Persuasive Speech On Why Marijuana Should Be Legal

Submitted By thelene1
Words: 904
Pages: 4

Title:
General Purpose: To Persuade
Specific Purpose: To Persuade the audience of the reason marijuana is illegal and why it should be legal.
I. Introduction
a. Not many of us think of why some substances are illegal. We think that all drugs are bad and make you do bad things, including marijuana. But if you dig a little deeper you might find something pretty interesting
II. Body
a. Why marijuana is illegal
a.i. The war on drugs, according to HighTimes, has been and will always be about the government keeping there power.
a.ii. When an idea of the prohibition of marijuana was brought up, posters were painted depicting dark skinned men chasing after the white women in town, and in the mid-1900’s, blacks harming women wasn’t going to fly. It was all downhill from there.
a.iii. In the 50’s, being a one-time smoker could turn you from the perfect Gentleman/Lady into worse than nothing, some people even thought communist. Bringing us to the 60’s where it was associated with antiwar movement, gay rights movement, women’s rights movement, and other social movements, a threat to power.
a.iv. It was then depicted as making you lazy, as a gate way drug, and eventually a terrorist.
III. So now you’re thinking, okay so why shouldn’t it be illegal?
a. As scientists continue to do more and more research into the Cannabis plant they are finding more and more beneficial reasons for using the plant.
b. Research is now showing that the psychological effects of the plant are linked directly to playing a crucial role in our neurology and physiology. According to Marijuana Gateway to Health, everyone’s body has its own endocannabinoid system, a system in which endocannabinoids are produced. These resemble the cannabinoids produced by the cannabis plant, aka marijuana. The Endocannabiniod system participates in almost every other system in our body. This system helps with: sleep, appetite, depression, and for females, according to HighTimes, it can help with the menstrual cycle. Consuming marijuana by eating, vaporizing, or using oils can be used almost as a multivitamin, just enhancing our everyday beings.
c. With that being said, it can also prevent and ease some diseases such as alzheimers/dimensia, parkinsons, and even cancer.
c.i. Alzheimers, dimensia, and parkinsons are all neurodegenerative diseases, which means as you age you’re brain begins to get deposits (or plaques) and tangles on and around neurons. Thus destroying the pathways and preventing neurons from properly communicating. By utilizing the cannabinoids in marijuana, they preserve the dying brain cells, help the brain in producing new brain cells, and don’t allow the deposits and tangling around neurons to ever begin forming. Thus completely preventing or stopping the spread of neurodegenerative diseases.
c.ii. The cannabinoids found in marijuana can also help prevent or stop the growth of cancer. Virginia Commonwealth University ran a study on mice that had lung cancer. In the study they gave each group of mice marijuana (in edible form) with different levels of THC (Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol). The mice that were given marijuana with the most THC showed the best results in stopping the growth of the cancer. Cannabinoids work against the mutated cells in a number of different ways including killing mutated cells, slowing there growth, or preventing them from spreading or growing new blood vessels.
IV. Random reasons why it should be legal.
a. It has been used for thousands of years for