Marijuana usually refers to plants such as hemp or cannabis that have psychological effects on the human brain. The most well-known usage is to dry the marijuana and smoke it. The ‘Delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol’ component of marijuana, also known as THC, invokes cognitive hallucinations. Many popular musicians such as The Beatles, Muse, Green Day, Wiz Khalifa, and Lady Gaga have used it to get musical inspiration. ‘Young, Wild, and Free,’ and ‘Mary Jane Holland’ are songs about musicians’ personal experiences with marijuana. According to people who have experimented with marijuana, it makes it possible to recognize things (e.g. color, texture, pattern, tone, and sound) in a more precise, abstract and sensitive way. Indeed, marijuana is legal in a few countries like Uruguay, the Netherlands, Bangladesh, and the United States (Washington State and Colorado only). Then, shouldn’t it be legal in Korea as well?
The advocates of marijuana support the legalization for a few reasons. First, economic profits can be expected through the marijuana’s medical usage. Marijuana has therapeutic properties of invoking appetite, improvement of lowered intraocular(eye) pressure, and relieving pain. Second, it has a relatively minor amount of damage on the human body, even less than caffeine. Even though the main method of usage is to smoke it, vaporizing it or eating it, is also possible (which does not have any impact on the lungs.) In addition, it can be legalized to raise tax income. Finally, from the perspective of liberalism, a country should not regulate marijuana.
The opponents of marijuana stand against the legalization for several reasons. First, smoking marijuana while driving distorts the common sense of the driver, which results in a higher car accident rate. Second, crimes may increase in order to get money to purchase marijuana, and people becoming addicted to the drug may also increase due to the stress of modern society. As well, it has a higher dependency than coffee. Coffee is taken when people feel tired, but marijuana invokes a euphoric feeling without any need of effort. In addition, it temporally raises tax income, but it may eventually lead to more expenditures than income. Indeed, cigarette causes lung cancer, which results in the increase of health premiums. Lastly, even though it is not a hard drug, a drug is still a drug.
My point of view is that marijuana should not be legal in Korea since marijuana use is currently not widespread in our country. In countries such as the United states or the Netherlands, marijuana use is fairly common compared to Korea, and organized crime is often related to smuggling in order to take control over it nationally. Accordingly, there is no need for Korean society to take on the risk of acquiring the various side effects associated with the legalization of marijuana.