People can't live without the herb man, / If not they'd be drinkin and drivin and swervin / But thanks to Dr. Greenthumb, weed grow / In the backyard or inside with hydro, chants B-Real of Cypress Hill in their hit song, Dr. Greenthumb, which glorifies the cultivation of marijuana. Cypress Hill, a Los Angeles based rap group, has long championed the legalization of recreational and medical marijuana, which has recently become a pressing issue in this day of alternative medicine, civil liberties, and humane treatment for the terminally ill. As an increasing number of states pass laws allowing medical marijuana and authoritative studies legitimizing both recreational and medicinal use of marijuana continue to appear the arguments against it begin to break down. When one considers the medical benefits, both recently discovered and traditionally practiced, along with the high costs of prohibition, the legalization of marijuana shows itself to be a possible solution. Marijuana should be legalized in the United States for medical and responsible recreational use in order to cut the immense expenditure spent on its prohibition and allows its medicinal benefits to be available to those who need them.Medicinal marijuana is very beneficial to those suffering from terminal illnesses and those requiring therapeutic measures. Recent research done by the National Institute of Mental Health has found that compounds in marijuana are strong antioxidants, which would help to protect the brain cells during a stroke. In fact, the compounds outperformed vitamins C and E, conventional antioxidants (Armentano). Marijuana has been found to have a therapeutic effect for victims of multiple sclerosis, paraplegia, epilepsy, and quadriplegia (Peters Interview, Thompson Interview, Armentano). Through a series of animal and human studies, researchers have determined that marijuana does have to ability to suppress convulsions. A recent National Academy of Sciences...
