Mapping an Argument Essay

The real issue here is rather or not marijuana should be legalized. There are both pro’s and cons with legalization of marijuana, many would argue that alcohol is more dangerous and damaging to the body that marijuana is while others would argue that marijuana is an addictive drug, and a gateway to other more serious drugs. The pros of medical marijuana seem to outweigh the cons being how more and more states are starting to legalize the use of it. Also, it was found that it does help with serious medical issues. The premise would be the fight for legalizing marijuana, and the unstated premises would be medical marijuana. The federal government says that marijuana has a high potential for abuse and has no medical value but â€Å"As of 2012 sixteen states, including Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana†. The bottom line is that a large group of Americans support the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes and many Americans support marijuana for recreational purposes as well. In fact, the state of Colorado was the first state to legalize marijuana for recreational purposes therefore in my opinion that has to soften a lot of people’s opinion regarding the use of medical marijuana. According to the Great Falls, Montana,  Tribune, at an October 2009 medical marijuana health screening in that city, a Dr. Patricia Cole of Whitefish examined 150 patients in 14 and half hours who were there to see if they qualified to receive medical marijuana. Many find it hard to believe how easy it is to receive medical marijuana, â€Å"Some submitted paperwork and payment for the â€Å"examination† and an additional $25 registration fee is all it takes to be issued a card, as no formal medical records are required, only a stated complaint such as chronic headaches or insomnia or back pain†. Urban and small towns are affected the most by these medical marijuana controversies â€Å"Missoula, population 70,000, is home to the University of Montana. There are a dozen storefront outlets and 400 registered caregiver/growers serving 1,800 (and growing) card carriers. † The premise would be medical marijuana and the unstated premise would be the legalization of medical marijuana. Since the legalization of medical marijuana many small towns across America have been affected in a negative way. A lot of people started to see dollar signs and a lot of medical marijuana dispensaries were open. The opening of these medical marijuana dispensaries in these small towns and all across America caused a huge uproar and made many people go against it. The bottom line is that a lot of these small towns learned their lesson and made tougher standards regarding medical marijuana and started to do a better job in regulating the use of it. http://ic. galegroup. com. ezproxy. apollolibrary. com/ic/ovic/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow? failOverType=&query=&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Reference&limiter=&currPage=&disableHighlighting=true&displayGroups=&sortBy=&source=&search_within_results=&action=e&catId=GALE%7C00000000LVXO&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7CPC3010999128 ttp://ic. galegroup. com. ezproxy. apollolibrary. com/ic/ovic/ViewpointsDetailsPage/ViewpointsDetailsWindow? failOverType=&query=&prodId=OVIC&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Viewpoints&limiter=&currPage=&disableHighlighting=true&displayGroups=&sortBy=&source=&search_within_results=&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7CEJ3010753218