Running head: LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA

Legalization of Marijuana
Jack Scharf
Paper 3 Draft 3
Multimodal Argumentative Research Paper & Digital Remediation Project
Appalachian State University

Author Note
Jack Scharf, Department of Business, Appalachian State University
Jack Scharf is now at the Department of English, Appalachian State University
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Jack Scharf, Department
of Business, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Jack Scharf, Department
of Business, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC 28607.
Contact: scharfja@appstate.edu

LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA

Abstract
This paper was written to persuade readers to legalize the use of marijuana throughout the United
States of America. Three questions will be answered throughout this article. How will the
legalization of marijuana impact the economy in a positive way? How has Colorado been
effected since marijuana was legalized? How would legalizing marijuana help people with
certain illnesses such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)? Six scholarly peer reviewed
articles were used to obtain most of this information. There will be several counterarguments in
this article and rebuttals to prove why the counterarguments are wrong. It was very interesting to
see what the different authors from the six sources had to say about the legalization of marijuana
and each of the sources were credible and knowledgeable of their subjects. The result of this
research should be an approach towards the legalization of marijuana by any state interested in
improving many aspects of their government, economy, and citizens.
Keywords: marijuana, legalization of marijuana, Colorado, reform

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The legalization of marijuana

Legalization of Marijuana

There have been many studies, experiments, and research that show how the legalization
of marijuana would be beneficial. The opponents of legalization say that marijuana is a schedule
1 drug, has no medial use at all, and can lead to abuse. Throughout this article you will learn why
those people are wrong and how the legalization of marijuana will impact society in a positive
way. The debate on the legalization of marijuana has been going on forever and needs to end
immediately. Marijuana must be legalized across the United States of America in order to benefit
the economy and people with certain illnesses.
Literature Review
Tutro, J. (2013). States are making their own decisions regarding whether marijuana should be
illegal: How should the federal government react? 9(2).
Tutro (2013) approaches the legalization of marijuana by showing the battle of the
legalization of marijuana between the State and the Federal government. He analyzes how the
states are attempting and succeeding in the legalization of marijuana, while the federal
government is still trying to prevent it. The government refuses to accept the legalization of
marijuana, even for medical use (2013, p.3). The arguments in this article talk about how states
should be allowed to experiment with marijuana and also about the different failed Acts of the
past that tried to prohibit marijuana.

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This article helps the reader to understand why the federal government wants to prohibit
marijuana and how to legalization of marijuana will have a positive effect on the United States. It
gives a unique perspective of the legalization topic from a states point of view and the federal
governments. The best thing that can be gained from this article is how Tutro (2013) breaks
down important documents on federal policy of medical marijuana (2013, p.239). It helps
advance a better understanding in the technical areas of the law and federalism fight of
marijuana.
The author did an excellent job at keeping this article interesting. It was great to see how
the government was determined to keep marijuana illegal, while some states had already
legalized it. It was stimulating to learn about whether the federal government would prosecute
those following medical marijuana rules in states that have legalized it. The facts provided about
the federal and state policies are very influential towards the arguments for the legalization of
marijuana. This was a great read and provided a better understanding about the battle between
the federal government and the states.
Vigorito, J. (2014). Creating constitutional cannabis: An individual state's tenth amendment right
to legalize marijuana. 46.
Vigorito (2014) uses historical facts, the tenth amendment, and states legalization to
argue for the legalization of marijuana. His first argument explains how marijuana has been
used for hundreds of year but despite its use in the past, it is now illegal (2014, p.221). This
article talks about how the citizens of the United States deserve the legalization of marijuana
because of the tenth amendment. Another part of this essay compares the marijuana prohibition
to the failed alcohol prohibition, and how it was mainly a states right to choose whether or not to

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prohibit alcoholic materials (2014, p.222). The overall message of this is that marijuana needs to
be legal and Vigorito (2014) explains why in three different parts of his article.
This article helps create a better understanding about three strong viewpoints of a very
credible author. Vigoritos knowledge about the tenth amendment helps create a strong argument
that readers can use when debating the topic of legalization. The history of marijuana prohibition
compared to the failed alcohol prohibition is great background knowledge that most people never
knew. After reading this article, the reader will have a more in depth understanding of different
debate topics on the legalization of marijuana.
This is an excellent source that will give the reader a better understanding of the potency
that the constitution provides towards the debate of legalization. The breakdown of the
similarities in the prohibition of alcohol and marijuana creates a wide variety of information that
will help improve strong arguments towards to legalization of marijuana (2014, p.224). The
layout of this article was perfect, having three different in-depth arguments spread out
throughout the pages creates an easy and smooth read for the audience. It is a great read and
teaches about powerful reason to legalize marijuana.
Hudak, J. (2015). Colorado's Rollout of Legal Marijuana is Succeeding: A Report on the State's
Implementation of Legalization. 65(3). doi:2015
Hudak (2015) provides us with excellent information about the state of Colorado and its
journey before and after it legalized marijuana. Colorado approved amendment 64 to the state
constitution which allowed for the cultivation, processing, and sale of recreational marijuana
(2015, p.649). The important aspects talked about are how marijuana became legalized in

