Self Analysis

When I first heard about this blog project, I decided to pick my topic because I thought that it was something new that people would find interesting. I had no clue that as many people have thought about this idea before as in depth as I had found they did. I had no clue that a bill was just about to be voted on November 2 to decide if it should be legalized. The main reason I thought that my topic was good was because of all of the economic advantages that legalizing marijuana could do. The U.S. National debt is somewhere close to 13 trillion dollars. From all the research that I learned, I concluded that legalizing marijuana could bring in about 10 million  a year from saving on prison and arrest costs and anywhere from 50-100 million dollars on taxes, imports and industries that would produce it. The exact number is unknown because no one knows exactly how much marijuana is smoked in the U.S. With all that said, I quickly learned that marijuana probably wasn't going to be able to bring America out of debt like I thought it might. The main reason I had for thinking marijuana should be legalized, I was able to prove wrong in only a few short minutes. Even the president thinks that marijuana shouldn't be legalized. How was I going to be able to convince people other wise. I began to do more research and I quickly learned that there were more benefits than economic. I had no clue that marijuana was being used in the medical field to help cure people. A drug that is illegal in society was being used to help cure people around the country. I had doubts in the beginning that I would be able to convey a strong point for my topic but I soon learned that there were even more benefits to my topic. Drug cartels all over benefit greatly from illegally importing marijuana into our country. If marijuana was legalized, companies would begin producing in the U.S. and as soon as they did, drug cartels would lose money. The drug would be able to lower crime rates around the country just by being legalized. Debates have gone back in forth over whether the drug should be legalized or not and there are many pros and cons to each side of the argument. I don't know for sure if the drug will ever be legalized, but I can tell you that just by my research over the past few weeks, I have learned great amounts of knowledge that has transformed my opinion on this topic. I truely do think that marijuana should be legalized and I have the knowledge and the information to prove it.

Related Links

Here I have collected an extensive list of 15 websites that have to do with marijuana and facts that could be used to develop an opinion on how to view the use and legalization process of marijuana. The website http://www.greenchange.org/article.php?id=3235is an article that explains the economic benefits that could be gained by legalizing marijuana. It talks about the money that could be brought in and how it would ease the debt problem.  http://www.mytwodollars.com/2007/02/12/9-billion-of-your-tax-dollars-is-spent-dealing-with-marijuana-laws-each-year/ is an entire blog on why it is a good idea to legalize marijuana. David, the writer of the blog explains money benefits that the government could gain and many more good things that could come out of legalizing marijuana. This webpage, http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=37557 is all about the vote that is going to happen in the future in California on legalizing marijuana. Proposition 19 is the bill that is trying to be passed and will be voted on November 2 to see if the drug should be legalized. The drug will be looked at as if it was just like alcohol in that it has an age limit and an amount limit that you can have at one time. It is a very good website that shows the logistics of the bill. This one, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/07/us/07arnold.html?_r=3 talks about how even Arnold Schwarzenegger thinks it would be a good idea to start more in depth research on marijuana. He feels that if more information was gained on the topic and known then it could persuade the public in one way or the other.  This website is about the spiritual, psychological and physical benefits of marijuana http://www.benefitsofmarijuana.com/benefits.php. It talks about the advantages that the body can gain from smoking marijuana. This website is about the medical benefits of marijuana, http://www.godandscience.org/doctrine/medical_marijuana_review.html. It explains what THC is and it shows how it affects the body. It goes through a whole list of things on how marijuana changes people. This website, http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=11850 is like the last website, but it shows how smoking the drug not only for recreational use is good for the body. This website is about the advantages that could be gained in California if Proposition 19 was passed. It discusses the economic and social benefits that could be gained if the drug was made legal.  http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=37557  is about the Mexican drug cartels. It is about how they are illegally trafficking drugs to the U.S. It talks about the problems that are occurring and why these are a bad things for our country. Another website that also has good information on drug trafficking is http://www.policyalmanac.org/crime/archive/drug_trafficking.shtml. This website is a huge analysis of legalizing marijuana. http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/lsd/mcvay.htm goes over things like the benefits of the drug and why it is illegal now. It talks about the taxes that could be brought in and how it affects our prisons in the U.S.  This is another short website about benefits of legalizing marijuana http://www.suite101.com/content/the-benefits-of-legalizing-marijuana-a209552. It is a quick read that shows the benefits and how it would affect our economic status in the future.  This website is on the effects of the cardiovascular system from using marijuana, http://jcp.sagepub.com/content/42/11_suppl/58S.abstract. It is a good website to inform someone on how this drug works and what it does when you smoke it. It is very short but it shows medical terms on how this drug does what it does. This website is about how different drugs affect the brain in different ways including marijuana, http://www.brainsource.com/brain_on_drugs.htm. It is a more in depth analysis on the affects but it doesn’t only cover marijuana. It allows you to compare the drug with other drugs like heroin and cocaine that are also illegal.  This is an article about facts dealing with marijuana and how it’s used, http://atlantarecoverycenter.com/drugs-of-abuse/marijuana/. It may seem like common knowledge to some people but this website explains how the drug can be put in the body and it just lays down some of the basics on how people use it to get high.  This is an article on why people think marijuana should not be legalized, http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/13115/why_marijuana_should_not_be_legalized.html. It shows the opposite opinion on why it is a bad thing and how it would negatively affect people. Along with this website http://www.cnbc.com/id/36267223/Why_We_Should_Not_Legalize_Marijuana, these cover most of the reasons why people feel that the drug should stay illegal. This last website is a website that shows ten reasons why parents should not support legalizing marijuana. http://www.radicalparenting.com/2008/12/18/10-reasons-parents-should-not-support-legalizing-marijuana/. It is another website against marijuana legalization that explains to parents why it is bad. It targets parents so that they can understand and tell their kids that it is not a good idea to smoke marijuana.

