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112 Persuasive Speech Topics That Are Actually Engaging

What’s covered:, how to pick an awesome persuasive speech topic, 112 engaging persuasive speech topics, tips for preparing your persuasive speech.

Writing a stellar persuasive speech requires a carefully crafted argument that will resonate with your audience to sway them to your side. This feat can be challenging to accomplish, but an engaging, thought-provoking speech topic is an excellent place to start.

When it comes time to select a topic for your persuasive speech, you may feel overwhelmed by all the options to choose from—or your brain may be drawing a completely blank slate. If you’re having trouble thinking of the perfect topic, don’t worry. We’re here to help!

In this post, we’re sharing how to choose the perfect persuasive speech topic and tips to prepare for your speech. Plus, you’ll find 112 persuasive speech topics that you can take directly from us or use as creative inspiration for your own ideas!

Choose Something You’re Passionate About

It’s much easier to write, research, and deliver a speech about a cause you care about. Even if it’s challenging to find a topic that completely sparks your interest, try to choose a topic that aligns with your passions.

However, keep in mind that not everyone has the same interests as you. Try to choose a general topic to grab the attention of the majority of your audience, but one that’s specific enough to keep them engaged.

For example, suppose you’re giving a persuasive speech about book censorship. In that case, it’s probably too niche to talk about why “To Kill a Mockingbird” shouldn’t be censored (even if it’s your favorite book), and it’s too broad to talk about media censorship in general.

Steer Clear of Cliches

Have you already heard a persuasive speech topic presented dozens of times? If so, it’s probably not an excellent choice for your speech—even if it’s an issue you’re incredibly passionate about.

Although polarizing topics like abortion and climate control are important to discuss, they aren’t great persuasive speech topics. Most people have already formed an opinion on these topics, which will either cause them to tune out or have a negative impression of your speech.

Instead, choose topics that are fresh, unique, and new. If your audience has never heard your idea presented before, they will be more open to your argument and engaged in your speech.

Have a Clear Side of Opposition

For a persuasive speech to be engaging, there must be a clear side of opposition. To help determine the arguability of your topic, ask yourself: “If I presented my viewpoint on this topic to a group of peers, would someone disagree with me?” If the answer is yes, then you’ve chosen a great topic!

Now that we’ve laid the groundwork for what it takes to choose a great persuasive speech topic, here are over one hundred options for you to choose from.

Should high school athletes get tested for steroids?
Should schools be required to have physical education courses?
Should sports grades in school depend on things like athletic ability?
What sport should be added to or removed from the Olympics?
Should college athletes be able to make money off of their merchandise?
Should sports teams be able to recruit young athletes without a college degree?
Should we consider video gamers as professional athletes?
Is cheerleading considered a sport?
Should parents allow their kids to play contact sports?
Should professional female athletes be paid the same as professional male athletes?
Should college be free at the undergraduate level?
Is the traditional college experience obsolete?
Should you choose a major based on your interests or your potential salary?
Should high school students have to meet a required number of service hours before graduating?
Should teachers earn more or less based on how their students perform on standardized tests?
Are private high schools more effective than public high schools?
Should there be a minimum number of attendance days required to graduate?
Are GPAs harmful or helpful?
Should schools be required to teach about standardized testing?
Should Greek Life be banned in the United States?
Should schools offer science classes explicitly about mental health?
Should students be able to bring their cell phones to school?
Should all public restrooms be all-gender?
Should undocumented immigrants have the same employment and education opportunities as citizens?
Should everyone be paid a living wage regardless of their employment status?
Should supremacist groups be able to hold public events?
Should guns be allowed in public places?
Should the national drinking age be lowered?
Should prisoners be allowed to vote?
Should the government raise or lower the retirement age?
Should the government be able to control the population?
Is the death penalty ethical?

Environment

Should stores charge customers for plastic bags?
Should breeding animals (dogs, cats, etc.) be illegal?
Is it okay to have exotic animals as pets?
Should people be fined for not recycling?
Should compost bins become mandatory for restaurants?
Should electric vehicles have their own transportation infrastructure?
Would heavier fining policies reduce corporations’ emissions?
Should hunting be encouraged or illegal?
Should reusable diapers replace disposable diapers?

Science & Technology

Is paper media more reliable than digital news sources?
Should automated/self-driving cars be legalized?
Should schools be required to provide laptops to all students?
Should software companies be able to have pre-downloaded programs and applications on devices?
Should drones be allowed in military warfare?
Should scientists invest more or less money into cancer research?
Should cloning be illegal?
Should societies colonize other planets?
Should there be legal oversight over the development of technology?

Social Media

Should there be an age limit on social media?
Should cyberbullying have the same repercussions as in-person bullying?
Are online relationships as valuable as in-person relationships?
Does “cancel culture” have a positive or negative impact on societies?
Are social media platforms reliable information or news sources?
Should social media be censored?
Does social media create an unrealistic standard of beauty?
Is regular social media usage damaging to real-life interactions?
Is social media distorting democracy?
How many branches of government should there be?
Who is the best/worst president of all time?
How long should judges serve in the U.S. Supreme Court?
Should a more significant portion of the U.S. budget be contributed towards education?
Should the government invest in rapid transcontinental transportation infrastructure?
Should airport screening be more or less stringent?
Should the electoral college be dismantled?
Should the U.S. have open borders?
Should the government spend more or less money on space exploration?
Should students sing Christmas carols, say the pledge of allegiance, or perform other tangentially religious activities?
Should nuns and priests become genderless roles?
Should schools and other public buildings have prayer rooms?
Should animal sacrifice be legal if it occurs in a religious context?
Should countries be allowed to impose a national religion on their citizens?
Should the church be separated from the state?
Does freedom of religion positively or negatively affect societies?

Parenting & Family

Is it better to have children at a younger or older age?
Is it better for children to go to daycare or stay home with their parents?
Does birth order affect personality?
Should parents or the school system teach their kids about sex?
Are family traditions important?
Should parents smoke or drink around young children?
Should “spanking” children be illegal?
Should parents use swear words in front of their children?
Should parents allow their children to play violent video games?

Entertainment

Should all actors be paid the same regardless of gender or ethnicity?
Should all award shows be based on popular vote?
Who should be responsible for paying taxes on prize money, the game show staff or the contestants?
Should movies and television shows have ethnicity and gender quotas?
Should newspapers and magazines move to a completely online format?
Should streaming services like Netflix and Hulu be free for students?
Is the movie rating system still effective?
Should celebrities have more privacy rights?

Arts & Humanities

Are libraries becoming obsolete?
Should all schools have mandatory art or music courses in their curriculum?
Should offensive language be censored from classic literary works?
Is it ethical for museums to keep indigenous artifacts?
Should digital designs be considered an art form?
Should abstract art be considered an art form?
Is music therapy effective?
Should tattoos be regarded as “professional dress” for work?
Should schools place greater emphasis on the arts programs?
Should euthanasia be allowed in hospitals and other clinical settings?
Should the government support and implement universal healthcare?
Would obesity rates lower if the government intervened to make healthy foods more affordable?
Should teenagers be given access to birth control pills without parental consent?
Should food allergies be considered a disease?
Should health insurance cover homeopathic medicine?
Is using painkillers healthy?
Should genetically modified foods be banned?
Should there be a tax on unhealthy foods?
Should tobacco products be banned from the country?
Should the birth control pill be free for everyone?

If you need more help brainstorming topics, especially those that are personalized to your interests, you can use CollegeVine’s free AI tutor, Ivy . Ivy can help you come up with original persuasive speech ideas, and she can also help with the rest of your homework, from math to languages.

Do Your Research

A great persuasive speech is supported with plenty of well-researched facts and evidence. So before you begin the writing process, research both sides of the topic you’re presenting in-depth to gain a well-rounded perspective of the topic.

Understand Your Audience

It’s critical to understand your audience to deliver a great persuasive speech. After all, you are trying to convince them that your viewpoint is correct. Before writing your speech, consider the facts and information that your audience may already know, and think about the beliefs and concerns they may have about your topic. Then, address these concerns in your speech, and be mindful to include fresh, new information.

Have Someone Read Your Speech

Once you have finished writing your speech, have someone read it to check for areas of strength and improvement. You can use CollegeVine’s free essay review tool to get feedback on your speech from a peer!

Practice Makes Perfect

After completing your final draft, the key to success is to practice. Present your speech out loud in front of a mirror, your family, friends, and basically, anyone who will listen. Not only will the feedback of others help you to make your speech better, but you’ll become more confident in your presentation skills and may even be able to commit your speech to memory.

Hopefully, these ideas have inspired you to write a powerful, unique persuasive speech. With the perfect topic, plenty of practice, and a boost of self-confidence, we know you’ll impress your audience with a remarkable speech!

Introduction

The key to being a successful advocate of ending cannabis prohibition is effective communication. Specifically, advocates must be able to: 1) convey the most important arguments in support of legalizing, regulating, and taxing cannabis, and 2) respond to arguments made in opposition to legalization. Whether you are engaging in personal discussions, participating in public debates, conducting media interviews, or corresponding with government officials, it is critical that you are prepared. This document will provide you with the most persuasive talking points and strongest rebuttals to employ when communicating about the benefits of replacing cannabis prohibition with a system of regulating and taxing cannabis for adults. We recommend you keep it handy when conducting interviews or engaging in public debates. You are welcome to convey the information verbatim or simply use it as a general guide when carrying out advocacy activities. NOTE: New statistics and studies are constantly emerging. If you would like to confirm whether a given piece of information is current, or if you would like to suggest additions or revisions to this document, please contact the Marijuana Policy Project communications department at [email protected] . Some information was adapted from Marijuana Is Safer: So why are we driving people to drink? (Chelsea Green, July 2013) by Steve Fox, Paul Armentano, and Mason Tvert.

Cannabis and Alcohol (Not Cannabis vs. Alcohol)

You will notice this document includes many comparisons drawn between cannabis and alcohol, most of which pertain to the relative safety of the former compared to the latter. This information should not be used to express the notion that alcohol should be illegal or that laws governing it should be more restrictive. Alcohol prohibition was a failed policy that produced many of the same problems that are associated with cannabis prohibition. Rather, the information comparing cannabis and alcohol should be used to highlight the intellectual dishonesty and hypocrisy of laws that allow adults to use alcohol and punish them for using a less harmful substance. It can also be used to highlight the inherent harm associated with such disparate, co-existing policies. Just as it would be bad public policy to prohibit people from choosing to consume chicken instead of beef — or beer instead of liquor — it is bad public policy to prohibit adults from consuming cannabis instead of alcohol, if that is what they would prefer.

Proactive Arguments

These are the key points we want to make when given the opportunity to make our case.

Cannabis prohibition has been just as ineffective, inefficient, and problematic as alcohol prohibition. Polls show a strong and growing majority of Americans agree it is time to end cannabis prohibition. Nationwide, an October 2019 Gallup poll found that 66% support making cannabis use legal for adults, up from 48% in 2008 and 36% in 2005. [1] An October 2019 Pew Research Center poll found two-thirds (67%) of Americans support legalization up from 53% in 2015 and 32% in 2006. [2]
Cannabis is objectively less harmful than alcohol to the consumer and to society. It is less toxic, less harmful to the body, less addictive, and less likely to contribute to violent or reckless behavior. Adults should not be punished for making the safer choice to use cannabis instead of alcohol, if that is what they prefer.
Regulating cannabis like alcohol will replace the uncontrolled illicit market with a tightly regulated system. By legalizing and regulating cannabis, authorities actually know who is selling it, where it is being sold, when, and to whom. In jurisdictions where cannabis is legal, it is produced and sold by legitimate, taxpaying businesses instead of drug cartels and criminals. These businesses will be required to test their products and adhere to strict labeling and packaging requirements that ensure cannabis is identifiable and consumers know what they are getting.
Government resources should not be wasted arresting and prosecuting cannabis consumers. Hundreds of thousands of Americans are arrested each year for cannabis-related offenses, the vast majority of which are for simple possession. Government resources could be better spent on things like testing untested rape kits or investing in human needs, such as mental health counseling, substance abuse treatment, and activities for at-risk teens.
Enforcement of cannabis prohibition laws disproportionately impacts communities of color. Despite using cannabis at roughly the same rates as whites, Blacks in the U.S. are nearly four times more likely to be arrested for cannabis possession. In some states, the disparity is even greater. [3]

Reactive Arguments

These are responses to arguments we frequently hear from our opponents.

