Legalizing Marijuana: 14 Infographics That Explain the Issues

Marijuana is becoming a major legislative issue in the United States. Just last week, Colorado and Washington state voted to legalize the recreational use of cannabis. With the issue coming so far into the public discourse, infographics are a good way of grabbing an overview of some of the points of view on the issue. Here are 14 of them to get you started.

1. To start with, here’s a list of Ten Reasons to Legalize Marijuana.

2. Just like any substance, marijuana has some health benefits, and side effects. Here are ten health benefits.

3. And here are ten health side effects.

4. With Medical Marijuana being legalized in 18 states, in some cases the health benefits obviously outweigh the side effects.

5. In 2010, California also voted on legalizing marijuana for recreational use. Proposition 19 failed, but this video still has relevant data points.

6. 15 Things You Should Know About Marijuana also has a bunch of interesting facts.

7. As pointed out by Going Green, a growing percentage of americans think that legalizing pot is good for the country.

8. Despite the growing support, the issue is still Super-Charged.

9. Recently, Latin America came down on the side of legalization. As leading producers, that region of the world has a lot to gain from a rethink of drug laws around the world.

10. Colorado feels the same way. How Marijuana and Hemp Will Save Colorado shows how the state stands to gain from the recent legalization vote.

11. Weed, The People shows how people across the country are changing their views on the topic.

12. With 18 states and DC currently allowing Marijuana for medical use, there are some statistics on common flavors and types.

13. This also means Top 10 Greatest Hits are all called out.

14. It’s clear that weed is still controversial. In 2011, 23 states had laws about medical marijuana, although not all of them were decriminalizing it.

Drew Skau is a Visualization Architect at Visual.ly and a PhD Computer Science Visualization student at UNCC with an undergraduate degree in Architecture. You can follow him on twitter @SeeingStructure