The war on marijuana is huge. The reason marijuana should be legal is because of the lack of harm marijuana actually does to the human body compared to other “similar” substances, how the prohibited use of marijuana is in no way benefiting the government, and how marijuana can be extremely helpful in some cases of diseases, ailments, and emotional disturbances.

The toll marijuana takes on the human body is a very little one. If you compare marijuana to other “similar” substances like heroin, cocaine, alcohol, and tobacco, marijuana is the least harmful “drug” anyone could use. Some people I have spoken to say they believe that marijuana shouldn’t even be classified as a drug because most of the time it does as much harm as a regular dose of advil or tylenol does. Which in some cases can be true depending on how much marijuana you use. At the most you get hungry, a little drowsy, and giggly. Now let’s look at what marijuana physically does to your body. As of April 20, 2014, only 6% of the studies on marijuana analyze its medicinal properties.

Most people believe that the reason marijuana is still illegal is because the government can gain from it in some way, when in reality the government doesn’t gain anything from it, they lose things from it being illegal. The role the government takes from this is that they just lock up people for smoking it, dealing it, or even being in possession of it illegally. Now if we think about this, doesn’t the government have to pay to put people in jail? So if you were smoking marijuana in a place you weren’t supposed to and get caught by a police officer who arrests you, they would have to pay to put you in jail for probably the smallest reason. If we really think about it, the only reason you should be put in jail for being high on marijuana is if you are driving. That is still driving under the influence and I don’t care if it’s not affecting your driving at the time because, anything can happen.

I have done much research on what positive and negative things marijuana can do, and most people who have published this research come at it with a negative view but, I was determined to find the good in the use of this “drug.” Marijuana can help:

• Glaucoma by decreasing pressure in the eyeball and decrease the intraocular pressure (IOP) and possibly prevent blindness.
• Reverse carcinogenic effects of tobacco and increase lung capacity. Researchers looked for risk factors of heart diseases and tested the lung function of 5,115 young adults over the course of 20 years. Tobacco smokers lost lung function over time, but pot users showed an increase in lung capacity.
• Control epileptic seizures because of the active ingredient tetrahydrocannabinol (also known as THC). It controls seizures by binding to the brain cells responsible for controlling excitability and regulates relaxation.
• Symptoms of Dravet’s Syndrome because of the cannabidiol and low THC in the plant. There is a 5 year-old girl who has this Syndrome and her parents treat it using medical marijuana. This “drug” has decreased her seizures from 300 in a week to one every seven days.
• Stop cancer from spreading by turning off the gene Id-1, and this gene is what helps cancer cells spread throughout the body. What turns it off is the cannabidiol in marijuana, in more recent cases they just take cannabidiol to slow down the cancer from spreading.
• Decreases anxiety and improves the subjects mood in low doses. It is said to relieve pressure, pain and suppress nausea
• Slows the progression of Alzheimer’s disease because of the THC that slows the formation of amyloid plaques by blocking the enzyme that creates them.
• Eases the pain of multiple sclerosis because of the active THC that binds to receptors in nerves and muscles to relieve pain.

Again, the war around this so called "drug" is preposterous and should be dealt with in a much different manner. If you think about it, the world could be a much different and better place if people continued to use this product. And to continue using marijuana, it'd be easier if the government made it legal everywhere, for the extreme physical and mental well being of the people.