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Colorado, the challenges Colorado has faced so far, and about how Colorado has overcome those
challenges thus far to become successful.
A great thing about this article is that it shows an in-depth analyses on the first state to
legalize marijuana. It is important to watch Colorado closely to see whether the legalization is
successful or not, and what should be improved. An interesting thing from this article is that the
federal government said that they will not get as involved with Colorado if they follow and
implement marijuana regulations properly (2015, p.253). Using real life examples from this
Colorado study can be a huge advantage when persuading people with an argument.
This was an excellent article to read. It is very unique because Colorado recently
legalized marijuana and was the first state to do so. As a result, all of the information in this
article about the impact of legalization is reliable and factual. Hudak (2015) does a great job at
giving a non-biased summary of the events that have happened throughout the years in Colorado,
gifting the audience with new knowledge. This article provides a tremendous analysis and
breakdown of everything that has happened in Colorado since its legalization of marijuana.
Kreit, A. (2015). What will federal marijuana reform look like. 65(3). doi:2015
Kreit (2015) does a great job at presenting the beginning of his article. An interesting
technique that he uses is talking about how much money the federal government spent in the
past, about $483 million, interfering with state medical marijuana laws between 1996 and 2012
(2015, p. 691). At first he talks about the fight between the state and federal government, and
then immediately goes into how it has all changed. Several states openly sell marijuana now and
the federal government is no longer enforcing prohibition on states who have enacted reform

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(2015, p. 691). Other topics analyzed in this article are about what the future reform will look
like and Kreit (2015) gives his opinions on possible good options for the future reform.
Many things can be taken out of this article. Kreit (2015) gives great examples of the
legalization progress such as how the government used to be completely against reform, and now
arent fighting it at all in legal states. This article gives the reader possible ideas on what the new
reform could look like. Its beneficial to read this article because it analyzes and shows which
reforms will be the most effective (2015, p.692). The most important aspect of this article is part
3. It talks about the reform law from the perspective of the opponents and skeptics. All of this
information will help the reader create solid counterarguments towards anyone opposed of the
new marijuana reform.
Overall this is a wonderful article and is very well balanced. Kreit (2015) gives a
somewhat neutral opinion in order to try and advance the future reform discussions. He also
addresses those opposed and provides them with a better understanding on how the new reform
will be beneficial. This is good for getting a general understanding on what the future reform
could look like and poses several ideas that could help improve it.

Betthauser, K. (2015). Use and effects of cannabinoids in military veterans with posttraumatic
stress disorder. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 72.
Betthauser (2015) gets straight to the point and talks about how cannabinoids can help
manage three main Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms (PTSD). He uses information from
studies that show how military veterans with severe PTSD use cannabinoids to help cope with
their PTSD. Several studies that were places into this article show how cannabinoids have helped
improve symptoms in veterans but how more trials are needed. The trials so far have indicated a

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positive relationship between cannabinoids and improving PTSD in veterans, but its hard to
experiment when marijuana is illegal.
Legalizing marijuana is the first step towards improving many things. One in specific is
so cannabinoids can become legal. Since cannabinoids have impacted veterans with PTSD
positively so far, legalizing marijuana would be very beneficial. More experiments and tests
could be conducted which could improve many peoples lives. This is a very strong argument for
an advocate of legalization to use and could help successfully influence peoples views.
This is a great article because it focuses on a very specific and important topic. It is laid
out with many statistics and reports. The author influences people by using background
information of the negative effects of PTSD and then uses the positive effects of marijuana on
these conditions. This is a very scholarly article and is influential towards the debate of
legalization.
Grunberg, V. (2015). Can marijuana make it better? Prospective Effects of Marijuana and
Temperament on Risk for Anxiety and Depression. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors,
29(3
Grunberg (2015) wrote an article about studies done on marijuana to see whether or not
marijuana had an effect on depression and anxiety. She had a ton of logos in her paper through
her use of facts, such as how many people have used marijuana in their life and how many
currently use it (2015, p.590). The main point of this article is to show the reader that many
experiments and research was done and none of it showed that marijuana had a negative effect
on depression and anxiety.

