Since
the beginning of mankind, the world has differed from country to country.
Everyone has different views and cultures depending where you travel. I’ve
recently been to Italy/Greece and got the chance to experience how it was to
live in a different country. Everything from the food down to how people behave
in a different country was different, and so are the marijuana laws around the
world. The legality of cannabis varies from country to country, but for the
most part, marijuana is mostly illegal, except for two states in the United
States and a few other countries. Although only some state’s/countries allow
marijuana use, other countries cannabis laws aren’t heavily reinforced. The
United States, for the most part, tries to regulate marijuana and other drugs
as much as possible because the U.S. heavily enforces their laws and
regulations, unlike other countries where government may not play such an
important factor.
Unlike
the United States, citizens in countries around the world don’t easily obey to
laws like we do. The United States may have a few laws for one specific thing,
but when it comes to following a law, we are very understandable, or else we
have consequences. But government in certain countries, like Argentina, Belize,
Brazil, etc., mostly tolerates the drug even though marijuana is said to be
illegal in those countries. Although the United States has laws and regulations
relating to marijuana, there are loopholes on getting marijuana legally in the
United States depending on state to state. For example, in California,
marijuana can be used medically if recommended by a doctor and is able to apply
for a medical marijuana card. Unlike other countries, the United States has
more laws but has separate districts (states) where laws vary depending on the
surrounding.
*Legalized States/Countries World Wide
On
May 28, 2013 Colorado became the first state in the U.S. to legalize marijuana
and be the first to regulate the recreational marijuana market, in the U.S. as
well. This is the first time marijuana has been fully legalized in the United
States, which is a good way to test how marijuana legalization will affect the
U.S. and will show how much marijuana sales could benefit the U.S. as well. On
December 10, 2013, Uruguay became the first county in the world to make the
sale, production and distribution of marijuana, legalized (Wikipedia, 2013).
The way marijuana is legalized is by the process on making money off of
marijuana – cultivation, transport, sale and possession. Possession is the most
lenient part relating to marijuana because drugs are not heavily regulated in
most third world countries. For example, in Cambodia, marijuana is illegal but
is decriminalized in cultivation, transport, and sale and for possession.
Today,
a lot of American citizens complain about the accessibility of marijuana and
that the government is regulated a little too much, but what is not realized is
how much different it would be somewhere other than the U.S. Many question the
ability to get marijuana in the U.S. but its also not much different else
where. Third world countries, with a weaker government than ours, don’t seem to
regulate the drug as much. Marijuana is regulated so many different ways that some government can't police.
