Legalizing Marijuana Will Have Positive Effects on Society

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Marijuana is a commonly misunderstood substance that most Americans do not fully understand. The consumption marijuana has been researched in depth and proven to be one of the “most viable and safest sources of medical value to the many Americans suffering from Aids, Glaucoma, Cancer, Multiple Sclerosis, Epilepsy, and Chronic Pains” (Medical Marijuana). According to the Institute of Medicines, “marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known”. Even though it will cause the demand to rise and will be used more., Marijuana should be leagalized because it has been proven to have medical benifits and it will lower crime rate.

How legalized Marijuana could lower the Crime Rate in the US.

Many believe that the legalzation of Marijuana could benefit everyone within the US. Everyone from the people who use the substance, to the persons trying to ban the product. Studies show from many areas across the U.S over half of the 1,663,582 total arrests in 2009 for drug abuse violations were for marijuana, a total of 858,408. Of those people, an estimated 758,593 people a little below half were arrested for marijuana possession alone. By the difference in 2000, a total of 734,497 Americans were arrested for marijuana charges, of which 646,042 were for possession alone. If marijuana were legalized and regulated, the marijuana black market would be entirely eliminated and the immense amount on both the war on drugs and the sale of drugs could be turned to far more practical applications.

In an fitted world, marijuana would be taxed and sold much like alcohol and tobacco are today within many of the grocery stores, gas stations, corner stores, etc. It would be produced in many forms including pre-...

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... regulated for health concerns including filtering, and specialized growing and manufacturing. Packages of the legal product would be placed with warnings from the surgeon general describing what health risks would be involved.

Additionally, of course laws would be placed forbidding the use of marijuana when operating a vehicle or piece of heavy machinery, preventing accidental deaths that are associated with marijuana use. Here marijuana is again comparable to alcohol which causes thousands of accidental injuries and deaths per year. So Through federal regulation, marijuana use can be made safe and profitable for everyone. It would benefit the economy by adding revenue and tax money, it would benefit those who need medical relief by providing it in a safe and regulated way, and it would benefit society by allowing police to concentrate on more violent criminals.

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