Too Dangerous/Unhealthy for Consumers

Every objective study on cannabis has concluded that it is less harmful than alcohol to the consumer and to society. Following an “exhaustive and comprehensive” two-year study of cannabis performed by the Canadian government, the chair of the Special Senate Committee on Illegal Drugs reported, “Scientific evidence overwhelmingly indicates that cannabis is substantially less harmful than alcohol.” [4] Most Americans recognize that alcohol prohibition was a failure and agree adults should have the right to consume alcohol responsibly. [5] It is illogical to punish adults for consuming a less harmful substance, and it is irrational to steer them toward drinking if they would prefer to make the safer choice to use cannabis instead.
The health effects of alcohol consumption are a primary factor in countless deaths. The health effects of cannabis consumption are not a primary factor in any deaths. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there were more than 35,000 alcohol-induced deaths in the U.S. in 2017 (i.e. deaths caused directly by long-term use and accidental overdose; this does not include deaths caused by unintentional injuries, homicides, and other causes indirectly related to alcohol use). The CDC did not report any cannabis-induced deaths. [6] A study published in Scientific Reports in January 2015 found that the mortality risk associated with cannabis was approximately 114 times less than that of alcohol. [7] In January 2017, the National Academies of Sciences released an exhaustive review of cannabis-related research that found no link between cannabis use and mortality. [8]
Many people die from alcohol overdoses. There has never been a confirmed cannabis overdose death. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine concluded in 2017 that no link has been established between cannabis and fatal overdoses. [9] Meanwhile, the CDC reports an average of more than 2,200 alcohol poisoning deaths per year. [10] The official publication of the Scientific Research Society reported that alcohol is one of the most toxic drugs and that death can result from consuming just 10 times the effective dose (the amount a person would use to experience the desired effect). Cannabis, on the other hand, is one of the least toxic drugs, requiring thousands of times the effective dose to lead to death. [11] In 1988, after hearing two years of testimony, the chief administrative law judge for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) determined “it is physically impossible to eat enough cannabis to induce death” and concluded, “Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man.” [12]
There are far more health-related problems associated with alcohol use than with cannabis use, and the health-related costs associated with alcohol far exceed those associated with cannabis. In 2005, a University of Oxford meta-analysis on cannabis concluded that even long-term cannabis use does not cause “any lasting physical or mental harm. … Overall, by comparison with other drugs used mainly for ‘recreational’ purposes, cannabis could be rated to be a relatively safe drug.” [13] In the mid-1990s, the World Health Organization commissioned a study on the health and societal consequences of cannabis compared to alcohol and other drugs, which concluded the overall risks associated with cannabis are “small to moderate in size” and “unlikely to produce public health problems comparable in scale to those currently produced by alcohol and tobacco.” [14] Health-related costs for alcohol consumers are eight times greater than those for cannabis consumers, according to an assessment performed by researchers at the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse and the Centre for Addictions Research of British Columbia. [15] More specifically, the annual cost of alcohol consumption is $165 per user, compared to just $20 per user for cannabis.

Cancer and the Impact of Smoking or Vaporizing Cannabis on the Lungs

Extensive research has failed to find a link between cannabis and cancer. In January 2017, the National Academies of Sciences released a review of more than 10,000 scientific abstracts that concluded there is no link between smoking cannabis and the development of lung, head, or neck cancers. [16] It also did not find a link between cannabis use and asthma or other respiratory diseases, and the respiratory problems it did link to smoking cannabis, such as bronchitis, appeared to improve after consumers stopped using it. Similarly, in 1999, the National Academies’ Institute of Medicine reported, “There is no conclusive evidence that marijuana causes cancer in humans, including cancers usually related to tobacco use.” [17] According to research published in the journal Cancer, Causes, and Control , cannabis inhalation — unlike tobacco smoking — has not been positively associated with increased incidences of cancers of the lung, mouth, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, breast, colon, skin, or prostate. [18] It was also reaffirmed in 2006 by the largest case-controlled study ever conducted to investigate the respiratory effects of cannabis smoking and cigarette smoking. The study, led by Dr. Donald Tashkin at the University of California at Los Angeles, found “no association at all” between cannabis smoking and an increased risk of developing lung cancer, even among subjects who reported smoking more than 22,000 joints over their lifetimes. [19] , [20] Surprisingly, the UCLA researchers found that people who smoked cannabis actually had lower incidences of cancer compared to non-users, leading them to the conclusion that cannabis might have a protective effect against lung cancer. Other studies have shown that cannabis can kill cancer cells and inhibit tumor growth. [21] , [22]
The effects of smoking cannabis pale in comparison to those associated with smoking tobacco. Opponents of cannabis policy reform often talk about the presence of carcinogens in cannabis smoke, oftentimes arguing that there are more cancer-causing chemicals in cannabis than in tobacco. Yet, there has never been a single documented case of a cannabis-only smoker developing lung cancer as a result of his or her cannabis use. Meanwhile, tobacco is responsible for 30% of all cancer deaths in the U.S. and 87% of lung cancer deaths. [23] According to research published in 2013 in the journal Annals of the American Thoracic Society , “[H]abitual use of marijuana alone does not appear to lead to significant abnormalities in lung function.” It concluded, “In summary, the accumulated weight of evidence implies far lower risks for pulmonary complications of even regular heavy use of marijuana compared with the grave pulmonary consequences of tobacco.” [24] Inhaling any kind of smoke is unhealthy, but the effects of smoking cannabis are relatively mild and short-term in nature. Typically, they take the form of coughing, wheezing, and bronchitis that dissipate after the cessation of use. A 2012 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that moderate lifetime cannabis smoking — defined as at least one joint per day for seven years or one joint per week for 49 years — is not associated with adverse effects on pulmonary function. [25]
Exposure to secondhand cannabis smoke — unlike tobacco smoke — has little to no effect. There is no evidence that exposure to secondhand cannabis smoke has any significant long-term health implications, whereas studies have shown secondhand tobacco smoke can cause health issues. [26] In 1986, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) conducted a study in which they placed people in an unventilated 8x7-foot room and burned a series of cannabis cigarettes. After being exposed to the smoke of four joints for one continuous hour for six consecutive days, most participants had no trace of cannabis in their systems. Those who did only had THC metabolites detectable in their urine (meaning they were never actually “high”). It took researchers burning 16 joints for one continuous hour each day for six consecutive days to produce the effect of consuming one joint. Obviously, it is pretty rare that anyone would ever find themselves in a small room where 16 joints are smoked continuously for one hour per day for six consecutive days.
Only legalization allows for the regulation of vaporization devices and cartridges, enabling regulators to keep dangerous additives and pesticides out of cannabis products . Most or all of the cannabis vaporization-related lung illnesses and deaths were tied to the illicit market. A California laboratory tested illegal and regulated cannabis vaporization cartridges and found that 13 out of 15 of the illegal products included vitamin E acetate, the compound the CDC identified as the likely cause of the illnesses. [27] None of the legal products it tested had these additives, nor did they have the illicit pesticides or heavy metals that were present in most of the illicit cartridges.
There are many ways to consume cannabis other than smoking or vaporizing, including edible products, tinctures, capsules, and topicals. Creating a legal, regulated market for a variety of products makes it easier for consumers to choose non-smoked options.

Addiction and Treatment

Cannabis is significantly less addictive than alcohol and tobacco. According to a 1998 report by Drs. Jack E. Henningfield of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and Neal L. Benowitz of the University of California at San Francisco, cannabis’s addiction potential is no greater than that of caffeine. [28] A comprehensive federal study conducted by the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine arrived at a similar conclusion: “Millions of Americans have tried marijuana, but most are not regular users [and] few marijuana users become dependent on it … [A]lthough [some] marijuana users develop dependence, they appear to be less likely to do so than users of other drugs (including alcohol and nicotine), and marijuana dependence appears to be less severe than dependence on other drugs.” According to the IOM report, only 9% of cannabis users ever meet the clinical criteria for a diagnosis of cannabis “dependence” based on the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd edition, revised), compared to 15% of alcohol users and 32% of tobacco users. [29] Some experts believe significantly fewer than 9% of cannabis users are actually dependent because the DSM is clearly biased against cannabis use, whereas it is accepting of alcohol use. [30] It considers moderate, non-problematic cannabis use a “mental disorder,” but goes out of its way to make the case that the moderate use of alcohol — a more addictive and potentially harmful substance — is not a disorder. It even notes, “[S]ocial drinking frequently causes loquacity, euphoria, and slurred speech; but this should not be considered Intoxication unless maladaptive behavior, such as fighting, impaired judgment, or impaired social or occupational functioning, results.” In other words, drinking to the point of experiencing euphoria and slurred speech is not considered “intoxication,” whereas using any amount of cannabis should be considered “intoxication.” The DSM survey is also conducted under the assumption that using cannabis on six occasions could constitute dependence, whereas using alcohol on any number of occasions might not. Specifically, the DSM considers someone dependent if they report that at least three of seven statements about their cannabis use apply to them. For example, it asks if “a great deal of time was spent in activities necessary to get the substance.” Because cannabis is illegal in most of the country, it is quite likely that the individual had to spend more time trying to get it, but that does not suggest they are addicted. It also asks if “important social, occupational, or recreational activities [were] given up or reduced because of use.” Yet, some people might lose their jobs if they get arrested or fail a workplace drug test, or they might feel they have fewer opportunities because they are worried prospective employers will require drug tests. Again, this does not make someone “addicted” to cannabis. A third criterion is whether the individual's use increases as they become tolerant of the substance. If someone experiences increased tolerance of the substance and uses more to get the desired effect, yet experiences no problems as a result, they should not be considered “addicted” to the substance. A couple other DSM criteria for dependence are similarly suspect. It is worth noting that some research has concluded that allowing people to use cannabis could produce a reduction in their consumption of more addictive substances. For example, a study performed by a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley found that “medical marijuana patients have been engaging in substitution by using cannabis as an alternative to alcohol, prescription and illicit drugs.” It also recommended further research to determine whether “substitution might be a viable alternative to abstinence for those who are not able, or do not wish to stop using psychoactive substances completely.” [31] This hypothesis will surely be explored as states continue to remove legal barriers to adult cannabis consumption.
Most people in treatment for cannabis were ordered there by the criminal justice system. In other words, they didn’t actually seek or need treatment, but were arrested and offered treatment as an alternative to jail time or other serious penalties. According to data released in 2017 by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), more than half of the people in drug treatment primarily for cannabis were referred by the criminal justice system, and fewer than one in five checked themselves in voluntarily or were referred by another individual. [32] Essentially, the government arrests people for using cannabis and forces them into treatment, and then it and other opponents of cannabis policy reform use those treatment admissions as “proof” that cannabis is addictive. The real scandal here is that countless needed treatment slots are being wasted on responsible cannabis users whose only problem with the drug was that they got caught with it.

Mental Health

The evidence shows no causal relationship between cannabis use and the onset of mental health conditions. Many opponents misrepresent a 2017 report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, which found an association between cannabis use and schizophrenia, not that cannabis use causes In fact, the report itself noted, “In certain societies, the incidence of schizophrenia has remained stable over the past 50 years despite the introduction of cannabis into those settings.” Surely if marijuana use caused schizophrenia, that would not be the case. Further, one of the committee members of the study, Ziva Cooper, rebutted the claim that cannabis use causes schizophrenia in a series of Tweets. Cooper wrote, “Since the report, we now know that genetic risk for schizophrenia predicts cannabis use, shedding some light on the potential direction of the association between cannabis use and schizophrenia.” Similarly, if cannabis causes psychosis, rates of psychosis should rise if cannabis use goes up, but that has not happened. According to a report published by the prestigious British medical journal The Lancet , cannabis use skyrocketed in the 1960s and 1970s, but there was no significant increase in rates of psychosis. [33] In 2009, researchers at the Keele University Medical School in Britain arrived at a similar conclusion: “[I]ncreases in population cannabis use have not been followed by increases in psychotic incidence.” [34] In late 2005, the British government’s scientific advisors on drug policy reviewed the evidence surrounding cannabis and mental illness and determined that the data do not demonstrate that cannabis causes depression, anxiety, or bipolar disorder. [35] Specifically, the British Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs concluded, “The evidence for the existence of an association between frequency of cannabis use and the development of psychosis is, on the available evidence, weak.” A study published in the journal Addictive Behaviors in 2006 found lower rates of depression in cannabis users than in non-users. [36] There have been a handful of studies that have identified a minor association between chronic cannabis use and increased symptoms of mental health conditions, but other studies have failed to find such a link. [37] , [38] Confounding factors such as poly-drug use, family history, and poverty make it difficult to study cannabis’s potential impact on mental health.
Cannabis affects different people differently — like many substances, it can be problematic for some people and beneficial for others. The relationship between cannabis and schizophrenia is a lot like sugar and diabetes. Both illnesses are primarily genetic in origin. Sugar can set off a diabetic attack in vulnerable individuals, and cannabis can set off or worsen a psychotic reaction in schizophrenics or in people with a genetic predisposition to schizophrenia. That’s not the same thing as causing the illness in the first place. There are some people who shouldn’t use cannabis, just like there are some people who should avoid sugar. It is worth noting that survey data and anecdotal reports of individuals finding therapeutic relief from depression and other mental conditions are not uncommon. Clinical testing on the use of cannabinoids to treat certain symptoms of mental illness has been recommended. [39]

Brain Damage

There is no conclusive evidence that cannabis kills brain cells or causes brain damage, even in long-term heavy consumers. According to research published in the Journal of Neuroscience in January 2015, even daily cannabis use is not associated with changes in brain volume in adults or adolescents, noting it “lack[s] even a modest effect.” [40] They also found significant inconsistencies among scientific papers that claimed cannabis causes parts of the brain to shrink.

Decline in IQ

There is no conclusive evidence that cannabis use results in lowered IQ. In 2014, researchers at University College London reported to the annual congress of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology that they found “no relationship between cannabis use and IQ,” even among the heaviest users. They also reported that alcohol use is strongly associated with a decline in IQ. [41] Supporters of maintaining cannabis prohibition often cite a 2012 Duke study (based on data from New Zealand) that was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) , which linked minors’ chronic cannabis use to a long-term reduction in IQ. But they typically fail to mention that the same journal published an analysis later that year that criticized the study for having flawed methodology. [42] In summary, it failed to account for the low socioeconomic status of many of the study's participants, and research has found that adolescents of low socioeconomic status tend to experience declines in IQ regardless of cannabis use. A study published by the Canadian Medical Association Journal that included only middle-class participants found that IQ only decreased among current cannabis consumers, and even in heavy users, it rebounded after they stopped using it. [43] It is also worth noting that one of the researchers who performed the New Zealand study told news sources “[she] is fairly confident that cannabis is safe for over-18 brains.” [44]

Motivation and School/Job Performance

The claim that cannabis makes people “amotivated” is a myth that has been repeatedly debunked by experts. In its comprehensive 1999 report on cannabis, the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine concluded, “no convincing data demonstrate a causal relationship between cannabis smoking and these behavioral characteristics.” [45] Similarly, an Australian government review produced by several of the world’s leading experts concluded, “There is no compelling evidence for an amotivational syndrome among chronic cannabis users.” [46] An analysis released by the World Health Organization in 1995 arrived at a similar conclusion. [47] Some studies of college students have found that cannabis consumers actually earn higher grades than non-users. [48]
Any substance or behavior can potentially interfere with an individual’s ability to perform well at work or in school. Whether it’s cannabis, alcohol, food, or video games, too much of it can be problematic for some people. The vast majority of cannabis users do not encounter such problems.

