Should cannabis be legalized?

The first 200 words of this essay...

Should cannabis be made legal?

Cannabis is a soft drug made from the dried leaves and flowering tops of the hemp plant. Also know as marijuana it has many psychological and physical effects. Cannabis contains more than 400 chemicals. When smoked it contains over 2,000 chemicals that enter the body through the lungs. The short-term effects of the use of marijuana include both psychological and physical reactions, and these reactions usually last from three to five hours after a person has smoked it. The psychological reaction known as a 'high' consists of changes in the user's feelings and thoughts. The effects of a 'high' vary from person to person and from one time to another in the same person, and therefore cannabis has many arguments both for and against its legalisation.

If cannabis was to be made legal, the government could educate possible users about responsible use, or the effects cannabis can have. This would also allow the supply of cannabis to be regulated, as cannabis is often contaminated with inert or toxic components which cause more harm than the cannabis. A legal supply would be pure and therefore safer. This would stop many people's futures being needlessly destroyed,