Legalization 1

Legalization of Marijuana

Marywood University

Tyler Doherty
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Legalization of Marijuana

Marijuana is regarded today as the most used illegal drug in the world. The legalization

of marijuana is one of the most controversial topics in American society today with it

continuously making media headlines, being brought up in government debates, and often talked

among the public. This is why marijuana should be legal. The reasons for making marijuana

legal vary: the nation’s national debt might possibly be lowered, marijuana is also considered by

many to be less harmful than other legal substances such as alcohol and cigarettes. Not only this,

but by keeping marijuana illegal, American’s freedoms and rights are taken away. There are

many people who are against the drug, such as drug and law enforcement agencies, and religious

groups. These people have their own reasons on why it should not be legal, like it has negative

side effects if abused, and it is easily accessible to teens.

In America today people complain about how their rights and freedoms are always being

violated. The government follows the Bill of Rights where americans have the freedoms such as

the “freedom of speech, the freedom of religion, the freedom of assembly, and the freedom of

press”(Congress, 1787)and many others, so why can’t they have the freedom to smoke what they

want? Americans should have the right to make choices for themselves especially if its effecting

only their body and no one else’s. Also the Declaration of independence states that people “are

endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and

the pursuit of happiness (Hancock,1776 ). This should mean that people should have the

opportunity to use and explore what their creator has made for them.

The legalization of marijuana could be used for the nation’s enormous national debt

problem, the cost of having inmates in prison and court costs, and overcrowding of prisons. A
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study done by a professor at harvard said that “ the government would save 7.7 billion dollars if

it didn’t spend money on the policing and prosecuting marijuana activity, and that a possible 6.6

billion dollars could be gained if we taxed marijuana just like alcohol and tobacco

products”(Wastler, 2005). Also since “an enormous amount of money is raised through

government taxation of alcohol, and cigarettes… marijuana would create another item that could

be taxed” (Nair, 2010). The FBI does a report every year called the uniform crime report to

show the rate of each crime in the U.S. and in “2007 they had a record of 872,721 arrest due to

marijuana violations and that every 37 seconds a person is arrested from marijuana”(St. Pierre,

2008). Just think of how much money this would save the U.S. since it cost about “24, 922

dollars” (Burton, 2008) a year to keep a person in a high security jail. Overall there would be a

very good effect on the nations debt if marijuana is legalized.

Some people who are opposed to the legalization say that it is too easy for teens to access

the drug and abuse it. The way this problem could be solved is by putting laws and regulations

on it just like they do for buying alcohol and cigarettes. They also say that “any time you make

something legal, you increase the accessibility to children” (Nair, 2010), but really it is just

accessible for them to reach now with it being illegal because about “19.1 percent of kids under

the age of 18 can obtain marijuana” (Marijuana use usa, 2007 ). If marijuana was regulated like

other harmful products enforcement agencies wouldn’t have as big of a problem with kids being

able to obtain marijuana so easily.

Some people might use the argument that marijuana is a start up drug to other drugs such

as heroin, cocaine, or other harmful illegal substances. “People say that after using it for a while,

a bigger ‘high’ is sought” (Nair, 2010). This is a misconception because it is only a person’s

choice to get a bigger high and studies show “that most people who use marijuana do not go on to
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use harder drugs” (Marijuana Legalization Organization, 2003). Marijuana has nothing in it that

makes a person want a bigger high or go on to other drugs.

Marijuana can be considered less harmful than alcohol and cigarettes. If you look at the

news or newspapers you hear of so many people who die from drunk driving, which in “2008

13,846” (Drunk Driving Statistics, 2008 ) people died, but you don’t hear about people dying

from driving while being high. Also, there are many effects that cigarettes have on your body

that marijuana doesn’t. A study was done about effects of marijuana and cigarettes and only “1.3

percent of long term marijuana smokers had signs of disease and 18.9 percent of just tobacco

smoker had signs of disease” (R, 2007 ). Just like any other drug “If you abuse alcohol, caffeine,

Ephedra, cigarettes, or even pizza, health problems are sure to follow” (Nair, 2010).

The legalization of marijuana would help with people having the ability to use their

personal freedoms, help with the national debt, and is less harmful than other substances such as

alcohol and cigarettes. There are many ways that marijuana can be legal but regulated just like

any other harmful substance, which would make it better than having everything in a black

market and selling things through gangs and other dangerous organizations. Marijuana should

not be a priority of law enforcement agencies, but locking up murders and high target individuals

should be their priority because why worry about a person that just wants a high instead of

someone who is out there to hurt or kill someone. Overall, the legalization of marijuana would

have more positives than negatives.

References
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