Marijuana Argumentative Essay

1461 Words3 Pages

Growing up, everyone is taught that "Drugs are bad." As kids, we nodded and promised not to be influenced by drugs; however, many people in society today are drug users or even addicts. But what if drugs were not surrounded by negative connotations, but were legally useable? Marijuana is a great example of the conflicting views on its use. Marijuana is present everywhere in people 's lives, be it in the media or in the neighborhood alley. So why is this popular drug illegal almost everywhere in the world and is an especially controversial topic in the United States? If legalized, marijuana would benefit the United States in terms of health, economy, and social reparations.
There are numerous reasons why many people support marijuana legalization. …show more content…

The gateway theory has two main arguments. The first is that it has a "cross-sensitizing" effect, where, if one tries a mind-altering substance, usage of another drug will cause a bigger effect. The second argument is a social issue; the usage of marijuana in crowds will tempt others to use it as well. Also, drug dealers will often times give free samples of other drugs to customers (W, T). The gateway theory claims that most extreme addicts who take hardcore drugs often start off with a simple drug. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, nearly two-thirds of all people who do illicit drugs have started with marijuana usage. Although this may be true, enforcing this claim may be tricky as marijuana is a very common drug that almost 40% of Americans have tried it. From 2007 to 2012, the number of marijuana users in America has steadily risen from 172 million to 227 million a year. If marijuana were a gateway drug, the number of illicit drug users should have gone up as well. Yet, during the same period, consumption of other drugs has not risen, and in fact, fell from 25 million to 20 million a year for cocaine users and dipped from 6 million to 5 million for methamphetamine users. Legalizing marijuana is also believed to reduce the crime rate in America, since almost 1/6th of the population in prisons would not have been incarcerated if marijuana was a legal substance. Tons of resources and money for government funding for prisons would have been allocated for better use. The Editorial Board of the New York Times states that, according to the FBI, 658,000 arrests for marijuana possession were compared with the mere 256,000 arrests for cocaine, heroin, and other much more dangerous drugs (Repeal Prohibition, Again). By purchasing marijuana legally,

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