Legalizing Marijuana, What's the Big Deal?.
Major Writing Project #3 Researched Exploratory Essay.
Marijuana has been socially referred to as being a "poison in our culture and history."(Knipe.10) So much that it has been banned in America since the 1930's. But today it has become less thought of as an evil product of nature. So much that many states like California, Nevada, and Washington, have legalized it for medicinal purposes. But are we ready as a society and country to fully accept and legalize marijuana? This topic is so contentious that many people have put their lives to the cause of fighting to legalize it and also to keeping it illegal.
Before researching this assignment I had no clue on how controversial this question was going to be. Yes, I had some sort of knowledge of marijuana from drug prevention classes and anti-drug commercials. But I never thought about how big and highly fought over this issue was. When going to the school library and sitting down and reading published books and articles, I got a better understanding of why and how this problem came to be. The internet was also a good source for knowledge but not every source was as informative to why we need to legalize it or keep it the way it is. Many were about the fight for medicinal marijuana and how it could benefit us if we could legalize it. Some gave the good and the bad health benefits of pot and explained the value and harm it does to our bodies. But others had no other reasons but to just legalize it to get stoned. This last reason reminded me of some of my high school peers. They too were just using pot to get high, not thinking of the harm or the benefits it could create for them. About half of them now are still where I left them, sitting at home, with minimum wage jobs, still puffing weed. But the other half is on the other end of the spectrum. They are now prospering in college and are paving a way to their future.
