Legalization of Marijuana
Legalization of marijuana
Morals and politics are what make up the structure of this country, so when an issue receives mixed responses coming from two different points of views it becomes contraversial. The legalization of marijuana is a controversial subject; however, there are many positive arguments to support the idea. First of all, it is very expensive to keep marijuana illegal. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, marijuana has also proven to contain positive medicinal uses for illnesses (Marshall, 67). In addition to its positive use, ignorance keeps the public unaware of the fact that alcohol and cigarettes are far worse. The American government is simply approaching this issue very poorly, because the benefits of legalization of marijuana outweigh the detriments by far.
By defining all marijuana smoking as a criminal act, including that which involves adults smoking in the privacy of their own homes, we are wasting police and prosecutorial resources, clogging courts, taking up unnecessary prison space, and needlessly wrecking the lives and careers of genuinely good citizens. Every taxpayer in the country, regardless of how they feel about this issue, will end up paying for the cost it takes to keep marijuana illegal. "The U.S. government spends as much as $50 billion a year to stop the use of illegal drugs" (Croft, 18). This money that the taxpayers are giving to the governments goes to police patrols, helicopters to look out for drug smuggling, and drug abuse awareness programs such D.A.R.E. (Croft, 18). For every back-breaking dollar one makes to pay the government so it can provide a better education for his or her children; it can be assumed that a portion of that money is going toward the prohibition of marijuana instead. This system creates expenses that include criminal maintenance. The people have to pay for the health care within jails, for all the convicted "pot-heads." Then, for those who can't afford a thing
Morals and politics are what make up the structure of this country, so when an issue receives mixed responses coming from two different points of views it becomes contraversial. The legalization of marijuana is a controversial subject; however, there are many positive arguments to support the idea. First of all, it is very expensive to keep marijuana illegal. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, marijuana has also proven to contain positive medicinal uses for illnesses (Marshall, 67). In addition to its positive use, ignorance keeps the public unaware of the fact that alcohol and cigarettes are far worse. The American government is simply approaching this issue very poorly, because the benefits of legalization of marijuana outweigh the detriments by far.
By defining all marijuana smoking as a criminal act, including that which involves adults smoking in the privacy of their own homes, we are wasting police and prosecutorial resources, clogging courts, taking up unnecessary prison space, and needlessly wrecking the lives and careers of genuinely good citizens. Every taxpayer in the country, regardless of how they feel about this issue, will end up paying for the cost it takes to keep marijuana illegal. "The U.S. government spends as much as $50 billion a year to stop the use of illegal drugs" (Croft, 18). This money that the taxpayers are giving to the governments goes to police patrols, helicopters to look out for drug smuggling, and drug abuse awareness programs such D.A.R.E. (Croft, 18). For every back-breaking dollar one makes to pay the government so it can provide a better education for his or her children; it can be assumed that a portion of that money is going toward the prohibition of marijuana instead. This system creates expenses that include criminal maintenance. The people have to pay for the health care within jails, for all the convicted "pot-heads." Then, for those who can't afford a thing