AnIntr

oducti
ontoCannabi
sLegal
i
zat
ion
ByGeneMar ki
nofStar
k&St ar
k
September11,2019

Abst
ract
Thet rendofcannabi slegalizationisspreadingt hroughoutt hegl obe.Ur uguayand
Canadabecamet hef i
rsttwocount ri
estofullylegal i
zet heplantforbot hmedi cinaland
recreational purposes.TheUSAhasnoty etdonet hesameonaf eder allevel,
neverthelesssomest ateshav ealreadypassedl awst hatallowgr owi ng, processing,
dist
ribut i
ng, andusingcannabi sproducts.Thist echnical r
epor tprovideshi stori
cal
perspect i
v esandcompar i
sonsofv ari
ousappr oachest othel egalstatusofmar ijuanato
aidinf ormi ngpublicpol i
cy.Informationonthei mpactt hatdecr iminalizati
onand
l
egal i
zat i
onofmar ij
uanacoul dhav eonadolescent s,i
naddi ti
ont oconcer ns
surroundi ngmedi cinaluseofmar i
j
uana, ar
eal soaddr essedint hisrepor t.

I
nt hi
sart
icl
e,wedi
scusstheworldofcannabi
slegali
zat
ion,
tal
kalit
tl
ebitaboutt
he
hi
storyi
nvol
vedaswellasthepubli
c’
sopini
on,potent
ial
benefi
tsandri
sksofcannabi
s
use,andmore.

TheHi st
oryofCannabisLegali
zati
on
Mostcount r
iesworldwi
dehav ehadtheircannabi
slegal
itypoli
ciesmodel
edbytheUN
SingleConventi
ononNar cot
icDrugsf r
om 1961.Theref
ore,cannabi
sisil
l
egal
inmost
partsoftheworld,
parti
cular
lyi
nAf r
ica,Asi
a,andEasternEurope.

Mostoftheselawshaveremainedunchangedupuntilt
helastdecade,whent herewere
somemaj ordi
scoveri
esonthepotenti
alheal
thbenef
itsofthesubstance.Uruguaywas
thef
ir
stcountr
yt oful
l
ylegal
izecannabi
sin2013,fol
l
owedbyCanadaf iveyearslat
er.

Whenitcomestot
heUnitedStates,
thel
egal
i
zati
onwavestar
tedin2012,
when
Washi
ngtonandCol
oradolegal
izedmari
j
uanaforr
ecr
eati
onaluse.

Today,cannabi
sformedici
nalpur
posesisl
egali
nmanypl
aces,whi
l
egover
nmentsi
n
otherpl
aceshavestar
tedtodecri
minal
i
zemar i
j
uanaandt
reati
tasami
noroff
ense.
GeneralOpi
niononLegalizat
ion
I
n1969, onl
y12%oft hepopul at
ionintheUni
tedStateswasi nfavorofcannabi s
l
egali
zati
on.Mostofthiswasduet othebadimagepr opagandapr omulgatedbyt he
governmentthr
oughthemedi a.Thingshavechangedsi gni
fi
cantl
ysincet henwithtwo-
thi
rdsofall
Amer i
canciti
zensnowsuppor ti
ngthelegali
zati
onoft hegreenpl ant
.

Simil
arapprovallevel
scanbeseeninsomeot hercountr
iesi
nWester
nEuropeaswel l
asinCentralandSout hAmeri
ca.Never
thel
ess,mostplacesi
ntheMiddl
eEast,Afr
ica,
andAsiastil
l v
iewcannabisasadangerousdrugandprobablywi
l
lnotbelegal
i
zingor
decri
minal
izingitanytimesoon.

Pr
os&Cons
Whyi
st heresuchacrazetol
egal
izecannabi
s?Well
,al
otofi
thastodowi
ththe
medi
cinalbenefi
tsandposi
ti
veef
fectsi
tcanhaveonourphy
sical
andment
alheal
th.

Forexample, CBDhasbeenf oundt

ohelpwit
hinfl
ammati
on,str
ess,andaidi
nt he
heal
ingofbr okenbones.Cannabi
shasbeenrecommendedtohelpwithmult
iple
scl
erosi
s,diabetes,
depressi
on,dement
ia,
ADHD, pai
n,mi
grai
nes,andevenwithcancer
.

Thatsaid,
mar i
juana–l ikeanydrugoralt
eri
ngsubstance–hasdr awbacks,
someof
whichincl
udemi ldaddicti
on,decl
ineincogni
ti
veabil
it
ies,bador
alheal
th,l
ung
compli
cations,
increasedheartrate,
paranoi
a,schi
zophrenia,
andmore.

Popul
arMythsAboutCannabis
Themajor
it
yofcountr
iesthathavenoty
etl
egal
i
zedcannabi
sli
kel
yst
il
lbel
i
evei
na
cer
tai
nmythssurr
oundingtheplant
.

Fori
nstance,manyst
il
lcl
aimthatcannabi
sisagat ewaydrug,al
thoughthereisl
itt
let
o
noproofofanysuchconnect
ion.Ot
hersgoalongwi t
hthepopularbeli
efthatcannabi
s
i
sadanger ousdrugt
hatl
eadstocrimeanddelinquentbehavi
or.

Asmorer
obustresear
chisper
formedacrossallpl
atf
orms,thet
her
apeut
icand
amel
i
orat
ivepr
operti
esofmari
juanawi
llbehardertodeny.

Concl
usion
Thesti
gmasurroundingcannabisuseisslowlydecl
i
ningonagloball
evel
.Withnew
di
scover
iesabouti
tshealthbenefi
tsandef f
ects,
weshouldseeaglobalshi
ftt
owards
l
egali
zat
ionandexplorat
ionoverthenextdecade.
Thisar
ti
clewasco-
aut
hor
edwi
thBoj
anaPet
kov
ic,
Proj
ectManager
,at
LoudCl
oudHeal
th.
co