Marijuana

Marijuana
Origin
Marijuana (or cannabis or weed) has been used for a long amount of time.
Most ancient cultures did not use the plant as a recreational use but as a
natural medication (“Marijuana”). Marijuana was known to be found in Asia
around 500 BC (“Marijuana”). The history of cannabis in America traces all the
way back to the early settlers, who grew hemp for materials and rope
(“Marijuana”). Political and racial components in the twentieth century
prompted the criminalization of marijuana in the United States, however its
lawful status is changing in numerous states (“Marijuana”).

Current information

Canada has legalized weed and British investigators have set out to find
reasons Canada did this and if England can legalize marijuana (“Canada
Legalised Weed...”). In the UK, if you were caught with the recreational use of
marijuana, you could be held to 5 years in prison (“Canada Legalised
Weed...”).Evergreen is the first legal retail cannabis store in all of Vancouver
(“Canada Legalised Weed...”). Though weed is legal in Canada but there are
some weed related products that are still illegal like edibles (“Canada Legalised
Weed...”). Canada thinks legalization of weed is a good idea because people
know what they are buying and that they are not just buying off the street
(“Canada Legalised Weed...”).

Left-right ideologies on the topic

The UK’s liberal democrats had revealed a manifesto pledge to fully decriminalize and legalize cannabis
(Frymorgen). They said that by legalizing cannabis they could raise up to 1 billion british pounds and save
a lot of police hours (Frymorgen). “The legalisation of cannabis should be tested in London to improve
public health and stop young people being drawn into crime” said Siobhan Benita (Savage). Siobhan is a
liberal democrat that is a candidate for London mayor in 2020 (Savage). On the right side of the political
spectrum are the Conservatives, and they support the current marijuana prohibition policies (Frymorgen).
They say that cannabis is a harmful drug and it damages our physical and mental health when we use it
(Frymorgen).
 REAL LIFE
SITUATIONS
MEDICAL MARIJUANA
THC is believed to be responsible for cannabis'
psychoactive impacts on behavior, cognition and
perception (Bahji). CBD is believed to be liable for
non psychoactive impacts (Bahji). Every individual's
John Ehlichman, President Nixon’s top advisor revealed: brain chemistry, hereditary qualities and life
"The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House experiences decide how you experience cannabis
after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black (Bahji). The most clear danger factor is age,
cannabinoid receptors are more concentrated in the
people. You understand what I'm saying? We knew we
white matter in people's brains that are younger
couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black,
than 25 (Bahji). Frequent use of marijuana use can
but by getting the public to associate the hippies with disturb the development of white matter and affects
marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing the mind's capacity to develop new associations and
both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could harm long-term learning ability (Bahji).
arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their
meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening
news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of
course we did," (Lockie). Harry Anslinger, who was the head
of the Federal Narcotics Bureau was in a time of budgetary
crisis and he needed to demonize a drug (Smith). Harry
raised and fueled a racist mob that was against Mexicans
and Americans with an African descent (Smith).