Only A Few Days Away

There are two types of people in this world. The people that think marijuana should be legalized and the people that think it should not. There is no place in the middle for anyone to hang out. Either you are a believer or not. The way that a person finds out who they are is if they vote for or against marijuana. Proposition 19 is the bill that is trying to be passed to allow the legalization of marijuana. Public opinion polls have been taken many times to try to predict the outcome of the bill and every time, the results have been very similar. Almost a split decision on whether or not the bill should be passed. On November 2, voting will begin and the future of marijuana will be left in the hands of the polls. If legalized, marijuana will be seen almost identical as alcohol. There will be a minimum age limit that is required to be in possession of the drug. Like alcohol’s .08 blood level limit of being able to drive, a person will only be legally allowed to posses 1 ounce of marijuana at any given time. Not only will people be able to use the drug but the government will be able to start using this to their advantage. The government will be able to put taxes on marijuana and be able to enforce and collect marijuana related fees. The main arguments of the bill are that it would be able to help with budget losses in California and that it would cut money revenues from the drug cartels and weaken them. Legalizing marijuana is closer to happening then you might think.

It's Illegal So It Can't Be Good

 Marijuana users have been given a bad name in this country. Whenever someone thinks about someone that smokes marijuana, an immediate thought that comes with that is that they are bad people. I know that is how I used to feel when I would hear a story about someone I knew that was a smoker. I would immediately think that that person doesn’t have “life figured out”.  The whole way that I looked at that person changed and every time I saw them I would think about them smoking. That is not the case anymore for me, but I know that is how most of this country feels when they hear about someone that smokes marijuana. In middle school, we were so young and innocent and I can remember only hearing about it a few certain times that people smoked weed. I thought it was a huge deal when it really wasn’t. As soon as I got in high school, as I sure this is what happened to most people, marijuana was everywhere. Kids would smoke it behind school buildings or skip class to do it. I began to come accustomed to it. I knew friends that did it and my view on how I saw them never changed once I learned they did it. I accepted it and didn’t think anything of it.  Not until one day when I heard some parents talking about it at a basketball game did I realize how marijuana is looked down upon. I asked my parents about it and they thought the same way that marijuana is terrible. I asked them more questions about it and everything they said came back to one idea, marijuana is illegal so it cannot be good.  Marijuana has never been given a chance in this country because people already have their minds made up before they even hear the argument. If people in this country would listen to all the good that it could bring to them, it could change their mind, but because it is never even given a shot, legalizing marijuana might never happen. The idea that marijuana is an illegal drug and no good can come out of it needs to stop. Stop being biased and just listen to what people have to say.

