--Original published at Hope's PSY105 Blog
“Recently, several states have legalized recreational use of marijuana and even more are considering it. This has lead to both celebration and condemnation depending on who you ask. Medicinal use of marijuana is still controversial as well. In your blog post, take a position on both medical and recreational use of marijuana. Should they be legal or not? Make sure to point out pros and cons to both arguments.”
Marijuana used for medicinal use has proven to be helpful. What people do not understand is that the product being used for medical use is not necessarily in a form to be able to smoke it. There is an article I read that brought us into the home a little girl who was constantly have seizures. She was having 300 grand mal seizures a week. Her parents tried cannabis oil, which helped her immensely. People believe her parents are getting her high, when in reality they would be giving her this oil to calm her down and take her out of her seizures. With the medical marijuana she was only having seizures two to three times a week. Medical marijuana helps and should be legal. Yes, there will be people who try to fake an illness so they could get the cannabis oil or try to get marijuana they can smoke, but with a carefully monitored distribution of marijuana like they already have with other medicines, they will be less problems.
Marijuana for recreational use is much more difficult to monitor. It would have to be monitored the same was the alcohol is. You would have to be a certain age, have to show ID at the time of purchase. You would have to trust that, like with alcohol, anyone who is using it is of age and that there are people responsible enough not to give it to those who are not of age.
I believe that marijuana should be legal for medical use, but not for recreational use. Recreational monitoring is much too difficult and it would just as big a problem as alcohol is when it comes to driving.
Sources:
https://www.cnn.com/2013/08/07/health/charlotte-child-medical-marijuana/index.html