Gateway Theory

The so-called “Gateway Theory” has been debunked repeatedly. Most recently, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine reported in February 2017 that there is no substantial link between cannabis use and the use of other illegal drugs. [49] A 1999 study by the National Academies’ Institute of Medicine found that cannabis “does not appear to be a gateway drug to the extent that it is the cause or even that it is the most significant predictor of serious drug abuse; that is, care must be taken not to attribute cause to association.” [50] In June 2015, the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse published research that concluded cannabis use itself was not a risk factor for use of other substances. [51]
If there is a “gateway drug,” it is alcohol, which almost always precedes the use of cannabis. [52] But just as alcohol use does not cause people to use cannabis, using cannabis does not cause people to use other illicit drugs. In other words, there is correlation but not causation. Given the wide-scale availability and popularity of alcohol and cannabis, it comes as little surprise that people who use other illicit drugs previously tried alcohol and cannabis.
The vast majority of people who have used cannabis never try any other drugs. About half of all Americans have used cannabis at some point in their lives. [53] Yet, only 3.4% have ever tried crack, only 1.9% have ever tried heroin, and fewer than 15% of Americans have ever tried cocaine, the second most popular illegal drug after cannabis. [54] If using cannabis caused people to use other drugs, there would be far more users of other drugs.
By forcing cannabis consumers into the underground market, we are dramatically increasing the possibility that they will be exposed to other more dangerous drugs. According to a 1997 report published by the Netherlands Institute of Mental Health and Addiction: “There is no physically determined tendency toward switching from marijuana to harder substances. Social factors, however, do appear to play a role. The more users become integrated in an environment (‘subculture’) where, apart from cannabis, hard drugs can also be obtained, the greater the chance that they may switch to hard drugs. Separation of the drug markets is therefore essential.” [55]

Cannabis Is Not Harmless

No drug is entirely harmless, including cannabis, and we’ve never said it is. But it’s also true that independent scientific and government reviews have concluded that the health risks of cannabis are much lower than those of alcohol and tobacco, and that those risks don’t justify arresting and jailing responsible, adult cannabis users. (See other sections regarding relative harms of cannabis compared to other substances.)
We need to be honest about the actual harms of all substances, and it would be irresponsible not to discuss the fact that cannabis is objectively less harmful than alcohol. Do you think people should be aware of the fact that cannabis poses less potential harm to the consumer than heroin or methamphetamine? Why wouldn't we want people to be aware of the fact that cannabis is less harmful than alcohol, too?

Potency and Concentrates (Oils, Hashes, Waxes, Kief, “Dabs”)

Even the most potent cannabis is far less harmful than alcohol. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) attributes about 35,000 deaths per year in the U.S. to alcohol use alone, including hundreds from overdoses. It attributes zero to cannabis, and there has never been a fatal cannabis overdose in history. [56] “You can die binge-drinking minutes after you've been exposed to alcohol. That isn't going to happen with marijuana,” according to Ruben Baler, a health scientist at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). [57]
Like alcohol, there are more potent and less potent types of cannabis, and regulating cannabis will ensure consumers know what they are getting. Some people prefer to have a cocktail instead of a beer, and as a result, they know to drink less of it. By regulating cannabis like alcohol, we can ensure it is packaged and labeled properly. It would be unthinkable to sell beer and tequila side-by-side without having them labeled so people know one is far stronger than the other.
If cannabis concentrates are banned, they will end up being produced and sold in the same underground market we are trying to eliminate. We should ensure these products are being produced safely and responsibly by licensed businesses in appropriate locations.
A majority of Americans support making cannabis legal, and they care just as much about protecting young people as those who wish to keep cannabis illegal. They simply believe regulation would be a more effective way of doing it.
Cannabis prohibition has failed miserably at keeping cannabis out of the hands of teens. From 1975-2012, 80-90% of 12th graders consistently reported that cannabis was “fairly easy” or “very easy” to obtain. For the first time since the survey began 40 years ago, high school seniors’ perception of cannabis’s availability has dipped below 80% — after states began to legalize cannabis. [58] If a key goal of prohibition is to keep cannabis out of the hands of young people, yet more than 80% could get it easily, that is a sign that the policy failed. It's time for a more thoughtful approach.
By forcing cannabis into an underground market, we are guaranteeing that sales will be entirely uncontrolled. Illegal cannabis dealers do not ask for ID, they sell a product that is unregulated and possibly impure, and they might expose consumers to other more harmful drugs. In a regulated market, businesses would be required to ask customers for proof of age, and they would face severe penalties for selling cannabis to minors.
Strictly regulating alcohol and tobacco products and restricting sales to minors have produced significant decreases in use and availability among teens. The rate of teen cannabis use has generally remained steady over the past several years, whereas levels of alcohol and cigarette use have decreased. [59] Over the past several years, cigarette use and availability among teens, which had been sharply increasing in the early 1990s, began steadily declining shortly after the 1995 implementation of the “We Card” program, a renewed commitment to strictly restricting the sale of tobacco to young people, along with a focused effort on public education. Ultimately, we were able to dramatically reduce teen tobacco use without arresting any adults for using tobacco.
Research has shown that reforming cannabis laws does not increase teen cannabis use. A study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry in 2016 found that the number of teens using cannabis — and the number with problematic use — is falling as more states legalize or decriminalize cannabis. The findings were based on a survey of more than 200,000 youth in all 50 states. Government surveys of students in states with medical cannabis and legalization laws have consistently shown humane cannabis policies do not result in increases in teen cannabis use. [60] According to the most comprehensive surveys, no state has seen an overall increase outside of the confidence interval since passage. Data has long shown that medical cannabis protections do not cause teen cannabis use rates to increase. A 2015 national study covering 24 years of data published in The Lancet found that medical cannabis laws do not lead to an increase in teen cannabis use. According to the lead researcher, the findings “provide the strongest evidence to date that marijuana use by teenagers does not increase after a state legalizes medical marijuana.” [61] Similarly, as the American Academy of Pediatrics noted in its statement supporting decriminalization, “Decriminalization of recreational use of marijuana by adults has also not led to an increase in youth use rates of recreational marijuana.”
Available data suggests that legalizing and regulating cannabis for adult use has not led to increases in teen use. In February 2017, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment reported the rate of cannabis use among adolescents “has not changed since legalization either in terms of the number of people using or the frequency of use among users. …Based on the most comprehensive data available, past-month marijuana use among Colorado adolescents is nearly identical to the national average.” [62] It based this conclusion on the results of its biannual Healthy Kids Colorado Survey (HKCS), which found 21.2% of high school students in Colorado reported using cannabis within the past 30 days in 2015 (compared to 21.7% nationwide). This was a slight drop from 22% in 2011, the year before the state approved a legalization initiative. HKCS’s 2017 study shows the favorable trend has continued: 19.4% of high school students in Colorado reported using cannabis within the past 30 days in 2017.
Washington has had a similar experience since voters legalized cannabis in 2012. The Washington State Healthy Youth Survey, a state-run survey of 37,000 middle and high school students, found that the rate of cannabis use remained basically unchanged from 2012-2018. Similarly, Oregon’s Health Teens Survey found no increase from 2013- 2017. The CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey conducts large-scale surveys in five legalization states — Alaska, California, Massachusetts, Maine, and Nevada. Its before-and-after data shows no statistically significant increases in high schoolers’ past-30-day cannabis use. (Four of the states’ data indicated decreases within the confidence interval, while Alaska’s data indicated an increase within the confidence interval.) [63] The head of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Nora Volkow, has acknowledged that cannabis usage rates have not risen in recent years despite changes in policy and public attitudes. “All of those factors have led many to predict that there would be an increase in the pattern of use of marijuana among teenagers and we are not seeing it,” she said in an interview in December 2015. [64] She echoed the same point a year later: “We had predicted based on the changes in legalization, culture in the U.S. as well as decreasing perceptions among teenagers that marijuana was harmful [and] that [accessibility and use] would go up. But it hasn’t gone up.” [65]

Sending the Wrong Message to Teens

Cannabis is already widely available and widely used — regulating it simply sends the messages that cannabis is for adults and should be handled responsibly. Cannabis prohibition laws, which allow adults to use alcohol but punish them for using a less harmful substance, are intellectually dishonest. Once young people realize that cannabis is not as dangerous as they have been led to believe, they are less likely to trust authorities’ warnings about other more dangerous drugs.
Cannabis prohibition laws send the inaccurate and potentially dangerous message that cannabis is more harmful than alcohol. By allowing adults to use alcohol and making it a crime for them to use cannabis, our laws are steering people toward using the substance that is much more likely to cause harm to them or those around them. Our laws should reflect the facts, and it is a fact that cannabis is less harmful than alcohol.

Continuing Racial Disparities in Enforcement

Advocates of reform do not claim decriminalization or legalization will make racial disparity in enforcement disappear. Pointing out that racial disparities exist and that ending cannabis prohibition can decrease the impacts of those disparities is not the same as saying racial disparities will end. Changing policies merely takes away some the mechanisms most commonly used for racially unequal policing.
Decreases in arrests, searches, and convictions are a net benefit. While disparities continue to be found in arrest rates for things like underage consumption and public use after legalization, the overall decrease in arrests results in fewer people of color being arrested or fined. Following legalization, both the number of searches during traffic stops and the disparities in those searches plummeted in both Washington and Colorado. [66] Unnecessary searches can be intrusive, traumatic, dangerous, and destroy trust between law enforcement and communities.

Legal Age (18 vs. 21 vs. other ages)

Like with alcohol, it will be up to lawmakers and/or voters to decide the appropriate legal age for using cannabis. Some people believe the legal age should be 18 because the individual is legally an adult and cannabis is far less harmful than alcohol and tobacco. Others think it should be 19 or older because 18-year-olds are still in high school and might be tempted to purchase it for their underage friends. Many people think the age limit should be 21 because, like alcohol, cannabis is intoxicating. It could be different from state to state as it used to be for alcohol, or a national legal age could be set at some point. So far, every legalization state in the U.S. has set the age at 21. In Canada, the legal age for cannabis has mirrored the legal drinking age, which is 18 or 19, depending on the province.

Crime and Violence

Research generally shows that cannabis — unlike alcohol — is not linked to violent or aggressive behavior. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine performed an analysis of more than 10,000 scientific abstracts about cannabis and did not appear to find a link between cannabis use and violent behavior. In fact, research often shows cannabis use reduces the likelihood of that an individual will act violently. According to research published in the journal, Addictive Behaviors , “Alcohol is clearly the drug with the most evidence to support a direct intoxication-violence relationship,” whereas, “Cannabis reduces the likelihood of violence during intoxication.” [67] The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates that 25% to 30% of violent crimes and 3% to 4% of property crimes in the U.S. are linked to the use of alcohol. [68] According to a report from the U.S. Department of Justice, that translates to nearly 5,000,000 alcohol-related violent crimes per year. [69] By contrast, the government does not even track violent acts specifically related to cannabis use, as the use of cannabis has not been associated with violence. If we truly want to reduce the likelihood of violence in our communities, we should be allowing adults to use cannabis instead of alcohol, if that is what they prefer. Some opponents of cannabis policy reform claim cannabis users commit crimes to support their use of cannabis. Yet, cannabis is no more addictive than coffee, which is why neither cannabis users nor coffee drinkers commit crimes to support their use.
Alcohol is a particularly significant factor in the prevalence of domestic violence and sexual assault, whereas cannabis is not. This is not to say that alcohol causes these problems; rather, its use makes it more likely that an individual prone to such behavior will act on it. For example, investigators at the Research Institute on Addictions reported, “The use of alcohol… was associated with significant increases in the daily likelihood of male-to-female physical aggression,” whereas the use of marijuana was “not significantly associated with an increased likelihood of male partner violence.” [70] Specifically, the odds of abuse were eight times higher on days when men were drinking; the odds of severe abuse were 11 times higher. The Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network’ (RAINN) webpage dedicated to educating the public about “Drug Facilitated Sexual Assault” highlights alcohol as the “most commonly used chemical in crimes of sexual assault” and provides information on an array of other drugs that have been linked to sexual violence. [71] The words “marijuana” and “cannabis” do not appear anywhere on the page.
Legalization has not corresponded with increased crime rates. Government-published data, academic research, and the experiences of many law enforcement officials indicate that cannabis policy reform does not increase crime rates. Relying on statistics from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports, peer-reviewed studies have analyzed changes after passage of both adult-use legalization and medical cannabis laws. Contrary to assertions made by some opponents of legalization, there is no compelling basis for claims that legalizing cannabis and establishing regulated markets undermines public safety.
Cannabis prohibition leads to violence. Virtually all the crime associated with cannabis is a direct result of its prohibition. Cannabis prohibition has relegated the sale of cannabis to criminal enterprises. In doing so, it is exposing many consumers to more harmful people and products. And since cannabis is illegal, these individuals are unable to rely on law enforcement officials to step in when business-related disputes and incidents occur. Violence is often employed to expand turf, which results in violence that affects not just cannabis dealers and consumers, but the broader communities of which they’re a part. A peer-reviewed paper in The Economic Journal supports the argument that legalizing cannabis reduces crime by displacing illicit markets traditionally controlled by drug cartels and illicit distributors. [72] Meanwhile, legalizing cannabis also frees up police time for crimes with victims. In a 2018 analysis, experts at Washington State University found that police solved significantly more violent and property crimes after passage of legalization laws in Colorado and Washington. [73]
States’ experiences with medical cannabis dispensaries and retailers have demonstrated that there is no link between regulated cannabis businesses and crime — in fact, they might reduce it. A study published in 2013, which was conducted at the University of California at Los Angeles and funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), concluded: “[The] results suggest that the density of [medical marijuana dispensaries] may not be associated with increased crime rates or that measures dispensaries take to reduce crime (i.e., doormen, video cameras) may increase guardianship, such that it deters possible motivated offenders.” [74] A 2017 study funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) found that the closure of dispensaries around Los Angeles was associated with an increase in crime in surrounding areas. [75] The following year, researchers from RAND reported a “negative and significant relationship between dispensary allowances and property crime rates.” [76]

