By NICHOLAS NEGRON

Opinion Editor

Slowly but surely, recreational marijuana is becoming legalized in more areas around the world. Whether it is Amsterdam, the mecca of marijuana, Uruguay, or Chile, governments have started to favor regulation over criminalization. Canada is the next country to embrace the leaf, as a law will be introduced by spring 2017 to legalize the recreational consumption of marijuana.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised during his election campaign that the drug would be legalized. Of course, the proposed law has its proponents. Conservative Canadians are not pleased, citing that the legislation will cause life-long health problems for cannabis consumers. Their main concern is to protect Canadian youth, as many fear that marijuana is a gateway drug.

This announcement from our northern neighbors must certainly have heads spinning in Washington D.C. Alaska, Colorado and Washington are the only states where the drug is legal for medical and recreational use, with restrictions. The movement to decriminalize the drug has been long coming.

The drug was federally prohibited under the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act. It was then reinforced with the 1970 Controlled Substances Act. Cannabis was put on the same tier as other hallucinogenic narcotics. While the federal government has begun the failed War on Drugs, states such as Oregon, Alaska and Maine had decriminalized cannabis by the early to mid 1970s.

What does this mean for America? Surely, tourism in Canada will skyrocket. Americans will travel up north to visit the beautiful cities and gorgeous landscapes that Canada has to offer. Coffee shops will open. Bakeries will begin selling cannabis-infused items. Cannabis culture will quickly grow into an industry. As it is, the medical marijuana industry is booming. Recreational legalization will allow people to grow their own plants, and create their own businesses.

There needs to be federal legislation decriminalizing marijuana in the United States. Americans have been imprisoned and fined for possession. The criminal justice system has spent millions of taxpayer dollars at persecuting these nonviolent “criminals.” The United States has spent over $15 billion in attacking the cannabis plant, from South and Central America to the closets of teenage boys in small town America.

DrugSense.org claims that state and local governments spent another $25 billion, on top of that federal sum. While this budget included eliminating the distribution of heroin, cocaine and other lethal drugs; note that marijuana possession accounts for 40 percent of drug violations.

Marijuana should have never been included on this deadly list of drugs. This is simply because the harm of consuming the cannabis plant does not compare to the side effects of lethal drugs. Marijuana has been linked to multiple health benefits, and its medical use has brought relief to the lives of millions.

A new survey conducted by the National Institute on Alcohol and Alcoholism announced that the percent of marijuana users in America has doubled. In an older survey conducted between 2001 and 2002, 4.1 percent of the population surveyed reported to smoking within the past year. This number has now increased to 9.5 percent. The percent of medical marijuana users increased from 1.5 to 2.9 percent.

The stigma related to marijuana in America is largely based off historical trends such as the hippie movement and other alternative grunge or hip hop lifestyles. Cannabis users are often linked with laziness and delinquency. Proponents of this stereotype include people such as Snoop Dogg, Wiz Khalifa and Willie Nelson, who have all produced magnificent content.

The way people are talking about marijuana is steadily changing. This stigma has largely been removed. With concrete plans for Canada to legalize the recreational use of marijuana, other countries are sure to follow. As for America, eventually national decriminalization of cannabis possession will be passed. It is just a matter of when.