Persuasive Essay On Legalizing Marijuana

The legalizing of marijuana is a controversial subject in the United States. There are a few reasons why I think marijuana should be legalized such as helping the economy, especially with the overcrowding of prisons, freedom for people that use it, if alcohol and cigarettes are legal then why isn’t marijuana? Lastly, I strongly believe marijuana should be legalized for medical purposes. Legalizing marijuana would have great benefits. It costs jobs, time, money, and hassle to keep Cannabis illegal. There would be many benefits on the economy of a state for legalizing marijuana. One benefit would be increasing money for the state’s tax base. Take Colorado for example, it was the first state to legalize marijuana. As a result of that, the state collected millions of dollars in tax revenue in a short period of time after legalizing the

Colorado was able to use revenue for its public school systems, which is a good reason why Oklahoma should follow. The state of Washington has also benefited from the legalization of marijuana in the state. Another reason why legalizing marijuana could help the economy is prisons are overcrowded, especially with people doing time for marijuana related crimes such as possession of marijuana. So legalizing it would save money on the taxpayer’s part, because prisoners cost. Locking people up just for possessing marijuana kind of seems likes a waste of money and space, which would be another reason why legalizing the drug would be efficient for the economy. Research shows that the use of cigarettes and alcohol cause far more short and long term health issues than marijuana. Drinking/abusing alcohol can lead to liver disease and can even lead to cancer. Also, drinking too much can kill. It shuts down areas of the brain associated with heartbeat, and breathing. Cigarette smoking also causes major health issues such as lung cancer, heart disease, etc. marijuana on the other hand, has far less consequences