Driving Under the Influence

It is currently illegal to drive while impaired by cannabis, and it will remain illegal after cannabis is regulated and legal for adults. Since law enforcement officials will no longer need to spend time arresting and prosecuting adults for possessing cannabis, they will have more time to spend enforcing laws against driving under the influence of alcohol, cannabis, and other substances.
Statistics connecting cannabis use to traffic accidents are generally unreliable. For example, cannabis can remain detectable in a user’s system for several days or even several weeks after he or she consumes cannabis, and the data on traffic accidents usually does not differentiate between whether a driver was actually under the influence at the time of the accident. Oftentimes, the data also does not differentiate between which driver was at fault, meaning drivers who tested positive for cannabis may not have actually caused the accident. It is also worth noting that many fatal accidents don’t involve testing for the prevalence of drugs, and in some states it is involved in fewer than half. [77] , [78] In addition, some increases in cannabis detection in accidents can be attributed to increased rates of testing after cannabis became legal.
Data and research studies cast doubt on the link between legalization and increased traffic safety problems. Though some research has found a modest increase in traffic fatalities in Colorado and Washington post-legalization, other studies have reached different conclusions, and there are good reasons to doubt claims that legalization causes an increase in fatal crashes. A paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research analyzed the rates of drivers found with THC (cannabis’s primary psychoactive ingredient) in their systems after fatal car crashes from 2013 to 2016. The researchers then compared the patterns of THC-positive drivers in Colorado and Washington during that time period to those in other states. In a summary of their results, the authors wrote, “We find the synthetic control groups saw similar changes in marijuana-related, alcohol-related and overall traffic fatality rates despite not legalizing recreational marijuana.” Furthermore, according to data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System, four of the eight states that legalized cannabis from 2012 through 2016 saw decreased rates of fatal car crashes following passage of legalization laws. These reduced crash rates were greater than the reduction seen on the national level over the same time period. Data from the Colorado Department of Transportation do not support the assertion that cannabis-impaired driving is becoming a more significant problem in the state. In 2016 (when the state initiated uniform reporting procedures for cannabis impaired driving cases), there were 51 “cannabis-involved fatalities.” In 2017 and 2018, the state reported 35 and 31, respectively. [79]
Drivers can be tested for cannabis, and it is currently being done throughout the country. Typically, blood tests and urinalysis are used to determine whether a driver has consumed cannabis. Urinalysis can detect the presence of cannabis even if it was consumed days or weeks earlier, so it is not a good indicator of whether a driver is actually under the influence. Blood tests are far more demonstrative of whether an individual is actually “under the influence,” and states have adopted laws that establish a “legal limit” for cannabis. For example, Washington has established a “per se” limit of five ng/ml of THC in the blood, meaning any person found at or above that level is automatically deemed impaired (just as a person with a 0.08 blood alcohol concentration is automatically deemed impaired). There is evidence that some cannabis consumers maintain levels of five ng/ml of THC or more for several hours or even days after they have consumed, which has led to criticism that such “per se” standards can result in unimpaired drivers being charged for driving while impaired. In light of that evidence, Colorado has established a limit of five ng/ml with “rebuttable presumption,” meaning an individual is not automatically deemed impaired and can challenge the charge in court. Clearly, there is still a need to determine whether a driver is impaired by cannabis, but states already have Drug Recognition Expert training for just that purpose. Police use this training to detect drivers impaired by an array of prescription, over-the-counter, and illicit drugs. Any standards and penalties that are adopted should reflect existing science and must be based on demonstrating actual driving impairment.

Employment Issues and Drug Testing

State voters or lawmakers can adopt laws that allow employers to maintain or create employment policies that prohibit the use of cannabis by employees on and off the job. Most of the legalization laws require employers to change their employment or drug testing policies. In one state, Nevada, a law does not allow a person to be denied employment based on a pre-employment drug screen, unless the employee has a safety-sensitive position, including a job that “in the determination of the employer, could adversely affect the safety of others.”
There are laws in place that ensure employers have the ability to prohibit the use of cannabis by employees in “high-risk” or “safety-sensitive” positions. Don’t be fooled by opponents who claim making cannabis legal for adults will result in surgeons, pilots, truck drivers, and electrical line workers performing their jobs under the influence of cannabis.
Adults should not be punished for using cannabis outside of the workplace unless there is some sort of extenuating circumstance, just as they should not be punished for consuming alcohol outside of the workplace. It’s worth noting that alcohol can produce a hangover, which can negatively affect an employee’s performance the day after he or she consumes it, whereas cannabis does not produce hangovers. Because of how the body metabolizes cannabis, urinalysis can detect it in the body for up to several weeks. The effects of cannabis, however, only last for up to several hours. Any employee drug-testing program should take this into account to ensure employees are not being punished for consuming cannabis outside of the workplace. Since cannabis is detectable for much longer than other substances, testing employees for it could steer them toward drinking or using other less detectable drugs. Employees should not perform potentially dangerous work when impaired by anything , be it sleep deprivation, prescription drugs, over-the-counter medication, or alcohol. The best way to keep workplaces safe is to ensure employees are fit to perform their duties. Cognitive awareness impairment alertness testing is likely a better solution than periodically testing employees’ urine for specific substances.
Adopting a law that regulates cannabis like alcohol would not be a violation of the Federal Drug Free Workplace Act. The FDFW Act simply requires employers to have a drug policy and to have penalties for violations of that policy.

Industry Concerns (“Big Tobacco,” Advertising, Etc.)

Why would we want cannabis to be sold by illegally instead of licensed businesses? Cannabis is widely available, widely used, and objectively less harmful than alcohol. There is no reason why we should be leaving it in the underground market where its cultivation and sale are entirely uncontrolled.
This is a new industry, and we have the opportunity to create responsible regulations right off the bat. State and local governments are able to create broad rules covering advertising, labeling, testing, serving sizes, additives, permissible financial interests, production caps, licensing classes, etc. Cannabis businesses and business groups are pushing for strong and sensible regulations since they are needed in order to establish and maintain a legitimate cannabis industry. For example, Colorado’s largest cannabis industry organization was a vocal supporter of a successful 2012 effort to ban outdoor advertising by cannabis businesses in Denver. [80] Ultimately, nobody wants to ensure these businesses are following all of the regulations more than the businesses themselves.
The tobacco industry was initially poorly regulated, and there was not nearly as much public knowledge about the health effects of tobacco as we currently have for cannabis. For example, tobacco companies are now notorious for having used additives to make their products more addictive. Such practices are banned in legalization states. The biggest problem with the tobacco industry is that it sells an exceptionally dangerous product. Its use alone kills hundreds of thousands of Americans per year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), whereas zero deaths are attributed to cannabis use. Overall, the health-related costs for tobacco consumers are 40 times greater than those for cannabis consumers. More specifically, the annual health-related costs of tobacco consumption are $800 per user compared to just $20 per user for cannabis. [81]

Controlling the Illicit Market

While it will not happen overnight, within a few years of implementation of a state cannabis regulation law, intrastate demand should be fully satisfied by the regulated market, if enough supply and outlets are allowed . The Colorado Marijuana Enforcement Division’s Market Size Demand for Marijuana in Colorado Market 2017 Update reported that, “Colorado’s preexisting illicit marijuana market for residents and visitors has been fully absorbed into the regulated market.” However, as long as dozens of U.S. states maintain prohibition, their demand will be served by illegal production somewhere. Colorado, Oregon, and California have long been sources of cannabis exported to other states, and there is no reason to expect that to stop until other states have their own legal supplies.

Slippery Slope Toward Legalizing All/Other Drugs

Every substance should be treated based on its relative harms and the facts surrounding it — cannabis is far less harmful than alcohol and should be treated that way. We can have different policies for cannabis, cocaine, and heroin, just as we now have different policies for alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis. Drugs are not all the same, and our laws should reflect that. Cannabis policy reform is being debated because cannabis is widely recognized as a substance that should be made legal and regulated. We are not proposing changes to any laws other than cannabis laws.

Cannabis Use is Wrong/Immoral

Americans differ about the morality of many things, but our public policies should be focused on minimizing harm to individuals and to the community. Some people consider alcohol use immoral, but most recognize that alcohol prohibition was a disaster. Cannabis prohibition has been just as big a failure, and it has caused far more harm than cannabis itself.

Cannabis Possession Laws Are Not Enforced / Nobody Actually Gets Arrested / Nobody Faces Serious Consequences

Roughly 663,300 Americans were arrested or cited for cannabis-related offenses in 2018, and almost 92% were for possession alone. [82] That's one possession arrest every 48 seconds, and it’s more arrests than for all violent crimes combined. It's true that most people arrested for possession do not go to prison, but they all do face potentially life-altering consequences. They will have a drug-related offense on their record. Many people lose their jobs or find it difficult to gain employment. Parents can lose custody of their children. College students can lose their federal financial aid. Non-citizens can be forced to leave the country. People lose their public housing benefits. And those who are on parole or probation, or who have past offenses, could very well find themselves in jail or prison. According to leading cannabis policy researchers, “About 40,000 state and federal prison inmates have a current conviction involving marijuana; perhaps half of them are in prison for offenses related to marijuana alone.” [83]

“Legalization” vs. “Decriminalization” vs. “Regulation”

The term “legalization” without mentioning “regulation” often leaves far too much to the imagination. Would it be available to people of all ages or only to those 18 and older or 21 and older? Would it be legal like tomatoes? Would it be sold only in state-licensed businesses? Referring to “legalizing and regulating cannabis” or “treating cannabis similarly to alcohol” makes it more apparent that cannabis would be legal only for adults. Only in a legal, regulated market can consumers and the environment benefit from rules to prevent the use of dangerous pesticides, testing and potency laws, and environmental protections.
The word “decriminalization” can be a source of confusion. It generally refers to a system of reduced penalties for possession of a small amount of cannabis (usually a fine but not jail, oftentimes without formal arrest and booking), with more severe penalties retained for cultivation, sales, and possession of larger amounts. Decriminalization is not the best solution because it leaves cannabis production and distribution in the criminal market and continues to punish adults for responsible cannabis use.
Regulation is the most realistic and effective alternative to prohibition. Under such a system: there would be a strictly enforced legal age limit for purchasing and using cannabis; cannabis and cannabis-infused products would be produced, distributed, and tested by state-licensed businesses; adults of legal age would be permitted to grow limited amounts of cannabis for personal use (similar to home-brewing); and cannabis would be subject to local and state sales taxes, as well as reasonable excise taxes established by voters or their elected representatives.

Legalization and Prohibition are Both Too Extreme (Project SAM's “third way”)

The proper balance between incarceration and unrestrained legalization is regulation. We need a cannabis policy that reflects the realities of cannabis and minimizes the harm surrounding it. Cannabis is relatively safe for responsible adult use, it is widely available and commonly used, and it's not going anywhere anytime soon. As such, its production and distribution should be regulated and controlled, not left to the underground market. Any policy that keeps cannabis illegal for adults is not a “third way,” it’s the same way we’ve been treating cannabis for decades. Coercive treatment programs that give arrestees the choice to go to treatment are not viable alternatives because they can still result in criminal sanctions and can cause space shortages in treatment facilities that could be devoted to voluntary admissions.

Federal Law

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) made it exceptionally clear that states can regulate the cultivation and sale of cannabis for adult use. In an August 2013 memo, then-Deputy Attorney General James Cole said the DOJ would refrain from interfering as long as states are establishing and enforcing regulations that adequately address specific federal interests, such as restricting cannabis sales to minors and preventing inter trafficking. In fact, the DOJ memo acknowledged that regulating cannabis might be more effective than prohibition when it comes to addressing those interests. In particular, it notes that the establishment of large for-profit cannabis businesses could be beneficial. [84] While former Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded the Cole memo, in practice his Justice Department did not appear to target any businesses in compliance with it. Moreover, Attorney General nominee William Barr has said in writing he plans to follow the Cole memo.
Thirty-six states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical cannabis, and many of them — including our nation's capital — are regulating the cultivation and sale of medical cannabis.
Fifteen states have legalized cannabis for adults’ use, without facing any significant federal interference. Colorado, Washington, Alaska, Oregon, California, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Michigan, Arizona, Montana, New Jersey, and South Dakota all passed voter-enacted initiatives to legalize, tax, and regulate cannabis, with the first laws passing back in 2012. In 2019, Illinois became the 11th state to legalize cannabis for adult use — and the first state in the country to adopt a regulatory system for cannabis cultivation, testing, and sales through a state legislature. Meanwhile, Vermont’s legislature and governor legalized personal possession in 2018 and enacted a regulatory system for sales in 2020. Regulated sales have begun in all of the states except Arizona, Montana, New Jersey, South Dakota, and Vermont (all of these laws passed in 2020 and are awaiting implementation).

International Drug Control Treaties

International drug treaties allow considerable flexibility. In the U.S., 36 states, four U.S. territories, and Washington, D.C., have comprehensive medical cannabis laws, while another 13 states have more limited medical cannabis laws. Both Canada and Uruguay allow adult-use cannabis sales nationwide. The U.S. has traditionally been the driving force behind these prohibitionist treaties, and we can renegotiate them anytime if it becomes necessary. It does not appear it will be.

