Legalizing MarijuanaDespite the recent controversies surrounding weed or as most professionals now call it medical marijuana, I have a strong opinion regarding this substance. I think marijuana should be legal, but I will discuss this topic more in depth in my essay. Some topics I would like to discuss would be: If it were legal, is it beneficial for medical purposes, for the economy, for job growth, and for reducing crime rates. BackgroundIndustrial hemp plant (“Hemp, industrial hemp field”)For much of human history, marijuana has been completely legal. It is not a newly discovered plant, nor is it a long-standing law. Marijuana has been illegal for less than 1% of the time it has been used. Its known uses date back to over 7,000 BC (“Hemp, 2013”). The marijuana and hemp plant, of course, have an incredible number of uses. Over the centuries the plant was used for food, incense, fabric, rope and much more. The plant has been well known since the early 1600s, but did not reach public awareness as a recreational drug until the early 1900s. America's first marijuana law was enacted in the Jamestown Colony, Virginia, in 1619. It was a law that “ordered” all farmers to grow Indian hemp seeds. Over the next 200 years, several other laws were enacted mandating cultivation (you could be jailed for not growing hemp during times of scarcity in Virginia between 1763 and 1767), and during most of that time hemp had run legal, so you could also pay taxes with hemp. Hemp was such an important crop for a variety of purposes, including war essentials such as rope, that the government went to great lengths to encourage growth. In Russia until the end of the 19th century, clothes called “Rubaha” were made from marijuana plants. The 1850 United States Census of Agriculture shows...... half of the record...... Retrieved from https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source= images&cd=&cad= rja&docid(=GoUODtBgCE7NpM&tbnid=aw-VDiNqt8troM:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http://www.cafepress.com/+legalize-marijuana+posters&ei=oX2mUoHVKrKnsQSqroCYCA&bvm=bv.57799294,d.cWc&psig= AFQjCN Exu_u95iuIL0439GlfyyR4ZmLOSg&ust=1386729239249192NORML, W . (2013, 03 11). Retrieved from http://norml.org/marijuana/medical /pot_prisoners_cost_americans_$1_billion_a_year(2013) Marijuana ordinance [printed photo]. Grow Economy [web drawing]. jpeg