Class Links

Three blogs that I enjoyed reading over this assignment were Education in Public Schools, Park 51, and Gulf Oil Spill. Each of these topics were three very interesting and relevant topics to read. Each was given a clear and concise meaning and the stance that they took on the situation. Not only did I learn a lot of stuff that I had never learned before from these blogs, each one of them dealt  with a situation that is current in today’s society. I had never begun to think about how the education in our public schools is doing in our country. I went through elementary, middle and high school and after reading this, I can look back at my experiences and it brings things back to my mind that I never thought about why they happened before. Events like huge budget cuts,  being in a class were someone can’t read,  and firing hundreds of teachers at once have come together to show me how our education system in our country is not doing a great job. Reading the park 51 blog was interesting because I had heard about it on the news, but never got to follow up and understand the full impact it had. It was a very controversial topic that I had fun trying to pick a side on which to stand with. Many times I had to change my thoughts and still I would like to learn more about it so that I can make a final decision on where I stand. But my favorite out of all of the topics was the Gulf Oil Spill. This was a catastrophic event that is still affecting our country and will continue to affect it many years to come. Oil is a huge necessity for every country and I had never thought about the controversy that it causes. And now that an event on this huge of a scale has happened, it makes me want to learn even more about it. In all I liked reading and learning about all three of these topics very much.

Implications

If marijuana is not legalized in the United States, then the drug problems will get worse in the future. The population is growing everyday and that is just leading to more people that the drug can negatively affect. There are so many views on which way legalizing marijuana could fall in the U.S., but I think legalizing it needs to be done. If it is not, crimes all over the country are going to continue to happen  dealing with marijuana and affect huge amounts of people.  Marijuana is the most common illegal drug that is used and it is only going to increase over time. For all we know, legalizing marijuana could bring the economy out of a depression and heal numerous diseases, but we might never find out if the drug is never given a chance in our society. All we can be sure of is that people are going to continue to use the drug and the negative affects of it today are going to continue to happen unless something is changed.

Mental Health Post-Effects of Drug Deals

Saving Money

According to David from mytwodollars.com, America is spending over nine billion dollars a year to related issues with illegal marijuana. Every year thousands of criminals are arrested and trialed for the illegal use of the drug. Every person that is arrested uses tax dollars paid by the American people. The cost of trial, jail, food, clothes and everything else that is needed when someone is put into jail is estimated at nine billion dollars for all the marijuana related arrests. Doesn’t this seem like a waste of money too you? There are definitely better thinks I could think of to spend nine billion dollars on. According to skeptically.org, every year the amount of people arrested for marijuana increases. Starting in 1992, the number of arrests was close to 350,000 people a year. As of the last year in their data, 2001, the number has risen to almost 800,000 people a year. In 2010, the number could easily be said to be over a million. With the economy doing as bad as it is today, any amount of money that the government can save could help with improving the countries debt. Nine billion dollars may not seem like a bunch of money to the government but it is a starting point. Legalizing marijuana would also bring in more money than the 9 billion saved on arrests. The tax on the drug could bring in billions and the trade of the drug to other countries could also bring in billions of dollars. Legalizing marijuana alone might not be able to save the debt problem in America, but it is definitely a step in the right direction.

Theory Post

In the late 1960s to early 1970s, the drug in marijuana known as THC, was found to be the reason why marijuana caused people to get high. After the discovery of this, the use of marijuana sky rocketed. Discovery of THC The discovery of THC caused people to become very interested in the drug. Not only did people want to know more about the drug but they wanted to know how to make it stronger. Techniques of growing the drug became common knowledge and in the late 70s, smoking marijuana became huge. Not only did the drug attract millions of people to do it, it also started giving people bad reputations who smoked it. The hippie movement in the late 60s became highly attracted to the drug and ever sense, people who smoke the drug has been given a bad reputation. The drug is similar to other legal drugs like cigarettes and alcohol, but it’s reputation makes it seem that marijuana is a lot worse than it actually is. There are too very distinct sides to the legalization of marijuana.Two sides One side believes that the drug is not that bad and should be legalized. The other side sees the drug itself as a dangerous drug that can cause harm to the body and it should not be legal. I think enough studies have been done to prove the effects of the drug, and the only thing left to try to create less controversy would be to legalize the drug.Never ending debate This way, it could finally be determined on if the drug is acceptable or not. Speculations on whether or not the drug will help or not could go on forever, but the answer will never be known unless it is legalized. The government should try it out for a while and if it is not working like it said it would, take back the law.

