Chronology of the legalization of marijuana in the United States

Legalization of marijuana is the complete permission of the use of marijuana for private use and medical purposes.

Liberalization of marijuana trafficking is an indicator of the qualitative development of legislation in the United States and in other developed countries. For a long time this drug was banned everywhere, except for the rare relaxation of the law associated with medicine.

But gradually public opinion is persuading legislators to allow weed.

Attempts to legalize marijuana are increasingly being made, which makes it possible to look optimistically at the future of legalization, at least in some parts of the country.

Colorado and Washington became the first states in which marijuana was legalized in 2012 year. Alaska, Oregon and the District of Columbia were able to join them in the 2014 year after the official vote.

Supporters of legalization argue that the turnover of marijuana in the framework of the legislation will increase state tax collections. However, the permission of marijuana will not cause significant damage to health, as well as put an end to numerous racial arrests.

Opponents of the law say that legalization will make the drug more accessible to adolescents, and this will adversely affect their mental development. Opponents of the law also note that the experience of states that have already legalized marijuana is not enough to form clear tools to regulate the market for marijuana.

Reasons for legalization

Proponents of legalization justify their position with possible savings from combating drugs and collecting taxes from the marijuana market without causing special damage to the health of the nation.

Also, advocates of the law assure that the use of marijuana causes minimal damage to health. This is justified by the fact that the harm to health from the consumption of marijuana is lower than that from alcohol and tobacco.

The American Civil Liberties Union says that in recent decades, a ban on marijuana has led to millions of arreststhat is disproportionate to the damage to health from this drug. Although not all arrests lead to a real prison sentence (only 40000 a person is serving a sentence under articles related to marijuana), advocates of legalization see even so many arrests to be excessive.

All these facts serve as a basis for supporters of legalization and a signal to the legislative regulation of the circulation of marijuana.

Opponents of legalization

Opponents of legalization argue that the weakening of legislation will lead to an increase in drug use and will cause serious damage to children and adolescents.

Some experts associate marijuana use with mental decline and low intelligence. Also, in their opinion, “weed” serves as the beginning of drug addiction and leads to the use of other drugs, such as cocaine and heroin, but researchers on this issue cannot come to a common opinion.

Colorado Governor John Gickenlooper was opposed to the legalization of marijuana when discussing the law, believing that this step would make the use of the drug a common, unkind thing.

Another group of opponents of legalization suggests instead of a full legislative resolution other steps to solve the problem. In their opinion, the decriminalization of marijuana will allow the public to maintain a negative attitude towards the drug and eliminate such a number of arrests. Therefore, for keeping a small amount of marijuana, its owners are not prosecuted. In different states, this number is different: from 10 to 100 grams.

Where is marijuana legal?

The attitude of society to the legalization of marijuana

Harm to the body

Marijuana is safe for health compared to alcohol and tobacco, but it has certain effects on adolescents and children.

Some studies show that using marijuana among adolescents can have long-term serious consequences. Various studies and experts associate the use of marijuana at a young age with poor mental development and reduced intelligence. Another scientific work confirmed the connection between the use of marijuana and poor memory performance, which leads to unsatisfactory results in studies and everyday activities.

Another group of researchers believes that the use of marijuana increases the level of development and activity of the brain during adolescence, which leads to an increased susceptibility of the brain to negative influences. But, on the other hand, all these studies only confirm a certain relationship of factors affecting health, and not cause-and-effect dependence.

"Forum" earlier писал about the most dangerous drugs that are legal in the USA. Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that tobacco smoking, alcohol and prescription opioid-based painkillers are responsible for a significantly higher number of deaths annually than any other drugs combined.