The Price For Legalizing Marijuana And Is It Worth It

Why has New Jersey now not legalized marijuana yet? That query grabs people’s attention nearly instantly. Thirty states have legalized medical marijuana use, however solely nine states have legalized clinical and leisure use. New Jersey approves clinical marijuana however still trying to get a law exceeded for leisure use. Through the workings of attempting to get the ball rolling; New Jersey possesses weed dispensaries all over the state. Although there are weed dispensaries, they’re only for scientific use. Contrary to many people’s views, marijuana is emerging into the current day society. Legalizing weed would only benefit New Jersey and the USA whole. The crime fee in our state would limit particularly due to the fact it would be clear most of the prisons, it would improve financial boom and reduce the capacious debt America possesses, and help drug addicts with withdrawal symptoms or human beings who are terminally sick or who can’t get through days to day barring anxiety and different such illnesses. Legalizing marijuana is probably our fantastic guess as now not simply a country however in the long run for the country.

New Jersey houses six marijuana dispensaries with the closest being right in Egg Harbor Township. On the street grams of marijuana are typically sold for twenty dollars according to Addiction Resource. There are four hundred and fifty three grams in a pound. When that is mathematically converted, a pound produces approximately $9,060. Once the government puts tax on marijuana, that number will instantly increase bringing in even more money. New Jersey only has $25.5 billion of assets available to pay bills totaling $221 billion. Legalizing recreational marijuana would help alleviate the heavy burden on the country's financial crisis.

Even though america is a weed country and many laws are trying to go into effect by having hearings, meetings, and researches, marijuana didn’t originate here. America wasn’t always a weed country. Marijuana actually came from somewhere in central asia and over thousands of years, has slowly made its way into our country as a staple drug. Marijuana came to america in the form of hemp plantations in the seventeenth century colonies. Fast forwarding to nineteenth century, that is when marijuana really started to boom. All along the east coast weed was starting to emerge more and more for its medical and recreational use. In the twentieth century, marijuana made its way down south and became exceptionally prevalent in people’s day to day lives. Once this was occuring, it caused a major wake up call to the embryonic Drug Enforcement Agency and pinpointed them as a major target. Hemp in marijuana terms is cannabis sativa L.

There are four different species of marijuana. Each different type has a different level of THC. THC is short for tetrahydrocannabinol which is the chemical compound found in marijuana. THC is the reason you actually get high and is responsible for all the psychological effects. Going back into the seventeenth century, the british colonies were growing hemp, along with the french in Quebec. Even back then when America was still in colonies no one was getting “stoned.” The people were growing hemp in the colonies. Hemp contains one percent of THC so even if people were to smoke it, it wouldn’t have any effect on them. In the colonial days they used hemp for everyday needs like clothes, ropes and paper. Other species of marijuana is cannabis sativa, cannabis indica, and cannabis ruderalis.

The most common species are the basic sativa and indica. Ruderalis is almost extinct because there isn’t too many strands of it. Its been discovered that people didn’t start actually smoking marijuana until the twentieth century. At that point people were smoking it for the same reasons. The slaves were sent into the weed fields like anything normal, as if they were going into sugar cane fields. Smoking weed became apart for peoples cultures just like the jamicans. “Marijuana was brought to the Americas by the Portuguese, who took it to Brazil, and again by the British, who took it to Jamaica. In both cases, it was used to pacify slaves.” explained Mark Hay in an article titled “Marijuanas Early History in the United States.” Marijuana became an alternative to alcohol which was one of the main reasons it became so popular.

Over the years marijuana has become more and more accepted. As marijuana becomes more widely and globally accepted in today’s society, there are still many people who are against marijuana. Older generations have acquired a bad reputation for marijuana considering that it’s looked upon as a gateway drug. Its taken generation upon generation to clear the negative stigma and stereotype of marijuana. After Colorado legalized recreational use of marijuana, while also being the first state, many others quickly followed. Legalization of marijuana in New Jersey is right around the corner. There are many reasons why people look down upon it but many use it to their advantage. Some smoke before going to school because it makes them more focused, some smoke before they go outside to fix their car because they are more engaged, some even smoke before bed because it helps them fall into a deeper sleep. Marijuana helps people handle or minimize pain. Some citizens will not even ponder on the topic because of President Trump's secret Anti-Weed committee.

A big road blocker for the passing for recreational use of weed would be the fact that many people look at it as a gateway drug. Many people start smoking marijuana and then later in life find themselves in rehab for “chasing the dragon”. In other words, some people started taking other drugs to chase a bigger high. Yes marijuana is seen as the start of people getting hooked on harder, stronger drugs, like cocaine and heroin, but that’s not the case. What we aren’t doing is looking into people's family history and their genes. Half of the people who are hooked on opioids have the gene for addiction in their blood. Some start off with alcohol, some with marijuana and some with even tobacco, as crazy as it sounds. Marijuana is one of the easiest street drugs you can buy, just because it’s almost legal. Of Course drug addicts are going to start off with smoking weed. It's the cheapest, most convenient drug out there and the fact that if you get caught with it on your first offense you're most likely going to get off with a misdemeanor. Because of how lenient marijuana offenses are compared to other hard drugs, people don’t care about having any in possession or getting in trouble because they’ll probably get away with it. It’s taking advantage of the legal justice system.

Alcohol and tobacco are both legal in every state. Even though alcohol and tobacco are seen as gateway drugs, society just turns away. Marijuana is reeps many benefits but no one cares to really understand because of a branded bad connotation. “The major concern is that letting for-profit businesses market and sell marijuana may lead them to market aggressively to heavy pot users, who may have a drug problem. This is similar to what's happened in the alcohol and tobacco industries, where companies make much of their profits from users with serious addiction issues. Among alcohol users, for instance, the top 10 percent of users consume, on average, more than 10 drinks each day” states German Lopez who wrote an article on the spread of marijuana. Addiction can happen for any substance. There is already alcoholism and addiction to tobacco which affect a person’s ability to function, while marijuana does the opposite and helps someone get from day to day.

Works Cited

Hay, Mark. “Marijuana's Early History in the United States.” Vice, 31 Mar. 2015, www.vice.com/en_us/article/xd7d8d/how-marijuana-came-the-united-states-456.

Lopez, German. The Spread of Marijuana Legalization, Explained. VOX, 2018, pp. 1-13.

Marijuana Prices on the Street. Delphi Health Group ed., Addiction Resource, 2014.

The Truth About Marijuana. International Statistics ed., Foundation For A Drug Free World, 2018.