Critically Assess the Arguments in Favor of the Decriminalization or Legalization of Marijuana Use

It is estimated that 40 percent of young people in Britain have tried marijuana and that it is an 'underground' economy worth globally £100 billion and $1-3 billion a year in this country alone. There is no denying that marijuana is now a massive part of modern British culture along with alcohol and tobacco. One hundred years ago, it was perfectly legal to walk in to a chemist and procure a range of cannabis tinctures and opium extracts, heroine and morphine. Indeed it was only due to pressure from Egypt and Turkey at the Geneva International Convention on Narcotics Control in 1925 that marijuana was included on the list of banned substances that forced the banning of it in the UK under the 1928 Dangerous Drugs Act. This meant marijuana was grouped under the same law as all other drugs with no distinction being made between soft and hard drugs. Since this time there have been arguments for the decriminalization or legalisation of marijuana use.…