The solution to everything

When people hear the word marijuana, the first thing they think about is it is illegal and all the bad that can come out of it. Marijuana is classified as a drug because it alters the state of mind of a person. what is a drug. Marijuana is seen as an addictive drug by many people in the world but this is not true. The thought is that if someone starts using it that they will not be able to stop. This is not true.  Cigarettes have a drug in them called nicotine that causes people to become addicted and demand more of the drug. Studies have proven that marijuana is not an addictive drug sould be legal. But yet one of the top reasons that people say they have never tried marijuana is because they don’t want to become addicted not addictive. It has been estimated that around 90 million kids have tried to use marijuana illegally by the age of 12 who uses it. The most common way a person will use the drug is in a joint, bowl, or pipe how it's used. People don’t often think about it, but using the drug the wrong way can really hurt someone. If the drug is smoked with other substances then the drug itself, it can do some real damage then is intended to the person. I think that the public is misinformed about the drug marijuana and I am going to clear up some ideas about it. Marijuana is like cigarettes in that you can get lung cancer from it. The cancer has nothing to do with tar that you would get from cigarettes but yet just the inhaling of the smoke will give it to you. Smoking marijuana has no greater risk than that of smoking or dipping. marijuana facts/. Compared to other illegal drugs used by people in the U.S., marijuana has some of the least affects that it can cause a person. Compared to other illegal drugs like cocaine and heroin, the effects on a human are minor at most Brain on drugs. Smoking weed will give the smoker cotton mouth and will increase the person’s heart rate. The mind altering state of mind that the drug puts on people when they smoke it is almost no different than the way alcohol makes a person feel after four of five drinks effects.  I think that marijuana would have numerous advantages if it was ever legalized in the U.S... Marijuana could bring economic growth, medical benefits, and even be used as an alternative fuel source Benefits . In the late 70s, a bill was brought to congress to try to decriminalize the use of marijuana and make it legal. The thought was that if it was made legal, then less people would try to use the drug. An estimated 12 million people today use the drug and abuse it almost daily people who use it . Huge amounts of the drug are illegal trafficked over the boarder every day to try to keep up with the demand of the illegal drug. Every year around 400 million tons of cargo are brought to the United States and a tenth of that is thought to be illegal drugs drug trafficking . Gangs and drug cartels cause people to risk their lives in illegally transporting the drugs into our country for the purpose of selling drug cartels .Not only do people risk their lives in transporting the illegal goods into our country, they waste our money when they are caught and have to be arrested. When an illegal citizen is caught in our country, tax dollars have to be used to either send that person to jail or to ship them back across the border. Three out of every five arrests in the country have to do with the possession of illegal drugs, and 2 two out of those three arrests are thought to be related to the use of marijuana. If the drug was legal, huge amounts of money would be able to be saved help the economy . The topic of legalizing marijuana has been a huge debate in California over the past few years. In 1996, the drug was legalized in California for medical use only legal in California. Marijuana has been known for thousands of years to have special powers in the medical field. The drug helps the body in a physical way and a spiritual way. It has be proven to help with nausea, pain relief and appetite How it helps . The drug has even helps in the area of relaxing people and fixing social problems as well has benefit the autonomic nervous system Benifits to nervous system.The governor of California himself has looked at legalizing the drug for recreational use. He has encouraged large scale studies to the drug to be done so it can be seen if it will be able to be legalized urges a study . Coming up this fall for the first time ever, voters in California will have the chance to vote on whether they think marijuana should be legalized. The drug is going to be seen the same was as alcohol and its distribution and buying is going to be monitored. An age limit of 21 is going to be implemented and it is hoped that it is going to have a huge impact on our economy. Legalization . If this drug was legalized it could play a huge role in helping our economy gain strength back. Just like tobacco helped our economy a long time ago, marijuana could do the same thing. Helping the U.S. . Thousands of jobs could be created by the farming that it would require to make the marijuana. The government would be able to control at what age it could be bought and they would be able to tax it. No clear numbers are certain because the distribution of weed is illegal as of now, but it is estimated that if marijuana was legalized and taxed, it could bring somewhere in the range of 30 billion dollars a year for the government Taxing . Not only can the government benefit from the taxes from the selling of it, but also from other countries the import the drug into our country. I myself would like to say that I have never smoked marijuana before, but I still think that it should be legalized because of the benefits that it brings.

