Should Marijuana be Legal in the US?

That’s we need to move forth in our society not back, we needs to leave drugs behind and start to focus on more important things. Marijuana should not be legalized for recreational use because marijuana is addictive, marijuana presents health risks, and marijuana can have a negative effect on society. To start off, human beings have been smoking marijuana for quite some time now, and many of those humans abuse it and become addicted. Once an individual has tried marijuana, they can have the desire to abuse it and do it more often. According to adai.us.edu, “If you use marijuana daily, there is a 50/50 chance that you will become addicted”.

It increases cholinergic signaling which... ... middle of paper ... ... are writing those laws have probably done the same thing.” • "Those who argue that legalizing marijuana is a panacea and it solves all these social problems I think are probably overstating the case." Even our own president believes that marijuana should be legalized. Looking at the true facts and benefits of legalizing marijuana can help one realize that it is not a bad idea. It is widely used around the world so one could say that there is already a market for it, but it is illegal. The government can take over this market and regulate it to make billions of dollars and decrease the amount of underage smoking at the same time.

The increased campaign awareness to legalize marijuana has shown youths believe marijuana is less harmful than many other drugs out there like cigarettes and alcohol(Say it Straight). This is simply not true, in fact marijuana has 425 unstable chemicals that convert to thousands when smoked by the user(Say it Straight). ... ... middle of paper ... ...rage marijuana consumer and also provide needed tax dollars for the government so they can crack down on really harmful drugs such as heroin and cocaine. My view is summed up best by this quote “Adults should be allowed to live as they wish, provided they do not harm others...the government should not outlaw...To do so would be to substitute the government’s tastes and moral judgment for those of the individual, and unjustified violation of personal freedom by the state.”(qtd. in Nagorney) Which is my point exactly.

Initially, when an individual hears the term marijuana they automatically make the assumption that it is negative because it is classified as illegal. However, the more individual research the more they realize how beneficial legalization could actually be. From a health perspective, the legalization of marijuana would be extremely beneficial especially for individuals who suffer daily. The amount of money collected in Colorado is absolutely unbelievable, just image what a huge impact that would be if marijuana was legalized federally. The government has been waiting millions of dollars and time on enforcing the prohibition and strict criminalization on this substance they have lost sight on the things that really matter, and the impact that criminalization has on the lives of many children across the United States.

However, marijuana is still considered an illegal drug in most states in the United States. Marijuana usage may have been common 20-30 years ago, but it really isn’t any longer. Judy Foreman states that a hardy band of activists seeking legislative approval of perennial bill that would bring Massachusetts in line with 34 other states in letting patients with certain conditions smoke marijuana (1). 2 What was known, as the “wicked weed” of the sixties can be good medicine . Marijuana certainly seems safer than may other drugs, even aspirin that causes gastrointestinal bleeding, killing hundreds of people every year (Grinspoon/Bakalar 4).3 There are lots of drugs American society does not let people use except under doctor’s care, for instance, cocaine, Demerol, est.

(California leads again) Personal use of marijuana is still illegal across the entire country and should stay that way due to the effects on your health and personal life. There was and experiment done in Alaska in 1970, legalizing marijuana, which ended with their teens using marijuana at more than twice the rate than any other teen across the U.S. In 1990, Alaskan residents voted to re-criminalize marijuana use. (www.dea.gov) The public needs to be made aware of the studies that have been done, dealing with the consequences of the legalization of marijuana. The National Institute on Drug Abuse, studied 6,000 teenage drivers who drove more than six times a month after smoking marijuana.

Marijuana is one of the prime adversaries on the outlook of America’s war on drugs. Numerous people crave this drug to be permissible and readily available similar to tobacco and alcohol. While it is mind-boggling that two life-threatening substances such as tobacco and alcohol are legal, it is only fair to inquire why marijuana is illegal. While some argue that legalizing marijuana would significantly decrease the America’s prison system and save the states billions of dollars, others believe that the usage of marijuana may increase and deliberately get in to the hands of minors. Those who are in favor for marijuana legalization consider the ‘War on Drugs’ as an expensive disappointment.

The National Research Council in their report “Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base” found that drug abusers of any kind are “vulnerable to drug abuse for individual reasons and who find themselves in an environment that encourages drug abuse are initially likely to abuse the most readily available drug”. An Individual might try marijuana and progress onto using heroin or cocaine, but this necessarily means that the subject started with the former. Adolescences are more likely to experiment with prescription drugs or alcohol because of the availability and relative ease of obtaining these items around the household. Marijuana is simply ... ... middle of paper ... ...on, DC: The National Academies Press, 1999. New York Times.

Not only that but marijuana is also a depressant and affects all types of relationships. Marijuana also affects your alertness, motor skills, and perception negatively. There is also the fear that the drug cartels in Mexico will not really be affected by the legalization of marijuana and will start to target teenagers with harder drugs such as cocaine and heroin. This could lead to people in the country wanting all drugs to be a legalized to counter the cartels which would negatively impact the country as marijuana doesn’t have the repercussions other illicit drugs do.

This paper will prove that America’s drug laws are ineffective and cause more harm than good. The notion that a state of freedom exists in America is completely voided by narcotic laws. Narcotic laws cause a black market, which raises the prices of drugs to astronomical levels. These high prices cause drug addicts to turn to crime in order to support their habit. There exists substantial evidence that marijuana is less harmful than legal product like alcohol or nicotine.