User:Bui.jamesk/Legalization of non-medical cannabis in the United States

The medical use of marijuana for pain relief could be safer than traditional opioids used for pain relief as marijuana cannot be overdosed on and is less addictive. Marijuana could also replace the use of common non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as Advil or Aleve that have been known to cause kidney or ulcer problems. The medical use of marijuana similarly can be used to curb stress-induced cravings, anxiety and lack of impulse control that cause people to relapse in people with drug and alcohol addiction. In Colorado and Oregon, the most common use for marijuana is pain, spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis, nausea, posttraumatic stress disorder, cancer, epilepsy, cachexia, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, and degenerative neurological conditions.

In New York City, Black and Brown people were the most affected when it came to arrests relating to Marijuana accounting for 94% of all persons in 2020. In Texas, overall arrests for marijuana fell for Blacks from 64,826 in 2017 to 63,019 in 2018 and 24,890 in 2020 to 22,496 in 2021. However, looking at primarily arrests for Blacks, it increased from 19,040 in 2017 to 19,760 in 2018 and 7,457 in 2020 to 7,466 in 2021. According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Black people are 3.64 times more like than white people to be arrested for marijuana related offenses. With more and more states legalizing marijuana, trends related to Black people being arrested have not changed since 2010.