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This article is important because it talks about experiments done with marijuanas
influence on depression/anxiety, and not many people know about this topic. Those who know
little to no information about this with gain important knowledge. Experiments were done and
showed in this article though graphs and scientific explanations so it is hard to debate against this
topic. It is important to note that this article was written to show that depression/anxiety cannot
be caused by marijuana.
Grunberg (2015) did a good job at emphasizing the fact that marijuana was harmful and
is potentially better towards the mental problems. This was a very scientific and logical article
which helped give the author credibility. It was a unique approach compared to the previous
seven sources in the literature review, and just as successful.
All six sources were written very well by their authors and all used excellent ways to
persuade their audiences. Tutro (2013) approaches the legalization of marijuana by showing the
battle of the legalization of marijuana between the State and the Federal government. Vigorito
(2014) uses historical facts, the tenth amendment, and states legalization to argue for the
legalization of marijuana. Hudak (2015) provides us with excellent information about the state of
Colorado and its journey before and after it legalized marijuana. Kreit (2015) gives us valuable
information about what to expect from the upcoming marijuana reform. Betthauser (2015) talks
about how cannabinoids can help manage three main Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms
(PTSD). Grunberg (2015) wrote an article about studies done on marijuana to see whether or not
marijuana had an effect on depression and anxiety. These articles showed that medical marijuana
has not had any negative effect on health of individuals and has actually benefitted people
instead. The economy in the states that have legalized marijuana has increased and the federal
government has saved some money by reducing prohibition efforts in this states. More

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information is needed to learn about the impact of legalization on the black market, but
everything else from this research seems to have had a positive impact on the states in many
ways.
Discussion
Marijuana should be legalized in every state. The reason why it isnt is because many
people arent educated about the positive effects it can have on the economy and citizens of the
United States. False rumors stated by marijuana hate groups about the effects of marijuana are
created and then spread to the public. This causes the public to believe and trust dishonest
information. If people can become educated about the actual effects of marijuana, than this
debate will be over and marijuana would be legalized.
Several states have legalized marijuana and the government still is trying to prevent it
(Tutro 2013). The government should view these states as test subjects to see how the
legalization of marijuana could affect the whole country. The government should not be able to
prosecute people in states that have legalized marijuana because that would be a violation to the
law. After studying these states, the government must take action and decide what is being done
correctly and incorrectly. Then the government must implement a plan from this and start the
legalization process throughout the country.
It is an individuals 10th amendment right to be able to choose whether or not they are
allowed to use marijuana Vigorito (2014). The tenth amendment states that the powers not
delegated to the United States by the constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved
to the States respectively, or to the people. Basically this means that based on the 10th
amendment, the federal government does not have the proper authority to tell the citizens that

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they cant use marijuana. The constitution gives us the principles of how the United States
should be governed so the federal government needs to run the country by it. Another huge
reason why marijuana should be legal is to compare it to the failed alcohol prohibition. The
government tried to prohibit the use of alcohol years ago because they thought it was awful and
then it finally became legal. The federal government came to an agreement with the states and
determined that alcohol could be legal under certain circumstances. Now the alcohol industry is
huge and the country makes millions of dollars from it every year. If the United States would at
least try to make marijuana legal for some time than the country would also make millions of
profit from it. This could help lead to an increase in total debt from the federal budget. The
United States needs to legalize the use of marijuana, it is a citizens 10th amendment right and will
be just as successful as the alcohol reform.
Colorado legalized marijuana recently and it has been a giant success (Hudak 2015). The
federal government allowed Colorado to legalize marijuana as long as they created legal,
regulatory, and tax frameworks on businesses (p.651). It took Colorado a decent amount of time
to set everything up but eventually on January 1, 2014 retail marijuana dispensaries were opened
(p.674). Businesses have exploded with sales, the tourism in Colorado has increased, and
marijuana enterprises are ready to go (p.675). All of this has been successful because the federal
government and state of Colorado worked together to set up an effective system before it all
started. The government needs to keep setting up systems like this throughout each state and
eventually make it legal in the whole United States.
The federal marijuana reform is vital to the United States of America. Every year the
federal government is spending an absurd amount of money trying to prevent marijuana
operations. The federal government spent about $483 million dollars interfering with state

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medical marijuana laws between 1996 and 2012 (Kreit, 2015, p.690). The government also
conducted around 528 raids and many prosecutions of people who were obeying state medical
marijuana laws (p.690). First of all, why would the government spend that much time and money
trying to criminalize people who are obeying state laws? That money could be spent more
effectively to improve part of the economy or another important area that the United States is
struggling in. States should be able to govern by their own rules and determine whether or not
marijuana should be legal. Legalizing it will make states wealthy and lead to a boom in its
economy.
Every year many soldiers and veterans of the United States military are diagnosed with
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These people risk their lives for the well beings of
millions of citizens. PTSD is defined as the chronic
activation of the stress response as a result of experiencing
a traumatic event (Betthauser 2015, p.1279). Soldiers
with PTSD return home and cannot go back to living their
normal lifestyles and it is very depressing for them and
their families (see Figure 1). Data from several studies show that

