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Legalizing Marijuana To the AIDS or cancer patient, it is the plant that fights nausea and appetite loss. To the nutritionist, its seed is second only to the soybean in nutritional value, and is a source of cooking oil and vitamins. To the paper or cloth manufacturer, it is the plant that provided much of our paper and clothing for hundreds of years and produces four times more fiber per acre than trees. To the environmentalist, it is the plant that could greatly slow deforestation, restore robbed nutrients by other crops, and help prevent erosion. And according to Lonnelle Aikman, "Preliminary findings show the drug may prove effective against glaucoma and asthma, and control such side nausea in cancer treatment" (158). Unfortunately, to most people in this country, it is a useless plant when it comes to economic or medical value. Marijuana should be legalized in the United States. In technical terms, hemp, cannabis, or for the average American, marijuana, it is used only for recreational purposes. Marijuana is a plant that could save the world. As of today the nation stands behind three basic ideas of what to do with marijuana; legalize marijuana, make it legal only as a prescription drug, or keep it as it is, illegal. People who are pro-marijuana, argue that marijuana is considerably less harmful than tobacco and alcohol, the most frequently used legal drugs. Furthermore marijuana has never directly caused anyone's death. People who side with the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes believe that the ends justify the means. But the people who want to keep it illegal think that the medical uses do not outweigh the harmful side effects. Before deciding whether marijuana should be legal or illegal, one needs to know some basic facts. Lester Grinspoon, M.D. and James B. Bakalar note "most botanists agree that there are three species of marijuana; Cannabis sativa, the most widespread of the three, is tall, gangly, and loosely branched, growing as high as twenty feet; Cannabis indica is shorter, about three or four feet in height, pyramidal in shape and densely branched; Cannabis ruderalis is about two feet high with few or no branches" (1). They also say that "Cannabis has become one of the most widespread and diversified of plants. It grows as weed and cultivated plant all over the world in a variety of climates and soils" (1).
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