Legalization of Marijuana in Canada: Benefits and Concerns
Legalization of marijuana has raised various issues emerging as its usability continues to grow in the due to public acceptance as a terming it as recreational marijuana in Canada. Despite emergence of various debates drawn from both the public and political aspects in the Canadian society, government legalization of this drug was arrived at after proper analysis of its effects and benefits that outweighed its disadvantages with more emphasis based on the establishment and implementation of a comprehensive strategies to keep the drug out of hands of minors as well creation on awareness on it harmful effects to the society. In addition to that many country especially Canada's ally, United States of America have legalized the use of marijuana both for medicinal and recreational purposes. This paper is with modest effort in analyzing the benefits of legalization of marijuana in the entire Canadian nation as done by most countries. It provides a counterargument that refutes this act comprehensively analyzing its effects on the social strata hence the level as the state of living standards in Canada upon legalization.
Introduction
Marijuana is commonly known by a street name, “Weed and grass” that results from Cannabis Sativa as its mother plant also known as (Hemp). It is one of the psychoactive substances well known to humans as it grows naturally in most parts of the countries. Although it has been used as a medicinal drug as well as for recreation through the world, it has still remained an illegal drug including in Canada since 1923 (Hajizadeh, 2016). The growing, selling and use of marijuana for recreational purposes has been the main reason why it has been illegalized in most countries. However, its use for therapeutic purposes has been legalized and deemed as appropriate in the year 2001 by the supreme court of Canada. Legalization as a medicinal drug does not adequately fulfill what the general society will acquire upon its full legalization in Canada. Whereas Marijuana may negatively affect the entire society just like other illegal drugs, its benefits outweigh its advantages on condition that the country has comprehensive strategies to avoid its accessibility by minors (Rehm, Crépault & Fischer, 2017).
Discussion
To begin with, marijuana is worldwide known for greatly contributing in health sectors as well as aiding individual health upon usability. To begin with, marijuana is an effective drug known for slowing down and stopping the spread of cancer cells. Scientific research eludes that marijuana is capable of turning on gene Id-1 thus greatly important in the preventing and diagnosis of cancer through the application of cannabidiol (Lake, & Kerr, 2017). In addition to that marijuana is integral in the prevention of Alzheimer's through its active content, THC. THC slows down the formation of amyloid plaques through blocking the enzyms located in the brain responsible for making them. Marijuana treats Glaucoma which is responsible for increasing the pressure in the eyeball injuring the optic nerve hence loss of vision. It lowers this pressure in the eye thus preventing blindness. Furthermore, as drug marijuana greatly aids in relieving Arthritis (Rehm, Crépault & Fischer, 2017). Generally it is known that marijuana reduces pain and inflammation which in turn promotes sleep helping in relieving pain and discomfort to people who are suffering from rheumatoid arthritis.
In addition to that, as a drug, marijuana greatly aids in the control of Epileptic seizure. This is through the THC that is responsible for controlling the seizures through binding the brain cells responsible for managing excitability and regulation relaxation. Furthermore, it aids in easing the pain of multiple sclerosis. Marijuana works to stop the negative neurological effects as well as muscle spasm as a result of multiple sclerosis (Downer, Cooper & Faseruk, 2018). Finally, cannabis sativa is very integral in the treatment of Crohn's disease. As a disease that is manifested through bowel disorder, vomiting, diarrhea, and loss of weight cannabis, Sativa greatly helps in the gut control bacteria and intestinal function hence curing this disease (Lake, & Kerr, 2017). These are benefits that individual citizens of Canada are accrued to implying that marijuana is more of a medicinal drug than what it was originally perceived to cause negative effects in the society.
A part from that, marijuana is beneficial in the treatment of numerous illnesses, it is also important in the economic aspect with regards to job creation in the Canadian society (Rehm, Crépault & Fischer, 2017). With cannabis Sativa growing in most parties of Canada, cannabis product producing companies offer a wide variety of job opportunities with which the large army reserve available in Canada is made occupied in. This ranges from those technically skilled individuals that are unable to be absorbed in the formal sector of employment to the skilled and unskilled individual who is idle in the society. This is not only beneficial to the growth and development of the economy through direct influence on the Gross Domestic Product per capita but also to the government at large to do more individual participating in the development of the country (Lake, & Kerr, 2017). For instance, upon legalization in 2017, there was 50 percent jump of employees into the cannabis sativa related income earning activities, indicating that marijuana aids in solving the unemployment problem that exists in the society.
