April 9, 2013
Marijuana is the most common illegal drug used in the United States with roughly 100 million Americans admitting to trying marijuana at least once. The total number of individuals arrested for all violent crimes combined, including murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault, is less than the number of individuals arrested for marijuana related crimes. In this paper I will be arguing why marijuana should be legalized for recreation use. The points I will be getting across are liberty, cost, and failure. People have the right to decide whether or not they want to use marijuana.
The government only has the right to limit the choice of an individual only if the action endangers someone else. When talking about marijuana this should not apply because those who choose to use marijuana on his or her free will. The government also may have a right to limit individual actions if the actions pose a significant threat to the individual. But this argument does not logically apply to marijuana because marijuana is far less dangerous than some drugs which are legal, such as alcohol and tobacco. Then legalization might reduce the likelihood of moving on to harder drugs.
When most people hear marijuana, they automatically think gateway drug. The gateway theory is the theory that the use of less deleterious drugs may lead to a future risk of using more dangerous hard drugs. Scientific research has found that more than 100 million Americans have tried marijuana. There is an estimate of 14.4 million Americans to be past month users. Yet there are only an estimated 2,075,000 past month users of cocaine and 153,000 past month users of heroin. The fact that most people get marijuana from people who have more harmful drugs like cocaine and heroin, if the government legalized marijuana people would not be persuade to try other drugs and less likely to get a hold of them.
The second important reason that marijuana should be legal is that it would save our government lots of money. The government currently spends billions of dollars every year to chase peaceful people who happen to like to use marijuana as a relaxer, such as people who us alcohol or tobacco. These people get locked up in prison and the taxpayers have to pay the bill. We have to pay for food, housing, health care, attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses to lock up people who use marijuana on their own time.
The third major reason why marijuana should be legal is that there is no evidence that prohibition is decreasing the use of drugs. It is easier for high school students to get marijuana than it is for them to get alcohol because alcohol is legal and therefore they have no way of getting their hands on it. Marijuana being illegal, the dealers will sell it to any age group. If it was legalized it would keep it away from kids.
In conclusion people should have the right to use marijuana as a recreational drug if they choose. There is no actual result that it is a gateway drug and it is more of a choice people make to use as a relaxer. If marijuana was legalized it would lower the crime of marijuana use and make more room to get people doing more dangerous crime.
References
Addiction and Substance Abuse, 2012 November 19, Retrieved December 7, 2012, from issues and Controversies
Cline, S. (2012, November 09). Where and how can you smoke pot legally now?. USNEWS.com
Khatapoush, S. (2004). “Sending the wrong message: Did medical marijuana legalization in
California change attitudes about and use of marijuana?” Journal of Drug Issues, 34, 4
751-770
References: Addiction and Substance Abuse, 2012 November 19, Retrieved December 7, 2012, from issues and Controversies Cline, S. (2012, November 09). Where and how can you smoke pot legally now?. USNEWS.com Khatapoush, S. (2004). “Sending the wrong message: Did medical marijuana legalization in California change attitudes about and use of marijuana?” Journal of Drug Issues, 34, 4 751-770
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