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[41] Mokrysc C., et al. “No relationship between moderate adolescent cannabis use, exam results or IQ, large study shows.” Annual Congress of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) . 2014.

[42] Stromberg, Joseph, “Long-Term Marijuana Use Could Have Zero Effect on IQ,” SmithsonianMag.com, January 14, 2013.

[43] Fried, et al., “Current and former marijuana use: preliminary findings of a longitudinal study of effects on IQ in young adults,” Canadian Medical Association Journal 166 (2002): 887–91.

[44 ] Hughes, Dominic, “Young cannabis smokers run risk of lower IQ, report claims,” BBC News, August 28, 2012.

[45] U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine, Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base (Washington, D.C: National Academy Press, 1999).

[46] W. Hall, L. Degenhardt, and M. Lynskey, “The Health and Psychological Effects of Cannabis Use,” Commonwealth of Australia, National Drug Strategy, Monograph Series No. 25, 2001.

[47] W. Hall, R. Room, and S. Bondy, WHO Project on Health Implications of Cannabis Use: A Comparative Appraisal of the Health and Psychological Consequences of Alcohol, Cannabis, Nicotine and Opiate Use, Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization, August 28, 1995.

[48] M. Earleywine, Understanding Marijuana , Oxford University Press, 2002.

[49] National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. “The health effects of cannabis and cannabinoids: The current state of evidence and recommendations for research.” (2017).

[50] U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine, Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base (Washington, D.C: National Academy Press, 1999).

[51] Thompson, Dennis, “Marijuana Study Counters ‘Gateway’ Theory,” HealthDay , July 10, 2015.

[52] Kirby, T. and Barry, A. E. (2012), “Alcohol as a Gateway Drug: A Study of U.S. 12th Graders,” Journal of School Health , 82: 371–379. doi: 10.1111/j.1746-1561.2012.00712.x

[53] Gallup Poll, July 19, 2017.

[54] U.S. Office of Applied Studies, 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Detailed Tables . Accessed online August 28, 2017.

[55] Netherlands Institute of Mental Health and Addiction, Cannabis Policy: An Update (Utrecht: Trimbos Institute, 1997).

[56] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Alcohol Related Disease Impact (ARDI) application, 2013. Available at http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/DACH_ARDI/Default.aspx

[57] Brownstein, Joseph. “Marijuana vs. Alcohol: Which Is Really Worse for Your Health?” livescience , January 21, 2014.

[58] University of Michigan/National Institute on Drug Abuse, Monitoring the Future National Survey Results on Drug Use, 1975 – 2019 . (Fewer than 80% of 12th graders reported marijuana was “fairly easy” or “very easy” to obtain in each 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2019. The lowest figure since the survey began was reported in the most recent year, 2019: 78.4%.)

[60] For data and sources, see https://www.mpp.org/issues/legalization/teen-marijuana-use-does-not-increase/ .

[61] Hasin, Deborah S., et al. “Medical marijuana laws and adolescent marijuana use in the USA from 1991 to 2014: results from annual, repeated cross-sectional surveys,” The Lancet Psychiatry , Vol. 2, Issue 7, 601-608.

[62] Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. “Monitoring Health Concerns Related to Marijuana in Colorado: 2016. Changes in Marijuana Use Patterns, Systematic Literature Review, and Possible Marijuana-Related Health Effects.” (2017).

[63] For data and sources, see https://www.mpp.org/issues/legalization/teen-marijuana-use-does-not-increase/ .

[64] Sifferlin, Alexandra. “High School Seniors Now Prefer Marijuana to Cigarettes.” Time , December 15, 2015.

[65] Nelson, Steven. “Marijuana Is Harder Than Ever for Younger Teens to Find.” U.S. News and World Report , December 13, 2016.

[66] Sam Petulla and Jon Schuppe, “Police Searches Drop Dramatically in States that Legalized Marijuana,” NBC News , June 23, 2017.

[67] Hoaken, P. & Stewart, S. (2003). Drugs of abuse and the elicitation of human aggressive behavior. Addictive Behaviors 28 , 1533-1554.

[68] U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 10th Special Report to the U.S. Congress on Alcohol and Health , June 2000.

[69] U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics, Alcohol and Crime: Data from 2002 to 2008 . Available at http://www.bjs.gov/content/acf/apt1_crimes_by_type.cfm

[70] Fals-Stewart, F., Golden, J., & Schumacher, J. (2003). Intimate partner violence and substance use: A longitudinal day-to-day examination. Addictive Behaviors 28 , 1555-1574.

[71] Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network. Drug Facilitated Sexual Violence . Retrieved August 21, 2014, from https://rainn.org/get-information/types-of-sexual-assault/drug-facilitated-assault

[72] Gavrilova, E., et al. (2017). Is Legal Pot Crippling Mexican Drug Trafficking Organisations? The Effect of Medical Marijuana Laws on US Crime. The Economic Journal . Accessed from https://doi.org/10.1111/ecoj.12521

[73] Makin, D.A., et al. (2018). Marijuana Legalization and Crime Clearance Rates: Testing Proponent Assertions in Colorado and Washington State. Police Quarterly . Accessed from https://doi.org/10.1177/1098611118786255

[74] Freisthler, B., Kepple, N.J., Sims, R., & Martin, S.E., “Evaluating medical marijuana dispensary policies: Spatial methods for the study of environmentally-based interventions,” American Journal of Community Psychology 51 (2013): 278–288.

[75] Chang, T., Jacobson, M., “Going to Pot?: The Impact of Dispensary Closures on Crime,” March 2017.

[76] Hunt, P., et al. (2018). High on Crime? Exploring the Effects of Marijuana Dispensary Laws on Crime in California Counties. Institute of Labor Economics. Accessed from http://ftp.iza.org/dp11567.pdf

[77] “Drug Involvement of Fatally Injured Drivers,” NHTSA, Traffic Safety Facts, November 2010, DOT HS 811 415, 1.

[78] Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, The Legalization of Marijuana in Colorado: The Impact (August 2013), 5.

[79] Accessed from https://www.codot.gov/safety/alcohol-and-impaired-driving/druggeddriving/drugged-driving#collapse11

[80] Ingold, John, “Denver medical marijuana advertising ban passes key vote,” Denver Post , August 13, 2012.

[81] G. Thomas and C. Davis, “Cannabis, Tobacco, and Alcohol Use in Canada: Comparing Risks of Harm and Costs to Society,” Visions: British Columbia's Mental Health and Addictions Journal 5 (2009).

[82] U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Crime in the United States, 2018 https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2018/crime-in-the-u.s.-2018/topic-pages/persons-arrested

[83] Jonathan P. Caulkins, Angela Hawken, Beau Kilmer, and Mark A.R. Kleiman, Marijuana Legalization: What Everyone Needs to Know , Oxford University Press: 2012.

[84] U.S. Department of Justice, Memorandum for All United States Attorneys: Guidance Regarding Marijuana Enforcement , August 29, 2013. Available at http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2013/August/13-opa-974.html

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30 Practice: Case Study on Medical Marijuana

Recent Case Study Topics

You and your class can consider the topic of Medical Marijuana as an Informative Speech topic from a wide variety of news and medical sources.

As you discuss this topic, consider how you could make this work for an Informative Speech.

How can you inform on a topic that is still controversial?
Is this the best “general purpose” for this speech topic?
What must you do to maintain objective?
What must you do to become credible?
Where can you search local and state data, laws, policy on this topic?

Sources – To be updated with the most recent MN “OOPS, we VOTED ON THIS!?” Situation.

Fox News = Pot is dangerous, not funny — a doctor tells us why. January 7, 2018. https://www.google.com/search? num=20&ei=2cUyW8WZAdb39QOF3aKgCw&q=Fox+News+Medical+Marijuana&oq=Fox+News+Medical+Marijuana&gs_l=psy-ab.3…151786.163769.0.170319.44.34.0.0.0.0.144.2937.28j5.33.0..2..0…1.1.64.psy-ab..16.11.1033…0j0i131i67k1j0i131k1j0i7i30k1j0i20i264k1j0i273k1j0i131i273k1j0i30k1j0i8i30k1j0i8i7i30k1j0i8i10i30k1j0i13i30k1.0.gSV2ahtJ1n0 .
BBC = BBC Documentary 2017 – Medical Cannabis: The Wonder Weed – 2017 Full Documentary. Geraldine P. Sanchez . Published on Mar 8, 2017.
MSNBC = Meet the family of doctors who help people use medical marijuana. March 16, 2018. https://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/video/meet-the-family-of-doctors-who-help-people-use-medical-marijuana-1187574339943 .
American Medical Association: AMA Finally Admits Marijuana has Medical Benefits. https://www.newschoolers.com/news/read/AMA-Finally-Admits-Marijuana-Medical-Benefits .

The Public Speaking Resource Project Copyright © 2018 by Lori Halverson-Wente and Mark Halverson-Wente is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Reasons Why Marijuana Should be Legalized

Introduction.

Behind alcohol and tobacco, marijuana is considered as the third most popular recreational substance not only in the United States, but also in some parts of the world. The thing that differentiates marijuana from the other two is its legality. This paper will draw the four most important arguments about marijuana that justifies the reason for making it legal. The four areas of concern whether the government has the strong grounds to prohibit marijuana, health implications and benefits, economic value and social significance will be explored in order to make a strong stand to imply its legalization. In the past decades, marijuana was frowned upon by the society because of the myths that surrounds its use. However, several debates have shown the light to the issue because of the rising awareness about marijuana's questionable reputation. More and more people are now accepting the idea of legalizing marijuana because of the factors that constitutes a valid argument of its legality. This paper will present the most significant attributes that will justify why marijuana should be legalized.

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Since the 1990s, the public there has been a steady increase in support of legalizing marijuana not just for medicinal, but also for recreational use. Skeptics view the idea of Marijuana legalization as major tolerance of the society to drug addiction. Considering the intoxicating effects of illegal drugs to users and the alleged relationship of illegal drugs to crime, portions of the population are adamant if legalization should ever be considered in the first place. However, recent the recent survey of 1,000 adult correspondents conducted by The CBS News Poll on November revealed that public is evenly divided in its opinion about the legalization of marijuana. On a more personal note, marijuana should be legalized on the grounds of reducing the number of people incarcerated for its possession and use. In addition, legalizing marijuana will eliminate several problems such as the need for costly random drug tests among government and private employees promote cannabis for its health benefits and the federal government will earn billions of dollars in tax.

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237 Easy Persuasive Speech Topics and Guide

A persuasive speech is a speech written and delivered to convince people of the speaker’s viewpoint. It uses words to make the audience ‘see’ the speaker’s point of view and to ‘sway’ them into agreeing with it.

It is not a simple matter of presenting gathered facts and evidence. More than just seeing why the speaker thinks that way, a persuasive speech tries to persuade the audience in accepting that line of thought and make it the way they, too, think.

To jump to the persuasive speech topic section, click here .

This is where it differs from an argument. The difference between an argumentative and persuasive speech is that one tries to prove a point while the other tries to affect the listener’s perspective.

Informative Speech Topics and Ideas
Toastmasters Project 9: Persuade With Power

Table of Contents

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Visualization, writing introduction for persuasive speech, persuasive speech videos, persuasive speech topics, persuasive speech topics about animals and pets, persuasive speech topics about automobiles, persuasive speech topics about education, persuasive speech topics about environment, persuasive speech topics about ethical issues, persuasive speech topics about food, persuasive speech topics about health.

Some examples of a persuasive speech are sales pitch, the speech of politicians, the speech of environmentalists, the speech of feminists, the speech of animal activists, etc.

In the above examples, you must have noticed that all these kind of speech has a goal. A sales pitch is to get you to buy something, politicians give speeches to get you to vote for them, and environmentalists, feminists, and animal activists have a cause to advocate. They all want you to ‘do’ something.

Action is a persuasive speech’s end goal. Ultimately, the speaker wants to persuade you to do something. And why would you do that?

Say, an environmentalist wants people to re-cycle because they think or know that it is good for the environment. Now, it is the people who need to know and think recycling is good for the environment. Only then they would recycle.

Therefore, a more complete definition of a persuasive speech would be “Speech that convinces the audience of a certain idea to inspire them into the desired action.”

Art of Persuasion

Persuasive speech is an art form.

Take an example of a man who was begging in the street. He had a hat in front of him and a sign that said “I am blind, please help” He got a few coins. Then, a lady came along, turned the sign around, and wrote something. A lot more people started to give the man money. His hat was filled with coins. What did that lady write? What persuaded people to give?

“Today is a beautiful day and I cannot see it.”

The second line got him more money because it ‘affected’ people, it appealed to their emotions more than the straightforward “I am blind, please help.” This is called pathos.

According to Aristotle, there are three components of or modes to affect people. They are Ethos, Pathos, and Logos.

Ethos in layman’s terms is credibility or authority. The dictionary defines it as “the character or disposition of a community, group, person, etc.” So, you need to have that disposition that makes you a reliable or trustable person.

For example, a woman talking about women’s problems is more likely to have an effect on the audience than a male speaker. The principal comes into the class and tells you ‘Tomorrow is a holiday and no questions will be asked. But if your teacher says so, you will investigate first. You will be more eager to listen to a popular person in the field than to a newbie.

It is having an effect on people by your person so that they would be more receiving of you.

Pathos in Greek means ‘suffering’ or ‘experience’. It is generally defined as an appeal to people’s emotions. Like in the story of the blind boy above, Pathos is to tap into people’s experience of suffering in order to move them towards a certain action.

Of course, those people have not experienced blindness but they can imagine losing the privilege of sight that they now possess. In simple words, it is to evoke feelings of pity, fear, anger, and such.

Logos is the logical appeal. This is to persuade by the means of reasoning. If the speaker makes a claim such as ‘polythene bags should be banned, then he should give a reason as to ‘why’ like ‘polythene bags do not biodegrade and continue to pollute the environment or facts like ‘Thousands of bags are produced every week and are dumped somewhere after use’ or ‘every bag produced since 19_ still exists somewhere on earth today.’