In addition to that, the legalization of marijuana to be used for recreational purposes greatly triggers the emergence of the private and individually owned businesses dealing the marijuana-related products upon being licensed by the Canadian government (Downer, Cooper & Faseruk, 2018). Being an emerging business opportunity after numerous decades of being criminalized, new and idle individuals will have an opportunity to be engaged and earn income from operating these particular businesses hence reduction of the unemployment problem in the country. As many countries fight unemployment problem which is one of the greatest derailing element for economic growth, the unemployment problem will be solved due to numerous dealers that would want to provide marijuana in the market (Watson & Erickson, 2018). Therefore legalization of marijuana will greatly help in economic growth as well as development due to most of its citizens in the economy being well employed in relation to the provision of marijuana and its related products.
Another core reason core argument surrounds the legalization of marijuana is increased tax revenues that the government will bring to the Canadian economy. Legalizing of marijuana created an important advantage over prohibition since the government will collect taxes especially from the high demand for the drug for recreational purposes (Lake, & Kerr, 2017). The free market price of marijuana is estimated to be very low when tax has been excluded. Thus when the government imposes taxes it will greatly benefit from the country especially when keeping the prices too low at a competitive level as well as those of other alcohols such as alcohol and tobacco. In addition to that legalization could create substantial tax revenues due to the presence of significant a black market in the market, implying that the legalization could create approximately $10 billion in a year and thus the government can collect as more as 50 percent of this amount from these industries (Hajizadeh, 2016).
Furthermore, the legalization of marijuana could lead to reduced government spending that is normally wasted on the enforcement of the laws related to the prohibition of marijuana. Yearly there have been almost 73000 cases of marijuana trafficking which increased with an average percentage rate of 8 percent for a period of 10 years (Hajizadeh, 2016). This implied that the government spends almost $500 million to $1billion of its finance to have this law enforced through the establishment of the required personnel as well as infrastructure that is to help in the enforcement and implementation of these policies. This, however, implies that legalization could lead to substantial savings in the drug incarceration as well enforcement of these laws since that amount spends toward incarceration of these policies will be channeled to other constructive phenomena in the economy (Bravo & Martin, 2016)
Nevertheless, legalization of marijuana in the country brings about some negative effects that will make the Canadian society a worse place for inhabitation of mankind. The main negative effect of legalization of marijuana is the increased uptake in the whole country by all age groups. This is because of increased trading as well as issues of the black market that will facilitate easy accessibility of the drug in the whole country(Downer, Cooper & Faseruk, 2018).. This may end up affecting also the minors since black market activities are not monitored and regulated. With an increased intake of the drug, there are high chances of the existence of societal deformities such as increased accidents, increased rates of crime as well as the existence of a weak society that has been greatly dependent on too much consumption of the marijuana drug.
Therefore the legalization should be immediately accompanied by a comprehensive and well sufficient strategy that would keep the drug out of the reach of the minors as well as being consumed at adequate quantities (Lake & Kerr, 2017). This will help reduce the negative effects that are caused by the drug and at the same time promote positive ones. In order to get better insights and ways on how to well develop an efficient framework to enhance legalization of this drug, Canada as a country should watch the development of its neighboring countries such as the United States that have legalized the drug hence being able to achieve its main objectives of legalization.
Conclusion
It is clear that the legalization of marijuana in Canada is accompanied by numerous advantages that outweigh its disadvantages. These benefits range from those that result from marijuana being important in the treatment of numerous diseases to increases employment opportunities in the whole Canadian society. In addition to that, the government seems to be one of the greatest beneficiaries as a result its legalization due to increased revenues on taxation as well savings on costs are a result of enforcement of these policies. However, marijuana legalization brings about negative effects such as increased uptakes that result in societal deformities such as increased accidents and high crime rates as a result of highly influenced individuals after using it as a recreational tool. Therefore the government ought's to have a well-established and comprehensive strategy to have the drug be out of reach from children as consumed at adequate levels in the country. The country should also follow other mechanisms adopted well by its neighbors that have adopted the legalization processes.
References
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