The use and potential decriminalization of marijuana has been a controversial matter for a long time, with passionate arguments from all sides and perspectives. Whether you feel naked without your bong, enjoy the occasional bit of cannabis butter in your brownies, use CBD to take the edge off your pain or anxiety, or have never touched the stuff, here are some benefits to legalizing marijuana that you may find interesting.
Increased Regulation and Safety
Any illegal substance or act never fully goes away – it simply moves underground, where it can’t be regulated or monitored by any governing body, and can therefore become more dangerous through corrupted products and cost-cutting measures. Continued criminalization can also make people struggling with drug abuse less willing to seek the medical and rehabilitative services they need, because they fear the consequences of telling the truth about their intake. If marijuana was fully legalized, products and strains could be carefully monitored, regulated, and measured out in order to ensure that users – who were already smoking and consuming it regardless of its legal status – could enjoy it in a safe and controlled way, and become less likely to fall into the cycles of misuse that stigma and silence can perpetuate.
Rejuvenate Economies and Increase Tourism
The legalization of marijuana could arguably result in increased tourism and a boost to the economy. Cities like Amsterdam have befitted financially and culturally from the long-established tradition of coffee shops, hookah bars, and edibles – people come from all over the world to see the sights, take in the food and drink, and try a brownie or joint in safe and controlled environments. Baristas and bartenders are also happy to offer recommendations depending on a marijuana user’s preferences, experience, and desired outcome – which is a much more practical way of getting the buzz you want than going through illegal or potentially dangerous channels. If you can’t get to Amsterdam right now, consider ordering a subscription box online, and enjoying a box of cannabis goodies delivered every month, right to your front door. Explore the wonderful world of weed, and enjoy a wide array of different brands and strains at wholesale prices.
Health Benefits
The internet is full of anecdotal evidence supporting the theory that marijuana can have physical and mental health benefits. Cannabis users have claimed that marijuana can help with everything from extreme period pain in patients with endometriosis, eye pressure in cases of glaucoma, chronic insomnia, and overall feelings of anxiety and depression. While everybody’s response to marijuana is different – which is true of all drugs, legal or otherwise – the wide range of stories supporting the benefits of responsible marijuana use can’t be ignored.
Improved Social Services and Infrastructures
2020 saw increased antipathy in the Western world toward the police, legal institutions, and courts. Punitive and ruinous sentences for the use and possession of marijuana have long been an issue of contention and outrage, especially considering that these excessive measures can disproportionately affect black indigenous people of color. Many believe that the continued criminalization of marijuana is a waste of legal resources that would be better allocated to rehabilitation, social work, and mental health services. Helpful infrastructures designed to build positive futures serve everybody better than problematic and for-profit methods of incarceration, and police resources would be more effectively delegated to tackling serious social ills.
