Analyzing the Legalization of Marijuana by the Canadian Government

This essay explores the complex issue of marijuana legalization in Canada, considering arguments for and against the policy. It examines the Canadian government's Cannabis Act and its objectives to restrict youth access, prevent criminal profits, and protect public health. The essay acknowledges the potential health advantages of marijuana, such as pain relief and treatment for depression, but also highlights the significant disadvantages, including neurological effects, addiction, respiratory issues, and potential crime promotion. Ultimately, the essay argues against the legalization of marijuana, emphasizing that the disadvantages outweigh the benefits and advocating for stricter enforcement against marijuana use in the country. Desklib provides access to a variety of academic resources, including solved assignments and past papers, to support students in their studies.

The Canadian Government should Legalize the Use and Minor Possession of
Marijuana
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

The Canadian Government should Legalize the Use and Minor Possession of
Marijuana
The government of Canada has enacted the Cannabis act which provides strict
regulations as far as the production, distribution and consumption of Cannabis is concerned.
There are three main aims of the act. One of these is to ensure that the youth have restricted
access to marijuana. The second aim is to ensure that criminals do not make profits from sale
of Marijuana. The third main aim is to ensure that public health of the Canadian citizens is
protected by allowing the adults access to legal cannabis. There are several disadvantages that
are related to the use of Marijuana. Marijuana affects the brains and the nervous system of an
individual (Volkow, Baler, Compton and Weiss, 2014). The function neurotransmitters
(chemical that the brain use for communication) is adversely affected. This leads to poor
reasoning and false perceptions. Such a person cannot be entrusted any job and therefore
legalization of marijuana would significantly reduce the productivity of a country. Another
main disadvantage of marijuana use is that continued use leads to addiction (Suchman and
DeCoste, 2018). Addicted individuals usually have a hard time when trying to cease the habit
of using marijuana. Extensive evidence has also found out that marijuana use is associated
with respiratory disease and testicular cancer (Smith, Mattick, Jamadar and Iredale, 2014).
The final disadvantage that will be discussed with be promotion of crime. Marijuana use
encourages crime in a number of ways. One is stealing in order to have resources to but
marijuana. Secondly, proceeds from marijuana sale may be used to fund crime.
There are some health advantages of Marijuana use. One of the advantages is that
moderate use could increase the activity of an individual. For instance, an individual is likely
to concentrate more after a dose of marijuana. Another advantage of marijuana is that it helps
reduce chronic pain. This explains why the substance is used in making medications. With
moderate use, marijuana has been shown to significantly contribute to lowering of chronic

pain. Extensive research has also revealed that marijuana can be used to relieve depression
and post-traumatic stress disorder (Volkow and McLellan, 2016). It follows that it would be a
good move to legalize the use of small quantities of marijuana. There also exists evidence to
suggest that oral cannabinoids can relieve vomiting and nausea associated with
chemotherapy. This would be very helpful for patients who are under chemotherapy. It seems
that the government had thought about all these factors before allowing use of small
quantities of marijuana by adults. Marijuana has been in use since time immemorial and no
amount of legislation has proved significant to stop its use.
As observed in the discussion above, legalization and use of marijuana could have
both benefits and disadvantages. After weighing the advantages against the disadvantages,
the disadvantages are more. In addition, the disadvantages are debilitating. For this reason, I
would say that the government should not legalize use of marijuana at all. In fact, it should
work to ensure that not a single person deals with marijuana in the country.

References
Smith, J. L., Mattick, R. P., Jamadar, S. D., & Iredale, J. M. (2014). Deficits in behavioural
inhibition in substance abuse and addiction: a meta-analysis. Routledge.
Suchman, N. E., & DeCoste, C. L. (2018). Substance Abuse and Addiction: Implications for
Early Relationships and Interventions. Routledge.
Volkow, N. D., & McLellan, A. T. (2016). Opioid abuse in chronic pain—misconceptions
and mitigation strategies. New England Journal of Medicine, 374(13), 1253-1263.
Volkow, N. D., Baler, R. D., Compton, W. M., & Weiss, S. R. (2014). Adverse health effects
of marijuana use. New England Journal of Medicine, 370(23), 2219-2227.