Presentation- Monroe’s motivated sequence

Presentation is very important. It is the backbone. How you perform your speech, how you deliver the words have the maximum effect on people. Therefore, a speech needs to be organized.

Monroe’s motivated sequence is a technique for organizing persuasive speech. It consists of the following steps.

Grab their attention. Start with a startling statement, an intriguing story, a dramatic action, anything that will make the audience take notice of you. This is also the introduction part. Hook them. Build their interest.

Now, convince the people that there is a problem. More than that, convince them that action needs to be taken against the problem, that it will not go away by itself. Tap into their imagination to show how this problem affects them. Use reasons and facts to support your claims and to impress upon them the need for change.

The audience should be looking forward to the ‘solution’ to the problem. They should want to know what they can do. In this step, introduce your solution. Demonstrate or give examples to make the audience understand how it works and how it solves the problem. Use testimonials or statistics to prove the effectiveness of that solution.

Paint a world where nothing was done and how it affected them. Also, paint a world where they did as you suggested and how it changed the situation for the better. Use vivid imagery to make them ‘feel’ the troubles and relief of not doing and doing as you said. Create a viable scenario. It should be relatable and believable.

Call to action. Strike when the iron is hot. It should be something that they can readily do and immediately. More the time passes less they are likely to follow with it as other things in life take precedence and the feeling of urgency is lost. Make it easy too. Do most of the handiwork so they have to put the least effort.

This is a classic technique developed by Alan Monroe in the mid-1930s. It is still the most effective basis for many persuasive speeches.

Some people are born with the skill of persuasion while others can build on it by applying such techniques and practicing. Here are some Persuasive Speech Topics that you can practice with.

Take a look at the video below. It explains how to write an introduction for a persuasive speech.

Below are 6 sample videos of persuasive speeches.

Why homeschooling is good and should be promoted. (School)

Some students do better in a group with a healthy competition to keep them motivated. Some children are better off studying on their own, continuing at their own fast or slow pace which is hindered when moving along with other children.

Students should get minimum of 45 minutes tiffin break. (School)

All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. Keeping children cooped up in a room for a long is not good. They need regular refreshing breaks to revitalize, to talk with their friends…

Is it racism to ban Marijuana when smoking tobacco is legal? (Funny)

Everybody knows cigarettes are harmful and addictive. Yet, there are big industries manufacturing these drugs on a large scale. Then there is Marijuana that is less harmful, less addictive, and has dozens of use; is it not racism to ban it?

Some juveniles needs to be prosecuted as adults. (School?)

More and more teenagers are committing heinous crimes. They know they will get off easy, that they will not face serious consequences. According to the level of savagery committed, juveniles should at times be prosecuted as adults.

Are pretty or handsome students really dumber? (School)

This is just a stereotype, just like saying women are less logical and others. Or. That appears to hold true in most cases. As time is limited, people who spend more time on appearance spend less time learning and those who spend time learning fails to look after their appearance.

Proficiency in academics is not the only measure of intelligence. (School)

Are grades everything? Different people possess different types of intelligence but grades measure only a few kinds. Is it not like judging a fish on its ability to climb a tree?

What is the right age to start owing a mobile phone? (Parenting)

Most parents believe that the right age to own mobile is when children can pay for it so that they can be aware of their expenditure. Else, they might engage in long, unnecessary conversation and…

Should children be bought a mobile phone for emergencies? (Parenting)

Mobiles or cell phones are the fastest means of communication. Should children, therefore, be allowed to owe mobiles so that they can contact their guardians in case of emergency?

Homework should be banned. (School)

Children spend most of their waking hours in school. They have only a few hours at the home to do things other than academics. But homework is the tag along with that…

Should men pay child support even if pregnancy was a one sided decision? (Feminism)

If a woman decides to bear a child despite her partner’s protest, is he still obligated to provide monetary support upon divorce for the same reason?

Laws should not be based on religion.

There are many religions. Their ideas vary. But the law should be uniform. Basing laws on certain religions is like forcing the ideas of that religion on every citizen.

Birth controls should be free and easily available. (Feminism?)

If teen pregnancy is to be avoided, birth controls should be free and easily available with no parental permission required. Imagine asking your parents if you can have sex or parents permitting it. It is the same as unavailability of the contraceptives which takes us back to square one.

Honking unnecessarily should be punishable.

Honking during a traffic jam is not going to clear it up. It only disturbs and aggravates everyone else. Honking at girls is offensive. Honking to bully is wrong. Honking unnecessarily like this should be considered criminal and punished.

Divorced and happy parents is better for the children than living in a conflicted home.

Some parents stay together for the sake of their children but fail to get along. This creates a very tense environment and that is not how a home should be.

Hiding your HIV status in a relationship should be punishable by law.

HIV is a serious disease with no cure available. If a person is aware of his/her HIV positivity, withholding the information and therefore transmitting it to the unsuspecting partner in the process is criminal.

Legalization of prostitution has more positive effects than negative.

Stopping prostitution is impossible. They will continue to operate underground where they face many problems. Girls get trafficked, tricked, or forced into it. Making it legal will at least ensure safety and justice to the sex workers and will also help control forced labor.

Schools should take bullying more seriously. / Why bullying is a serious offense. (School)

Bullying is very damaging to the victim and can take a very dangerous turn. But it is dismissed as children’s play in most cases. We don’t realize its seriousness until it is too late…

Partial Birth Abortion is a sin.

In this method of abortion, a living baby is pulled out from the womb feet first. The base of the skull is punctured and the brain is removed with a powerful suction machine. This is no different from murder. It is usually allowed by law only in order to save the mother’s life but many healthy mothers’ babies are aborted this way every year…

All institutions like schools, colleges and offices should start only after 10.

When such institutions start early, people need to wake up earlier for preparation. Waking up feeling unrested can make a person inactive, irritable, and unproductive. Scientists say that a person’s mind is not fully awake until 10 in the morning…

Sexual relationship before marriage is not a crime.

Sex is a biological need and a healthy sex life has a lot of mental and physical benefits. If the partners involved are adults and there is mutual consent…

School and teachers should stay away from student’s personal life. (School?)

Every institution has some rule. This rule should govern the members within the institution. But some schools like to take this beyond the school grounds and have control over what students do and do not in their personal time.

Energy drinks should be considered borderline medicines. (Health)

Energy drinks provide added energy. So, it should only be consumed when your body lacks energy, in a weakened state, like medicine. Plus, it contains a lot of caffeine that does more harm than good…

Parents should properly answer their children’s curiosities. (Parenting)

‘How does a baby come?’ children ask and parents tell them about gods and storks. This raises more questions and does nothing but confuse the child. Try to give an anatomically correct answer without being graphic. Never try to dismiss any of their questions or scold them…

Euthanasia, is it ethical?

A person should get to choose whether they want to live or die in dire conditions. Or. Euthanasia is no different from suicide. Supporting euthanasia is like supporting suicide.

Prospective parent(s) should get a psychiatric approval before adoption. (Parenting)

We want to find a home for every orphaned child but we want a happy home. There are many sick people out there who want to adopt a child only to abuse them or for some other kind of personal gain…

Cigarettes should be illegal.

Cigarettes are like drugs and they should be illegal just like drugs are. It has adverse health effects on the smoker as well as people around him…

Smoking in public places should be fined.

Cigarettes are very harmful and their harmful smoke does not affect the smoker alone. It affects the surrounding people as well. Not all people are suicidal that way. Why should they suffer? When one’s action harms the other, it is an offense.

Are uniforms necessary?

Uniform brings uniformity. It eliminates frivolous fashion competition which is not what school is for… Or. Clothes are a form of expression. Students spend most of their time in school. They should be comfortable with what they wear…

Number of children one can have should be limited and children with previous partner(s) counts.

Four from two, eight from four; population multiplies that way. Already, the earth has become so crowded. If this is to continue, we will rid this world of ourselves.

Would it be ethical to genetically design babies? (Technology?)

Yes. Why not use science to cure diseases and eradicate the possibility of a child’s suffering? Or. This method can be misused to alter more than just a threat of diseases and that will disturb the diversity in the gene pool…

‘Living together’ relationships, good or bad?

Marriage cannot keep together those who want to go their separate ways and those who want to together do not need such a constitution.

‘Early to sleep, early to rise’ benefits.

They say ‘Early to sleep and early to rise makes a man healthy and wise.’ This was not said without a reason. Going to bed early and waking up early the next day have many benefits, for both our mind and body.

Every property should compulsorily have trees. (Environment)

Trees produce oxygen and filters air. We need more trees. But the population is increasing. We are cutting down trees to erect concrete buildings instead…

Fast foods are overpriced.

Fast foods like French fries, burgers, pizza, etc. cost way more than they actually should. The restaurants are ripping us off. Take fries for example…

Using animals as test subjects is cruel and unfair. (Animal rights)

For you, it is one animal among many. But for that particular animal, one life is all it has and you have no right to play with it.

Why Gay Marriage should be legalized. (Gay rights)

Homosexuality is not a disease. It is how people are. They want to marry their partner for the same reasons heterosexual couples do. Not legalizing gay marriage is discrimination…

Marriage is not about procreation. (Gay rights)

One, almost logical, reason people give against gay marriage is that they cannot bear kids because of which it is definitely not natural/ biological or ‘how god intended’. But marriage is not about procreation. It is about you and your comfort or happiness, about who you want to spend the rest of your life with.

Electronics are stealing childhood.

These days, children spend a lot of time on mobile phones, computers, or other electronic devices instead of running around, going out, and playing as a child should.

Teens cannot be good parents. (School/ Parenting)

Some teens decide to start a family when the female partner gets pregnant. While this is seen as an admirable option against abortion, are teen parents really good for the kid?

Ads should be tested for sexist messages before being aired. (Feminism)

Not only children but everyone learns from what they see and hear. The subliminal sexist messages in ads impart gender roles on their minds, undoing a lot of feminists’ efforts. But mostly, it brainwashes the coming generation and we should not allow that.

Protection and breeding of white tigers is illogical; why hinder natural selection? (Environment/ Animal rights)

White tigers do not fare well in the wild due to their color. It was a case of mutation that would have naturally been eliminated if humans had not interfered. I am not saying all living white tigers must be killed but why are people breeding it in captivity instead of letting it die out? Just because they’re pretty and we like pretty?

Exotic pets are not pets. (Animal rights)

Exotic animals belong in the wild. They need to be with their own kind, living in their natural habitat. They should not be isolated in people’s homes where their mobility is limited.

Feminism should be made a compulsory subject in high school and college. (Feminism)

Feminism is an eye-opener. It is something every man and woman should know of. Thus, it should be a compulsory and common subject instead of being exclusive to Arts or few other faculty.

Age 16 is not juvenile. (School?)

Are 16-year-olds really kids? Can they not be expected to know the difference between right and wrong? Maybe they do not know it is a crime to download songs and movies but what about rape and murder? If 16 is old enough to drive in most countries, it is old enough to be tried as an adult.

Playing Video games for few hours does good. (School/ parenting?)

It has been found out that playing a few hours of video game help improve people’s hand-eye coordination and enhances cognitive power. Also, games based on real history or science can impart knowledge…

Read before agreeing to sites and applications.

We download apps and software and signup on different sites. Each of these requires us to click ‘I agree’. We click this ‘I agree’ without actually reading the agreement. This can later cause problems…

Is death penalty ethical?

It is not ethical to eliminate people like we try to eliminate diseases. What about human rights? Or. What kind of rights for the person who does not respect others’ rights and freedom? It is a befitting punishment.

Send drug dealers to prison but addicts for rehabilitation.

Drug Addicts are victims too. They need rehabilitation, not prison. Dealers are the real criminals.

Parents should cook tastier option instead of making children eat the healthy foods they don’t want.

If not meat then milk and pulses. There is a range of choices for the required nutrition. So why should children have to eat something they don’t like? Just give them a tastier option.

If girls can wear pants, boys can wear skirts. (Funny?)

Is all equality fighting for girls only? What about boys’ rights? When girls can wear boys’ clothes why can boys not wear that of girls?

Being slim is not just about looks but health too. (Health?)

Beauties were those who were plum. Now, skinny is the fashion. But to those who want to be ‘comfortable’ in their size, know that a slim body is more than just looks.

There should be one holiday in the middle of workdays.

Saturday and Sunday’s rest do not keep us charged up to Friday. This makes people less productive by Thursday and Friday. A break in the middle would be wonderfully refreshing…

Considering the real meaning behind Nursery Rhymes, should they be taught to children? (School)

The fun nursery rhyme “Ring around the Rosie” is actually about the bubonic plague that killed nearly 15% of the country. This is only an example among many. Consider the lyrics of “Three blind mice” that goes “… Who cut off their tails, With a carving knife.” Is it okay to teach these to the children?

Countries should provide free Wi-Fi in tourist destinations.

Doing this will help tourists as they will be able to contact their people without wandering around confused in a foreign land. This will definitely increase the flow of both national and international tourists. It will be most helpful to students from abroad.

Know the woes of genetically modified Chickens.

To meet the demand of the growing population, chickens are fed hormones and other drugs to make them grow faster and fat, especially the meat in the breast area. Because of this, the chickens cripple under their own weight. They suffer terribly…

Children should be allowed to use electronics like mobile, notebooks etc. during breaks. (Students)

Using electronics during class is certainly bad and for a number of reasons. But break times belong to the students. Breaks are for recreation. If students choose to enjoy electronics, what is wrong with that?

Teachers, too, should keep their mobiles in silent during class.

Class time is for teaching and learning. Students should keep their mobile in silence so as to not disturb the class. But, so should the teacher. They shouldn’t pick up their call during class.