Medical Marijuana

Not only would marijuana be able to give a person a high and make them feel good, it is also used to cure people in the medical field too. In 1996, the state of California passed a law by a 56 percent majority vote that marijuana would be legal for use if someone had a medical prescription for it. Since the legalization in California, five other states, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Nevada and Maine have also followed and legalizing marijuana for medical use. Marijuana can be very helpful in treating illnesses that other drugs do not do a good job treating. The only way to receive medical marijuana legally is by having a prescription from a certified doctor. Then, only if you live in a state in which it is legal, will you be able to use it. Only certified stores are able to sell the drug and only to people with prescriptions are able to purchase it. There are also pain relief doctors that specialize in the use of medical marijuana and are very knowledgeable on the topic.  There are many different things that medical marijuana can treat. Common illnesses that it can treat include chronic pain, nausea, glaucoma, seizure disorders, cancer, diabetes, muscle spasms. People are often hesitant to start using medical marijuana because it is seen as a drug. Well if you think about it, every drug that is prescribed to someone is an illegal drug if they do not have a prescription for it. So why would people be hesitant to start using it if it was said to help.

Marijuana is no different than a cigarette or alcohol

The affects that marijuana has on the body is almost nothing compared to other illegal drugs that are used in the world today. A drug is classified as any substance that alters bodily functions. Why when people hear the word drug, do they automatically think that it is going to be bad? Drugs can be some of the best things in the world. Now I know there are drugs out there that are completely bad for a person like cocaine and ecstasy, but marijuana is not one of them. Marijuana can be compared most to a cigarette that a person would smoke every day. The only difference is that marijuana is not an addictive drug like cigarettes. Cigarettes affect a person’s body by giving them the feeling of a buzz. After constant use of the drug, the person then never feels a buzz again, but there body wants the nicotine from the drug, so they keep smoking. Studies have proven that there are no addictive substances in marijuana if it is smoked. That means that if someone smokes the drug once a day for a whole year, and they decided that they wanted to stop, then they could stop at will. How is it that a drug that is not even addictive, and causes the same affects as alcohol, is not legal? Common side effects of using the drug include the munchies, a high feeling, and cotton mouth. There is absolutely no way to overdose on marijuana either like there is with alcohol. Thousands of people a year over dose and die using alcohol, but never once will that ever happen with marijuana.

How it would help

The economy in recent years has really started to fall in the United States. The government is more than 13 trillion dollars in debt and it grows around 4.5 billion dollars a day. With there being 310 million citizens in the country, that means that each citizen is around 45 thousand dollars in debt. This is the worst debt that the country has ever been in during its history. It is a large gamble, but I think that legalizing weed could help bring our country out of debt. According to surveys taken in the United States, it has been found that 42% of our population has tried or is a constant user of weed. That means that millions of people a day are going against the law and using illegal drugs so that they can feel high. Think of how many people would use weed if it were legal. The plan that I think should be followed by the government is to legalize weed. Once they have legalized it, they can tax it heavily and help to bring in more revenue to the government. Legalizing weed alone could help our government out tremendously. Companies would start producing it and it would become a huge industry in the country bringing in millions of dollars a day.  Not only would legalizing weed solve issues like debt, but it would also bring the crime rate down in America. Illegally transporting weed across the border is a huge problem that has to be dealt with in America. Nearly 5/6^th of the weed that is used in America is thought to be illegally trafficked across the border. Countries such as Colombia, Mexico, and Jamaica help to supply a huge amount of this. The government could work with these countries to help make an even bigger profit off of legalizing weed. It seems as though the government should start looking at the positive weed could bring to the country instead of just the negatives. If weed was legalized, the country would reap benefits that it cannot even imagine

Legalizing weed

What if it was legal to smoke marijuana? Wouldn't our society be a lot better off? Everyday when ever someone was stressed they could just smoke a blunt and feel better about themselves. Smoking marijuana could save the people of America.
You may be reading this and thinking that I am just a pot head that wants to be able to smoke weed everyday. This is not the case at all. In my life I have never smoked weed once. People at my high school would do it all the time, but never once did I try it. All over the country, weed is seen as a terrible drug that is illegal to use. I think that if weed was legalized, it could save our society. The legalization of weed could bring our country out of debt, decrease the amount of arrests for drug related charges, and make people happier at the same time. When ever stress started to catch up with someone, all they would have to do is smoke weed and they would be better. All the time, people are dying from overdosing in drugs, or drinking to much alcohol. This would be impossible with weed because no matter how much weed someone smokes, you cannot overdose. Come over from the dark side and help me legalize weed. It's going to change your world.