Figure 1. Soldier with PTSD

marijuana has increased pleasure and alteration of memory processes with these veterans. It has
helped manage re-experiencing, avoidance and numbing, and helped with hyperarousal. The last
thing that veterans said was that marijuana helped cope with emotional regulation and stress
tolerance (p.1279). Marijuana is not just a drug that gets people high for a profit, it helps veterans
and heroes from the military deal with the struggles of PTSD. Legalizing marijuana will help the
veterans with PTSD enjoy life and power through their illnesses.

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Opposing Viewpoint
It has been questioned overtime whether or not marijuana is bad mentally for users. A lot
of times opponents of marijuana just make up facts to scare people. Adversaries say that
marijuana is bad for people and it should be a schedule 1 drug. They say that marijuana can lead
to depression and anxiety. This is wrong because Marijuana Tests were done and showed that
marijuana had no effect on anxiety and depression in users. The results showed that harm
avoidance is associated with higher anxiety and depression only in those with low marijuana use.
Those higher in marijuana use showed no symptoms of anxiety and depression (Grunberg, 2015,
p.590). As marijuana becomes legal all of the country, many more tests will be performed and
rumors will be proven wrong. Marijuana is not bad mentally for users and should be legalized
immediately.

Conclusion
It is obvious after researching many articles and sources that marijuana should be legal.
The legalization of marijuana will boost the economy, help victims of PTSD, help improve the
medical conditions of certain people, and is not harmful towards anyone. It is an individuals 10th
amendment right to use marijuana and the alcohol reform is a success which means legalizing
marijuana will also be successful. Colorado was the first state to legalize marijuana and has been
prosperous since then. The marijuana reform needs to happen now in an effective and beneficial
process. Marijuana benefits victims of PTSD and is proven that it does not cause depression or
anxiety. The debate on the legalization of marijuana has been going on forever and needs to end
immediately, legalize marijuana. A solution to legalizing marijuana is to have one day or week

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per year where it is legal around the country. This can be used to see how it will effect crime rate,
medical conditions, profit margins, and to figure out what could be improved before the whole
country becomes legal. People will then have first-hand experiences with the effects it has and
then be able to voice their opinions on why it should become legal.

References

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Betthauser, K. (2015). Use and effects of cannabinoids in military veterans with posttraumatic
stress disorder. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 72.
COMBAT PTSD. (2012, June 11). Retrieved November 11, 2015, from
http://twana.wordpress.com/2012/06/11/combat-ptsd/
Grunberg, V. (2015). Can marijuana make it better? Prospective Effects of Marijuana and
Temperament on Risk for Anxiety and Depression. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors,
29(3
Hudak, J. (2015). Colorado's Rollout of Legal Marijuana is Succeeding: A Report on the State's
Implementation of Legalization. 65(3). doi:2015
Kreit, A. (2015). What will federal marijuana reform look like. 65(3). doi:2015
Tutro, J. (2013). States are making their own decisions regarding whether marijuana should be
illegal: How should the federal government react? 9(2).
Vigorito, J. (2014). Creating constitutional cannabis: An individual state's tenth amendment right
to legalize marijuana. 46.

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Appendix
I created two things for my digital remediation product. The first one was a bumper sticker and
the second one was a website. I created the website because I wanted to advertise the legalization
movement through the internet. I wanted to keep the website simple and not too complex
because I did not want it I used a free website builder through weebly.com. I included my paper
3 on the website so that people could get a better understanding of why marijuana should be
legalized. I put my bumper sticker onto the website for two reasons. One was to help with the
advertisement of legalizing the marijuana and the second was to benefit soldiers with posttraumatic stress disorder. The sales revenue from each bumper sticker will go towards helping
soldiers with PTSD.

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287 Hardin Street

Boone, NC 28607
November 3, 2015
Dr. Gail York
402 Sanford Hall
Boone, NC 28607
Dear Dr. York,
Thank you for taking the time to view this RCL. I am studying Business Management, writing
about the legalization of marijuana, and I am for the legalization of marijuana. I have learned a
bunch about the positive effects of marijuana and about the different ways legalization can be
effective.
I did not face any challenges when writing this and I am so glad that you gave me a time
extension.
It was easier to write this draft because all I had to do this time was make simple changes and
just make a digital remediation project.
I did not go to the university writing center for this draft but I will for the final draft.
Let me know if you see any errors or thing I can change, thanks.

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