Humans are consuming way more salt than necessary. (Health)

Sodium is important. But the larger amount of sodium intake has often been associated with an increase in blood pressure that leads to strokes. 1500 to 2300mg is the maximum amount per day.

Benefits of donating blood.

Donating blood is the right thing to do. It saves lives. There are a few moral reasons as such to donate blood but do you know that you are not losing anything either? Donating blood is good for your own health too…

Why become an organ donor?

Perfectly healthy people die when trying to donate their organs to their loved ones. Even if they survive, they may have to face complications and they are now, somehow, deficient. If an organ could be got…

Original organic fruits taste better than the hybrids.

Hybrid fruits are larger and juicer but it lacks in terms of taste. The taste tastes diluted…

Why people who have should give.

Many people suffer from poverty. They have a hard time meeting basic needs like food, shelter, and clothes.

Why suicide over ‘love troubles’ is stupid. (Students)

Life moves on. Time heals. Things will happen if you continue to live. But the exaggerated fictional idea of love that the movies market has…

Why women should earn irrespective of their husband’s economic status. (Feminism)

Be independent. Money is power. Do not let anyone have an upper hand and be vulnerable to possible abuse…

Recycle e-waste. (Environment)

E-waste contains many recoverable materials such as aluminum, copper, gold, silver etc. Reusing this will take a load off of natural resources. E-waste also contains toxins like mercury, lead, beryllium, and others that will inevitably infuse into soil and water.

Do not tolerate abuse, speak out. (Feminism)

Certainly, nobody enjoys abuse? Then why do women continue to stay in abusive relationship despite being educated and holding a good job? Why do they tolerate other kinds of abuse as well? There are many reasons for this…

Every citizen should be required to, at least, pass high school. (School)

Up to high school, the education is basic. Imagine needing to stop ocean pollution. An educated person would be more easily persuaded or would know why ocean pollution is bad. Or. There are good and bad people. Education will teach the good how to be good and may persuade the bad…

Hostels, is it good or bad for children? (Parenting)

Hostels teach children independence. They learn to do a lot in their own. Or. No one can take better care of children than their parents. Children need parents’ love and support. Away in the hostel, surrounded by children no wiser than themselves…

Teachers should discuss among themselves to avoid giving too much homework. (School)

After studying for hours in school, spending all the hours in-home doing homework will mentally tire the student. Homework should be very light. But light homework of all the teachers added will take up all of the students’ time. So…

Importance of clubs in school or colleges. (School)

School and college clubs are the best way to learn different valuable skills in. In school and college-level clubs, the eligibility for membership is less strict and one gets to learn from the more skilled seniors.

Should plastic surgery be so commercial?

Everyone wants to look good. When accidents or attacks disfigure us, we can turn to plastic surgery to try and gain back our lost selves. But intentionally altering ourselves to…

Online piracy should be monitored more strictly.

People have a right to their intellectual property. It is so easy to find and download pirated materials that it seems non-criminal…

Are single-sex schools better than coed? (School)

According to research done in Korea, students from single-sex schools scored better than those from coed and had more chances of pursuing college-level education. However, this is from a general viewpoint. When considering students at an individual level, it really depends on what kind of environment that particular student does better in.

Spaying or neutering pets is good or bad? (Animal right)

Some say that neutering or spaying pets have a lot of benefits, both for the animal and the owner. Others say that neutering or spaying does not change much but only invites diseases upon the poor animal.

Are master’s degree or doctorate really necessary? (Students)

High School teaches us the basics and a bachelor is more career-oriented. We can get a good job after bachelor and hone our skills for a better position. Is a master’s and higher degree really important when we can learn more in the field?

Who is more responsible for poaching? Poachers or buyers? (Animal right)

This may be an ‘egg first or chicken question. Scientists have now found out that chickens come first but the question ‘Poacher or buyers’ remains.

What kind of food should school or college canteen offer? (Student)

From unhealthy commercial food items to unappetizing bland gibberish; can school or college canteens not offer an in-between option? What would be best for the students?

What age is proper to talk about the birds and the bees? (Parenting)

From the time a child starts asking about sex is the time from when to start talking about the birds and the bees. Children as young as 4-5 years old are curious about where a baby comes from. Answer them truthfully but avoid being graphic. Also, answer only what they ask.

Fee for facilities aside, the tuition fee should be fixed by the government. (Student)

Schools and colleges take a ridiculous amount of tuition fees. It is understandable that according to the facilities provided, the fee may be less or more but the tuition fee, at least, should be a fixed amount that greedy schools cannot increase as they wish.

How long should a drunk driver lose his license for?

Drinking and driving can be fatal to both the driver and an innocent passerby. But people do not take it seriously. They think they can handle their liquor and end up causing accidents. This is absolute carelessness.

The amount of water one should drink per day. (Health)

About 60% of the human body is water. We continually lose this water through skin and urine. This causes dehydration…

Aliens exist. (Paranormal)

There have been many UFO sightings and stories of alien abduction. Even in the old age paintings, cave paintings, Sanskrit scrolls, the extraterrestrial life form is evident. Scientists have found other habitable planets. An intelligent life form somewhere other than Earth is no longer an idea of a fantasist…

White meat over red meat or the other way around? (Health)

White meat is less fatty but red meat contains more vitamins like zinc, iron, and B vitamins…

Why religion and science should go hand in hand. / Why religion should evolve with scientific discoveries. (Philosophy)

Science explores the universe for answers while religion makes claims about it. Science is open to change, it acknowledges that it can err and backs its claims with evidence. Religion on the other hand is a ‘belief’ system

Should astrologers, mediums and the likes be arrested for fraud? (Paranormal)

Do heavenly bodies really affect our personality or future? Do dead ones really become spirits and can be contacted through mediums? Or are these all just a big hoax?

Cats or dogs?

Are you a cat person or a dog person? Say why a dog is better than a cat as a pet or that cat makes a better pet.

Benefits of eating fruit over drinking its juice. (Health)

There is a whole fruit and we throw away more than half of the substance when choosing to drink its juice even though eating the fruit itself is healthier because of the fiber it contains.

Women shouldn’t have to change their last name after marriage. (Feminism)

Having to change our last name after marriage is sexist. It confirms the power males hold over the women in our patriarchal society.

Internet promotes communication, not kill it.

Social networks like Facebook, Twitter, messenger, and others keep us in contact with many friends that we would otherwise have forgotten. It is an easy means of communication…

Does pressure build or break a person?

Pressure is healthy. It drives us. Or. Yes. Pressure drives us. It drives us nuts.

Hiring volunteers on zero pay is cruel.

Volunteers are those who want to donate labor. They need not be paid for their work but what about their expenses like transportation and others? These kinds of expenses, at least, should be covered.

Learning multiple language widens our perception of the world.

There are always those words that cannot be exactly translated to another language. This is because that way of thinking does not exist in that other language. It is like the egg of Cristopher. We discover a new way of expressing ourselves, one we couldn’t think of in the limitation of our own language.

Oceans are not trash bins. (Environment)

Tons of human waste are thrown into the ocean. This is creating a big problem in the ocean ecosystem…

Killing for fun is inhuman, hunting is inhuman. (Animal rights)

How to have fun with animals? By playing with them, baby talking to them, watching them in their weird but fun action. Not by chasing them down and killing them.

Cigarette, alcohol or drugs are not the answer for stress or other problems in life.

People tend to depend on harmful substances like cigarettes, alcohol, or drugs when faced with a problem or when under stress. These substances do not cure stress but could be a self-harming method of coping with problems. People under stress tend to show more unhealthy behaviors such as these…

Music heals.

On hearing good music, the brain releases dopamine. Dopamine is an essential chemical that plays a number of important roles in the brain and body. Music has also proven effective against stress…

Why breakfast is the important meal of the day. (Health)

Breakfast is the first meal after a long gap during the night. It provides us with vital nutrients like calcium, vitamins, minerals, and energy…

Fairytales should be re-written for the next generation children.

Fairytales often star a damsel in distress who not only ‘waits’ for a handsome rescuer but also possesses subjugating qualities like obedience, daintiness, etc. It imparts sexist values in young minds…

How a time table can help manage our daily lives.

People do not realize how time table can make our day-to-day lives much more manageable and therefore fruitful or efficient. Some find it tedious and some pretentious…

Everyone should learn swimming.

Swimming is not just for fun like cycling. It could save someone’s life. It is an important survival skill that everyone should know of.

Good thoughts lead to good actions.

Our actions result from our thoughts. Action is a mind’s reflection…

Benefits of meditation. (Health)

Meditation has a lot of benefits, both on body and mind. It reduces stress, improves concentration, reduces irritability, increases perseverance, etc…

Zoos are not big enough for wild animals. (Animal rights)

How large can you make a zoo? And how can it mimic nature when different animals are confined separately. Wild animals belong in the wild.

Some more Persuasive Speech Topics:

Why is adopting a pet better than buying one?
How does having a pet better your everyday life?
Having a snake as a pet is as cool as it sounds
Should you get rid of a pet that harms another person?
Is breeding pets for sale unethical?
Selfies with animals in tourist locations should be made equal
A dog is the perfect pet
Why a pet is essential for a growing child
Owning a pet makes you healthier
Slaughterhouses are unethical
Animals are facing extinction, we should do something about it
Why wild animals should be left in the wild
Petting exotic animals should be made illegal
Why dolphin farming is horrific
The Yulin Dog festival displays one of the worst sides of humans
Why neutering your pets is wrong
Advantages of owning a horse(besides looking fantastic)
People need to stop fueling pug markets.
Is animal slaughter for religious purposes ethical?
Manual drivers are unnecessarily aggressive about their cars
Why you should not drive without a kid seat
Why sports cars are not worth it
If you can’t call while driving, then why is there a hands-free mode?
New ideas for lessons drivers have to take before getting a license
Should you charge people for driving tests?
Why cycling is cooler than driving
Why traffic rules are designed against bike rides
Driving licenses should need a renewal every 5 years
Why co-ed education is the best way to teach
GPA isn’t everything
9.30 is too early
Why teachers need to be recertified
Listening to music during exams should be allowed
Should sports and arts be mandatory?
Does our school curriculum need obligatory life skill classes?
Phones in classes are beneficial and convenient
Every student should be encouraged to take a gap year
Cyber-bullying should be punished the same as bullying
Why art classes are just as important as science
School canteens need to serve healthier alternatives
More institutes should promote nternational exchange programs
Curriculums should be designed with the job market in mind
Textbooks are overpriced and should be replaced with digital alternatives
Should religion be taught in schools?
Is repeating classes beneficial for underperforming students?
Students should not have to ask to use the restroom
Is having a handwriting class beneficial?
Is there a point to giving homework?
Education needs to be available in prisons
We are being overcharged for education
Online learning should be held to equal importance as schools
Are teachers paid enough?
Is there room for commercial advertisement in schools?
Are study halls still relevant?
Are our children safe at school?
School trips are a waste of money
Educational institutes should be more welcoming to technological changes
Schools should teach multiple languages
Public schools are better than private schools
Why meditation should be included in the daily curriculum
Are scholarships reaching the right people?
Current environmental laws are insufficient
Green energy is the future
The environmental impact of palm oil
The environmental impact of single-use bags
Fishing restrictions need to be stricter
Oil spills are deadly to marine life
Leaving fossil fuels behind
Pollution has reached alarming levels
Garden owners should be allowed to grow exotic plants
Switch to hybrid cars to help the environment
Rainforests are going extinct at an alarming rate
Why natural resources are quickly going extinct
Alternative energy sources should be pushed by governments
Euthanasia should be legalized
Why eating meat does not make me a bad person
Can true equality ever really be achieved?
Is messing with unborn children’s genetics ethical?
Stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason
Animal testing is a necessary part of production
Why we need to stop producing and buying fur
Prostitution should be legalized
Doping and it’s place in sports
Why workplace relationships should be avoided
Is religion a cult?
Should prayers be included in schools?
Parents should not be able to choose the sex of their unborn child
Donating to charities is a scam
Aborting fetuses with birth defects is not immoral
Wars have positive consequences as well
Why genital mutilation in infants needs to be stopped
Conventional beauty standards are misleading
China’s One-child policy was a good idea for population control
Animal testing and why it is immoral
Why banning cigarettes and alcohol from advertisements is not effective
Sugar is added to everything we eat
Children should be taught to cook
Why growing your own food will help both you and the environment
Peanuts: The secret superfood
We should be more open to genetically engineered food products
The proper way to dispose your food waste
The loopholes in labelling laws
Keto goes against the natural human evolution
Artificial chemicals in our food products is harming us
The legal age for contraceptive treatment should be lowered
Fast food is slowly killing you
How positive thinking can change your life
Breakfast isn’t the most important meal of the day
Stomach stapling should not be normalized
If you don’t wear a seat belt, you are putting yourself at great risk
How diabetes can affect your work
How daily exercise can change your life
Stress as the leading cause of teen suicide
Diet pills are a scam
Body shaming is putting lives at risk
Contraceptive education is an effective solution for teen pregnancy
There is such a thing as too much soda
Free condom distribution at schools is better than teaching about abstinence
The toothpick you pick matters
Surrogacy should be more widely accepted
Why insomnia should be taken as a more serious health concern
Helmets and seatbeat save lives
Restaurants need to be more vigilant about handling allergies
How Big Pharma is controlling your life
The medical field is criminally underfunded
We are eating too much salt
Organ donation should be an opt-out system
The dangers of an anti-vaxxers movement
Why fire drills are ineffective
Why you need to take that vacation
Good sleep is underrated
Why vaping is not a better alternative
Your stress is killing you
It is not healthy for children to be vegetarians
Parents don’t need to be informed about underage abortions
Donating blood should be encouraged early
How much do you know about what’s in your food

I hope you find the tips for persuasive speech and persuasive speech topics useful. Let me what you think of them by commenting below.