Medical marijuana is mostly used to remove pain (Iamsrithong). Some

countries buy cannabis to reduce the country’s epilepsy, parents bring
their kids to cannabis legal countries because cannabis is the only
effective treatment for their epilectic kid (Iamsrithong). 1.4 million
cannabis users sources are from black markets making them
dangerous (Iamsrithong). Risks like male sterility, lung cancer and
schizophrenia (mental disorder) making it hard to legalize
(Iamsrithong). Many patients were self-medicating with illegal
cannabis products due to the fact that doctors and pharmacists
couldn’t provide cannabis legally (Iamsrithong).
Japan is a massive island that parted from the shores of
Korea and a small part of Russia. Japan is known for its
traditional, spiritual culture. This country occupies 126.5
million people (“Japan Facts for Kids: Japan Geography:
Famous Japanese: Food: Asia.”). Sushi, ramen, teriyaki,
etc. is all part of Japan’s exquisite cuisine (“Japan Facts
for Kids: Japan Geography: Famous Japanese: Food:
Asia.”). Japan is known for its Samurais and Ninjas
fueling their rich culture of military (“Japan Facts for Kids:
Japan Geography: Famous Japanese: Food: Asia.”).
After the second world war, Japan established a
democracy based on a form of a constitutional monarchy
with a parliamentary government (Neely). Japan’s
government has been conservative leaning Liberal
Democratic Party since 1995 (Neely). Government power
was distributed into three branches, National Diet,
Cabinet and the Judiciary (Neely).
A right-leaning government such as Japan, has
marijuana illegal (Maslow). Cannabis in Japan only has
medical and spiritual use before the year 1948 (Maslow).
It became illegal after due to the Cannabis Control Act
that was introduced by the U.S after it occupied Japan
during the second World War and kept it that way ever
since (Maslow). The hemp plant grew prolifically before
the Cannabis Control Act but Japan has not experienced
any abuse (Maslow). I think this is due to the fact that
Japan is a very spiritual country and marijuana has a
spiritual value to the people therefore leading to no
abuse of cannabis in the country.
 Denmark
High-quality architectural design and architecture,
cuisine, vikings, sports (mostly soccer), its beer,
royalty, amazing fantasy and fairy tales, green and
energy-saving lifestyle and overall hygge and
happiness are all part of Denmark’s culture (Tomlin).
Greenland, although it lies 3000 km from shore, is still
part of Denmark’s territory (Tomlin). Greenland has its
own government but it is still owned by the Danish
kingdom (Tomlin).
According to gov.uk, Denmark is currently a Social
Democratic minority coalition government (“Overseas
Business Risk - Denmark.”). Denmark has wide
political support for its human rights therefore having
little to none human rights issues in Denmark
(“Overseas Business Risk - Denmark.”). Denmark is a
country without bribery or corruption and ranks top in
Transparency International Corruption Perception
Index (or the CPI) (“Overseas Business Risk -
Denmark.”).
A left-leaning country like Denmark has marijuana
illegal for recreational use but is legal medically (Sensi
Seeds). There are many gray areas though, for
example you couldn’t grow weed but the purchase or
sale of it is legal (Sensi Seeds). Notwithstanding the
way that ownership of cannabis is illegal, practically
50% of young adults (16-34 years of age) have
attempted cannabis at least once in their life (Sensi
Seeds). Denmark ranks 23rd in use of cannabis in the
world (Sensi Seeds).
MY PERSONAL
PERSPECTIVE
MARIJUANA HAS BEEN AROUND FOR DECADES. I THINK
MARIJUANA SHOULD BE LEGALIZED FOR PEOPLE OVER THE AGE OF
21. THEY ARE OLD ENOUGH TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR
ACTIONS AND THEY HAVE A DEVELOPED BRAIN TO CONSUME THC
AND IT WON'T AFFECT THEIR BRAIN. THE NEXT REASON I THINK
MARIJUANA SHOULD BE LEGALIZED IS BECAUSE THE AMOUNT OF
PEOPLE BUYING WEED OFF THE STREETS NOT KNOWING THE
LEVELS OF THC AND HOW DANGEROUS IT COULD BE FOR THEM.
WITH MARIJUANA BEING LEGALIZED, THE PRODUCT COULD BE IN A
SHOP AND HAS THE EXACT LABELS AND PERCENTAGES OF CBD
AND THC. THIS WAY MARIJUANA IS SAFE AND ISN’T UNKNOWINGLY
CONSUMED. WITH MARIJUANA BEING LEGALIZED THE
GOVERNMENT COULD TAX IT AND CONTROL THE AMOUNT OF
MARIJUANA BEING SOLD TO PEOPLE AND USE THAT TAX MONEY TO
BUILD BETTER INFRASTRUCTURE FOR PEOPLE TO LIVE. I SEE
MYSELF ALIGNING WITH THE LIBERAL DEMOCRATS.
 OPPOSING
PERSPECTIVE
surveyed an Indian student
named Aarav. His perspectives
were mostly different on
marijuana. He thinks that
marijuana is bad and it affects
the brain and it is connected to
psychosis, etc. Individuals in India
have been educated to believe
that marijuana is bad for you and
the government pushes the
narrative by completely making
marijuana illegal. He feels that he
is scared when he talks about the
topic because he thinks that
marijuana is connected to crimes
and he doesn't want that to
happen to him or his family. His
political ideology most aligns with
conservatism when we are
talking about this topic.
 Cannabis legalization can be
connected to SDGs?

connected and contribute to

goals 1, 2, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13 and 15
while cannabis prohibition is
indispensable to meet goals 3, 4,
5, 8, 10, 13, 16, 17 (Velásquez et
al.). The hemp plant produces a
special type of fiber and it could
provide foods and numerous
amounts of products (Velásquez
et al.). More research has been
How is this

done studying the hemp plant

and it reveals that it is a promising
source of energy (SDG 7:
affordable and clean energy), it
provides good building materials
(SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and
Infrastructure) and it produces a
recyclable vegetive plastic (SDG
12: Responsible consumption and
production, SDG 13: Climate
action) (Velásquez et al.).
CIVIC RESPOSIBILITY
A civic engagement group called the Alliance for

Cannabis Therapeutics (or ACT) is a non-profit

group with goals to educate people about the

science of marijuana and what it does to your

body (Randall). Cannabis could be used medically

but if the government legalizes cannabis then the

person in need will risk their lives (Randall). The

only way I can help is to spread correct and

scientific reasons on how marijuana could be

incredibly beneficial to medical practitioners and

it is a renewable source of material. The war on

drugs started because of racist ideologies on

African American and Mexicans and it started to

spread into the world as world war 2 the U.S

taking over countries like Japan and implementing

the U.S’ rules and regulations into them (Smith).

 Bibliography
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TEDEducation, 2 Dec. 2019, http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=Nlcr1jd_Tok&t=146s.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSkMdaQQNcU.
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%20were%20used%20as%20food.
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development/.