Marijuana is not a drugHow do we define a drug? Who makes a drug illegal and why does they make it illegal? Marijuana is considered a drug; but why is it considered a drug? In this essay I hope to convince you that marijuana does not deserve the label it has been given. I will use several examples that will show you that marijuana is not as harmful as people make it out to be. This is a discussion we've had in the past, when the culture was trying to prove that alcohol wasn't as bad as our government was trying to paint it. Hopefully after reading this essay you will understand why people are pushing for the legalization of marijuana. The first example is that our brain is flooded with natural forms of the drug. The form of the drug I'm talking about is Cannabis, which is another form of marijuana. Cannabis or marijuana has many benefits for health reasons: it blocks pain, erases memories and triggers hunger. Some new studies show that they also regulate the immune system, aid reproduction and protect the brain from stroke and trauma damage. Another scientific study showed that marijuana contains some ingredients that could counteract nausea, another benefit for cancer or AIDS patients. Marijuana has been a part of our society for as long as humans can remember. Five thousand years ago, Chinese doctors used the marijuana plant to treat malaria, absent-mindedness and female ailments. How can marijuana be illegal when the Institute of Medicine (IOM) has stated that marijuana is not addictive and does not appear to be a gateway drug? Being a gateway drug has been the biggest blow to marijuana use. People say that if you use marijuana, you are more than likely using cocaine or heroin. Now, this... middle of the paper... is short-term memory loss. There has never been a study that has shown that marijuana causes short-term memory loss. It can also be said that alcohol causes short-term memory loss when enough of it is consumed. I can also use the argument that I have known people who have used marijuana since the sixties and who have six-figure jobs. There are many people who think that marijuana is a horrible, addictive drug. I hope that after reading this essay you have a better understanding of marijuana. Marijuana is a natural herb that makes you feel different when you smoke it. I think that if we legalized marijuana too, we would be doing society a favor. Any time you can help AIDS or cancer patients and also help the economy, it must be a positive substance. Society considers drugs bad and illegal because our government has given marijuana the label of a bad drug.