/familydoctor/en/diseases-conditions/marijuana-use.printerview.all.html
Harrison, P., & Deborah, Y. Retrieved from http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=396766
Marijuana Policy Project. http://www.mpp.org/states/texas/
National Library of Medicine. Retrieved from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/marijuana.html
ProCon-ProCon.org. (2013, September 16). 20 Legal Medical Marijuana States and DC. Retrieved from http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000881
ProCon-ProCon.org. (2009, October 23). 90 Physicians' Views on Medical Marijuana. Retrieved from http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=001529
ProCon-ProCon.org. (2012, July 27). Top 17 Hospitals' Positions on Medical Marijuana. Retrieved from http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=004805
ProCon-ProCon.org. (2012, October 15). Should marijuana be a medical option? - 2012 Presidential Election - ProCon.org. Retrieved from http://2012election.procon.org
Regan, T. R. () (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.cnbc.com/id/39617671/
White House. Retrieved from http://www.whitehouse.gov/ondcp/ondcp-fact-sheets/marijuana-legalization