Harry Anslinger, Commissioner of the US Bureau of Narcotics, says, "How many murders, suicides, robberies, criminal assaults, holdups, burglaries and deeds of maniacal insanity it causes each year, especially among the young, can only be conjectured. No one knows, when he places a marijuana cigarette to his lips, whether he will become a joyous reveler in a musical heaven, a mad insensate, a calm philosopher, or a murderer." (Cannabis).

             Despite the popular belief that marijuana is a dangerous drug and has therefore been criminalized, it has been discovered that marijuana is less addictive than some other legal substances including alcohol and definitely doesn't increase criminal activity. Shafer Commission in 1970s set out to investigate the possible mental and physical effects of the use of marijuana and "found no convincing evidence that marijuana caused crime, insanity, sexual promiscuity, and a motivational syndrome, or that marijuana was a stepping stone to other drugs." (Zimmerman 7-8).

             Apart from this, marijuana is also considered to have medical significance. After the ban was placed on the recreational use of this drug in 1937, some studies were conducted to discover if marijuana served any important medical purposes. And to the surprise of everyone, it was found that marijuana had a soothing effect and could ally pain. "During the 1970s, the medical benefits of marijuana were rediscovered when, in the early '70s, some young cancer patients receiving chemotherapy found that smoking marijuana relieved the nausea and vomiting associated with the cancer treatment." (Rachal).

             But at the same time, there are studies that do not offer support for medical properties of marijuana and instead argue that consuming the plant in its raw form is dangerous. Mcdonough (2000) contends: "Cannabinoids found in the marijuana plant offer the potential for medical use. However, lighting the leaves of the plant on fire and smoking them amount to an impractical delivery system that involves health risks and deleterious legal consequences.