Home — Essay Samples — Law, Crime & Punishment — Marijuana Legalization — Persuasive Arguments Why Marijuana Should Be Legal

Persuasive Arguments Why Marijuana Should Be Legal

Categories: Marijuana Marijuana Legalization

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Published: Oct 2, 2020

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69 Medical Marijuana Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best medical marijuana topic ideas & essay examples, 👍 good essay topics on medical marijuana, 📌 simple & easy medical marijuana essay titles.

Risks and Benefits of Medical Marijuana The use of marijuana in the medical sphere is a highly debated and discussed topic. Patients with epilepsy claim that the use of marijuana prevents seizures and provides immense relief.
The Benefits of Medical Marijuana This paper aims to discuss that medical marijuana is helpful in the treatment and management of chronic pain conditions such as cancer and epilepsy.
Cannabis or Marijuana for Medical Use In the West, for the first time, medical use became known thanks to the work of Professor O’Shaughnessy, who personally observed the process of her treatment in India.
Marijuana Research: Personal Connection and Medical Use In the United States, military marijuana is prohibited, but initially, it was used for recreation and as a form of medicine in the twentieth century.
Marijuana Legitimization and Medical Controversy The proponents of the legitimization of marijuana for medical use argue that it has numerous medical uses. Currently, in the US, there is a rather peculiar situation with the legalization of marijuana for medical use.
Should Marijuana Be a Medical Option? Medical marijuana is used to refer to the use of marijuana as a physician-recommended form of medication in its natural or synthetic form.
Use of Marijuana for the Medicinal Purposes It is therefore quite evident that even though the marijuana legalization will go hand in hand with a set minimum age within which individuals will be allowed to use it, at the long run the […]
The Medicinal Value of the Marijuana: There Are Potential Benefits to a Patient Other Than Risks This article provides an insight to the effects of chemotherapy treatment to the body of the cancer victims. It defines the drug in a lengthy way including what the drug is, the effects of taking […]
Pros and Cons of Legalization of Medical Marijuana It is evident that medical treatment with the use of marijuana would be beneficial for both: patients and the government because of the opportunity to earn on taxation.
Federalism and Medical Marijuana Needless to say, United States faced political and social challenges as well, and the disputes over federalism and over the legal use of marijuana in medicine are still the most burning and controversial issues in […]
Decriminalizing Marijuana for Medicinal Use Because of inconsistent and problematical data, it is impracticable to access quantitatively to what extent that drugs encourage the incidence of crime.
Federal vs. State Law: Medical Marijuana in the US The main problem is that these laws and regulations have not reduced the number of people who use marijuana for medical purposes.
Medical Marijuana: Pros of Legalizing It must be admitted that at the time of the passage of these laws, histories from some, but not all, heroin users indicated that the use of marijuana had preceded the use of heroin.
Legalization of Medical Marijuana: Help or Harm? Nowadays, a majority of people worldwide support the legalization of marijuana, and it is possible to predict that this support will keep getting stronger in the future.
Medical Marijuana Legalization Concerns This change raises political concerns and requires the government to review its economy to adapt to the use of MM. The representation of the legal process highlighted the history of previous legislations and reported on […]
Medical Marijuana: Legal and Research Concerns However, while the purpose of recreational marijuana is often disconnected from its long-term effects on people’s health in scholarly discussions, the use of medical marijuana is viewed from the point of patient’s health and the […]
Medical Marijuana in the Army: Addressing a Problematic Issue Denying the use of medicinal marijuana as one of the fastest and the most efficient ways of relieving pain in the military setting, one will inevitably infringe upon the rights of American troops.
Medical Marijuana Legalization by National Football League However, it must be realized that some of these players are usually in excruciating pain to the point that some may have lost consciousness.
Medical Marijuana Legalization Rebuttal The claim of fact is that A.C.A.continues to be beneficial despite the arguments of Republican politicians and current challenges. The claim of policy is the appeal to Republicans and Democrats to work together on the […]
Medical Marijuana Policy and Framing Approach This is a clear indication that different arguments can be presented by these actors to support the legalization and use of medical marijuana.
Policy Analysis: Rules for Growing Medical Marijuana Overall, the main goal of the document is to address the health needs of people requiring marijuana to relieve the manifestations of their illness as well as the implications of growing marijuana for medical purposes.
Controversy Around Medical Marijuana Legalization The consideration of the problem of marijuana legalization from the perspective of public safety involves such points as crime rates and traffic accidents. The fact of economic benefits of the Cannabis legalization is also apparent: […]
Marijuana History, Medical Purposes and Threats Although many people believe that marijuana is harmless and the access to it should be unlimited, it has a number of negative health effects and might lead to addiction.
The Safety of Using Medicinal Marijuana for Pain Relief Speaking about the introduction section of the study, it is important to note that it is rather short if compared to other parts of the article as the researchers were paying more attention to presenting […]
Medical Marijuana Program in California The physicians should also do a periodic review of the treatment and how the patients respond to the medical marijuana. The medical marijuana is only restricted to patients who are qualified and recommended by a […]
Debates Around Legalization of Medical Marijuana The supporters and opponents of the legalization of marijuana have opted to focus on either the positive or the negative aspects of the effects of the drug to support their views on policies to legalize […]
Federal Drug Laws vs. State Medical Marijuana Acts A senate bill for the case of Los angeles is on the process of considering the use of marijuana for medical purpose.
Medical Marijuana use for Terminal Colon Cancer The author hopes to use this paper to highlight the uses of marijuana in management of colon cancer at its terminal stage.
How New York Would Benefit From Legalized Medical Marijuana The arrests resulting from possession of marijuana in New York is quite huge compared to those in California and New Jersey states in America.
Medical Marijuana Policy in the United States The importance of legalization of medical marijuana is that, the government will be able to monitor and control marijuana in the country.
Should We Legalize Marijuana For Medical Use? In addition to that, the use of Marijuana especially by smoking either for medical reasons or to heal ailments, is a social activity that will help bring them together and improve their social ties.
Medical Uses of Marijuana The feelings of hallucination make one to lose consciousness and feel as though in very different world that is full of bliss.
Arguing for Medical Marijuana Legalization
Cannabis: Law and Medical Marijuana
Controlled Substances Act and Medical Marijuana Research Paper Examples
Regulating and Prescribing Medical Marijuana
The Effect of Medical Marijuana Laws on Student Time Use
The Impact of Medical Marijuana Laws on Crime
Legal and Medical Marijuana: Implications for HR and the Workplace
Legalized Medical Marijuana Pros and Cons
Treating Chronic Pain, Curing Cancer, and Mood Disorders With Medical Marijuana
Medical Ethics and Ethics Regarding Medical Marijuana
Sickle Cell Anemia and the Usage of Medical Marijuana
Medical Marijuana and Its Place in Today’s Society
Sixties Culture Shows the Need to Legalizing Medical Marijuana
Medical Marijuana and Its Positive and Negative Effects
The Common Symptoms and Side-Effects of Medical Marijuana
Medical Marijuana and Its Uses and Effects
Legalization for Medical Marijuana for NFL Players
Pros and Cons of Medical Marijuana
The Correlation Between Medical Marijuana and Suicide
Medical Marijuana for Chronic Pain Management
Treating Ptsd and Depression With Medical Marijuana
Medical Marijuana Laws and Teen Marijuana Use
The Beneficial Effects of the Use of Medical Marijuana
Medical Marijuana Laws and Their Effect on Opioid-Related Mortality
The Destruction of Stereotypes Regarding Medical Marijuana Users
Medical Marijuana Policy and Its Effect on Health Care
An Examination of the Use of Medical Marijuana to Treat Children With Cancer
Medical Marijuana and Its Uses in Our Technologically Advanced Society
The Employment of Medical Marijuana in the United States of America
An Analysis of the Marketing Strategy for Medical Marijuana
An Introduction to the Importance of Medical Marijuana Initiative
Psychological Effects of Medical Marijuana
The Social Causes for the Opposition to Legalizing Medical Marijuana
Explaining Variation in Medical Marijuana Market Size
Effects of Medical Marijuana Market Growth on Marijuana Use
On the Health Consequences of Increased Medical Marijuana Access
Chicago (A-D)
Chicago (N-B)

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100 Persuasive Speech Topics for Students

Homework Tips
Learning Styles & Skills
Study Methods
Time Management
Private School
College Admissions
College Life
Graduate School
Business School
Distance Learning
M.Ed., Education Administration, University of Georgia
B.A., History, Armstrong State University

If you are planning a persuasive speech, you should think about a topic that can engage your audience. For this reason, you may want to consider a few topics before settling on the one that allows you to be more descriptive and entertaining.

Another important factor when picking a persuasive speech topic is to choose one that can provoke your audience. If you stir up a little emotion in your audience members, you'll keep their attention.

The list below is provided to help you brainstorm. Choose a topic from this list, or use it to generate an idea of your own. It could even be an idea that opposes the proposed example. For instance, instead of arguing American workers should be guaranteed a three-day weekend by law, you could argue why this shouldn't be the case.

How to Pick a Good Persuasive Speech Topic

Persuasive speeches are generally meant to convince an audience to agree with an idea you present. The topics can range from political to scientific or societal, and professional to personal—or even fun. They can be almost anything.

Just remember, a persuasive speech is different than a persuasive essay because you are presenting to an audience. So as you decide on a topic, think about your audience and decide on a subject matter that will be appropriate, compelling, and engaging to discuss. Perhaps it's a timely issue attracting a lot of news coverage, or maybe you want to be motivational and encourage a healthy activity. Whatever it is, structure your argument with a hook to capture attention , a clear definition of the topic or issue, and finally, your proposed solution or opinion.

100 Examples of Persuasive Speech Topics

Studying martial arts is good for mind and health.
Competitive sports can teach us about life.
Reality shows are exploiting people.
Community service should be a graduation requirement for all high school students.
The characteristics that make a person a hero.
It's important to grow things in a garden.
Violent video games are dangerous.
Lyrics in a song can impact our lives.
Traveling and studying abroad are positive experiences.
Journal writing is therapeutic.
You should spend time with your grandparents.
A laptop is better than a tablet.
Religion and science can go hand in hand.
School uniforms are good.
All-female colleges and all-male colleges are bad.
Multiple-choice tests are better than essay tests .
We should not spend money on space exploration.
Open-book tests are as effective as closed-book tests.
Security cameras keep us safer.
Parents should have access to students' grades.
Small classes are better than big classes.
You need to start saving for retirement now.
Credit cards are harmful to college students.
We should have a royal family.
We should protect endangered animals.
Texting while driving is dangerous.
You can write a novel.
Recycling should be required in the U.S.
State colleges are better than private colleges.
Private colleges are better than state colleges.
We should do away with penny coins.
Fast food containers hurt the environment.
Plastic straws are harmful to the environment.
You can eat and enjoy healthy snacks.
You can become a millionaire.
Dogs are better pets than cats.
You should own a bird.
It's unethical to keep birds in cages.
Liberal arts degrees prepare graduates to be better workers than other degrees.
Hunting animals should be banned.
Football is a dangerous sport.
School days should start later.
Night school is better than day school.
Technical training is better than a college degree.
Immigration laws should be more lenient.
Students should be able to choose their schools.
Everyone should learn to play a musical instrument.
Grass lawns should be prohibited.
Sharks should be protected.
We should do away with cars and go back to horse and carriage for transportation.
We should use more wind power.
We should pay more taxes.
We should do away with taxes.
Teachers should be tested like students.
We should not interfere in the affairs of other countries.
Every student should join a club.
Homeschooling is better than traditional schooling.
People should stay married for life.
Smoking in public should be illegal.
College students should live on campus .
Parents should let students fail.
Giving to charity is good.
Education makes us happier people.
The death penalty should be outlawed.
Bigfoot is real.
We should increase train travel to save the environment.
We should read more classic books.
Fame is bad for young children.
Athletes should stay loyal to teams.
We should reform our prisons.
Juvenile offenders should not go to boot camps.
Abraham Lincoln was the best president.
Abraham Lincoln gets too much credit.
Students should be allowed to have cell phones in elementary, middle, and high school.
College student-athletes should be paid for playing.
Elderly citizens on fixed income should receive free public transportation.
Colleges and universities should be free to attend.
All American citizens should complete one year of community service.
Students should be required to take Spanish language classes.
Every student should be required to learn at least one foreign language .
Marijuana should be legal for recreational use nationwide.
Commercial testing of products on animals should no longer be allowed.
High school students should be required to participate in at least one team sport.
The minimum drinking age in the U.S. should be 25.
Replacing fossil fuels with cheaper alternative energy options should be mandated.
Churches need to contribute their share of taxes.
The Cuba embargo should be maintained by the U.S.
America should replace income taxes with a nationwide flat tax.
Once they reach the age of 18, all U.S. citizens should be automatically registered to vote .
Doctor-assisted suicide should be legal.
Spammers—people who bombard the internet with unsolicited email—should be banned from sending junk mail.
Every automobile driver should be required to take a new driver's test every three years.
Electroshock treatment is not a humane form of therapy.
Global warming is not real.
Single-parent adoption should be encouraged and promoted.
Gun companies should be held accountable for gun crimes.
Human cloning is not moral.
Religion does not belong in public education.
Juveniles should not be tried as adults.
American workers should be guaranteed a three-day weekend by law.
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Home / Essay Samples / Law / Marijuana Legalization / Persuasive Speech on Legalizing Weed

Persuasive Speech on Legalizing Weed

Category: Health , Law
Topic: Marijuana , Marijuana Legalization , Medical Marijuana

Pages: 2 (1106 words)

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“Opioids Market Size, Share, Trends: Global Industry Report, 2019-2026.” Opioids Market Size, Share, Trends | Global Industry Report, 2019-2026, www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/opioids-market.
II, Vann R. Newkirk. “What Can't Medical Marijuana Do?” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 18 July 2016, www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/07/medical-marijuana-costs-elderly-health/491306/

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