Should Marijuana be Legal in Every State? (Essay Sample)

Should Marijuana be legal in every state?
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Should Marijuana be legal in every state?
In the past few decades, the shift in cultural attitudes towards Marijuana for recreational and medicinal use has intensified. As of April 2022, medicinal and recreational Marijuana was legal in 20 American states, with the number of states legalizing the substance expected to rise in the near future. An overwhelming majority of adults (91%) in the U.S.A. agree that Marijuana should be legalized for recreational use (60%) and medical uses (31%) (Van Green, 2021). From 2000 to 2020, the number of Americans agreeing with the legalization of Marijuana doubled, with young adults being at the forefront in its call for legalization (Yu et al., 2020). According to Van Green, (2021), older adults above 75 years remain the only group of citizens less likely to favor the legalization of Marijuana for recreational purposes and instead prefer its legalization on medical grounds only. For many proponents and supporters of marijuana legalization, the call for legalization is primarily based on the three grounds: (1) that if alcohol and cigarettes are legal, then Marijuana should also be legal; (2) that Marijuana shows substantial promises for good medicine and should therefore be legalized; and (3) that Marijuana can offer substantial economic value to an economy and should therefore be legalized (Wilkinson, 2013). Despite these grounds, there is substantial evidence indicating that the legalization of Marijuana may bring adverse effects on both individual and public health and, therefore, should not be legalized in any state.
Medicinal use of Marijuana
Medicinal substance refers to any substance that has healing properties. The potential therapeutic