Paper Topic:

Should Marijuana be legalized

Legalization of Marijuana

[Student 's Name]

[University Name]

[Faculty Name]

August 10 , 2006

Drug abuse is cited by majority of Americans as a major problem having casualty effect on health and society in the United States . Marijuana is the most widely used illicit drug about 60 of current illicit drug users use only marijuana (Richard , Trevino , 2002 , 91 . The short background information on this plant and the drug produced of it would give better understanding of the seriousness of legalization dilemma

Marijuana is taken from the plant Cannabis sativa

the oriental variety Cannabis indica , produces what is reputed to be a potent form of the drug (Grinspoon , 1971 , 30-35 ) The plant grows in the overwhelming majority of countries of the world . Although the drug from the female plant is more potent , different grades are also determined , in part , by the degree of resin in the flowering tops that go into the preparation Pure resin , known in the Middle East and the West as hashish is imported to the United States from the Middle East , often Lebanon , from North Africa . Although hashish is by far the product smoked most commonly in the Orient , the substance more often used in the West is marijuana Plant grades range from those almost as strong as hashish to those one-tenth as strong . Marijuana grown in Africa and Jamaica is said to be of even greater strength , but is less often imported . Leaves , flowering tops , and small stems and twigs , as well as seeds , are chopped into fairly small pieces and pressed into bricks , which are then wrapped in . The most common method of preparation is to then strain the mixture through a tea strainer to remove the less potent twigs and seeds and then pack it in a pipe or roll it in a cigarette . In the Orient , marijuana is brewed as tea and , also a practice in Jamaica cooked or imbedded in food

Smoking is by far the most popular method of consumption of marijuana in the United States , however , for although the effect is said to last longer , it takes much longer for the drug to take effect when it is eaten sniffing a marijuana preparation cannot produce any noticeable effect at all and it is never injected . Marijuana is known by hundreds of names throughout the world . In the United States , the most common slang terms are pot , grass , tea , weed , and smoke . The cigarette itself the "joint " is sometimes , though rarely , known as a "stick (Grinspoon 1971 , 15

Drug use , including experimentation may result in drug abuse , which , in its turn , may cause drug dependence or even worse drug addiction : these are the stages through which a man may possibly go . Luckily it is unusual for someone who starts to take a drug in moderation to go on to find he can no longer manage without it . This is exemplified by alcohol which is perhaps the most widely used drug in the world , being rivaled only by tobacco . Although...

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