Legalization of cannabis : For or against ?

Legalization of cannabis : For or against ?

Contexte :

Nowadays, the legalization of cannabis keeps progressing. The Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the legalization of this drug in 2016 → Canada became the first G7 country to do it.

In the same process, some American states are legalizing the cannabis : today, 8 american states have already legalized the recreational use of cannabis and more than 14 others are going to do it by the end of 2020. Colorado was the first one to adopt such an initiative in two thousand and twelve, followed by Washington, Alaska, Oregon, Massachusetts, Nevada and California.

More ambitious than the decriminalization, the legalization aims to support the medical usage as well as the personal use.

Illustrations :

In France, 45% of young people have try out to smoke cannabis. Cannabis was outlawed by the majority of countries. Uruguay was the first to legalize the recreational production and sell of cannabis in 2012.

In 2004, the decriminalization of cannabis came into effect in United Kingdom, one year after the World March of marijuana in London.

For :

Legalize cannabis would enable to struggle against drug traffic and addiction thanks to a better control of the inhabitants consumption. Indeed, the establishment of the repressive policy during the last few years was a failure because of its high cost and the persistence of some drug cartels.

Today, we can see that American states which legalized cannabis experienced a decrease of 5% of criminality. And as a consequence, some people think that « The more prohibited it is, The more consummate it is » . Moreover, a lot of people consider tobacco or alcohol to be much more addictive and harmful than marijuana is : it’s just a drug that needs the same control.

According to the promoters, cannabis is no more harmful than tobacco or alcohol are : it is a drug that needs the same control. Even better, the consumption of cannabis would be positive for our health : this drug protects from cardiovascular diseases and stroke (accidents vasculaires cérébraux)

Finally, the legalization enables a very productive business as thousands jobs have been created in this field. For instance, the American rap star Snoop Dogg took the opportunity to commercialize his brand called « Leafs by Dogg » in 2015. In Colorado, the controlled distribution created more than eighteen thousands full time jobs and a profit of two point 4 billions dollars. Obviously, cannabis tourism is booming in American States concerned by the legalization, especially in Colorado where the consumption is increasing with american and mondial tourists.

Against :

First, we dont even know if this is really going to work. In two thousand and seventeen, a study called Cannalex draw a first conclusion about the legalization in Colorado and Washington. Minors consumption increases and hit historically record levels whereas adults consumption decreases a bit. However, it’s difficult to know if this is the consequence of the legalization because the state was already experiencing an upward

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