Persuasive Essay On Legalizing Marijuana

Legalizing Marijuana
The argument of whether to legalize marijuana or not is parallel to the age-old battle of Creationism vs. Evolution, everyone has his or her own opinion. Legalizing marijuana is social debate whose outcome could not possibly make everyone happy. This debate is filled with both pros and cons, and some would argue that both sides have equally convincing arguments. There are several substantial reasons why marijuana should be legalized. A few reasons why it should be legal are, there are no logical reasons for marijuana to be illegal, legalizing marijuana would save the government a lot of money, and prohibition of marijuana is simply not working.
The first and most basic reason that marijuana should be legal is there are no logical reasons for it to be illegal. Some people ask “why should marijuana be legalized” but I will ask a different question, “Why should marijuana be illegal?” From a logical point of view, individuals deserve the right to make choices for themselves. The government
only has a right to limit those choices if the individual's actions pose a significant threat to the individual, or if the actions endanger someone else. This argument does not logically apply to marijuana because it is far less dangerous than some drugs which are legal, such as alcohol. Of course there would have to be restrictions on the use of marijuana. Like alcohol there would be an age restriction, and a restriction on when marijuana can be used, such as when you are driving. Individuals deserve the right to decide whether or not they should use marijuana, and the government should not tell these individuals what they can and cannot do as long as it does not put themselves or others in danger.
The second important reason that marijuana should be legal is that it would save the government a lot of money, therefore saving taxpayers money. In the United States, all levels of government, federal, state, and local authorities participate in the "War on Drugs." We are currently spending billions of dollars every year to imprison peaceful people who happen to like to get high. These people can get locked up in jails and prisons 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 these people up. In addition, if marijuana were legal, the government would be able to collect taxes on it and would have a lot more money to pay for effective drug education programs and other important causes.
The third major reason that marijuana should be legal is because it seems that prohibition is not working to improve our country.
There is no substantial evidence that shows prohibition decreases drug use, and there are even several theories that suggest prohibition might actually increase drug use. One theory suggests prohibition causes the "forbidden fruit" effect, which is that people want what they cannot have. One unintended effect of marijuana prohibition is that it has become very popular in American high schools. This is because it is available to the youth. You do not have to be a certain age to buy marijuana, and dealers usually do not care how old you are as long as you have money. It is actually easier for many high school students to obtain marijuana than it is for them to obtain alcohol. This is because alcohol is legal and therefore regulated to keep it away from kids. There would be the same type of regulation if marijuana were
legalized.
Some people who support prohibition claim that marijuana itself causes violence. This was one of the original claims used to justify making marijuana illegal, but this claim is false. In fact, people who are high on marijuana tend to be relaxed, mellow, and too happy to want to fight. If marijuana were legal, the violence associated with it would drop drastically. Controlled distribution of the drug in a safe, regulated way would reduce, if not eliminate the black market, and therefore eliminate the crime associated with it. It worked with alcohol in the sense that the mobsters are no longer in control of alcohol, and police do not get shot attempting to make alcohol raids. We should take a lesson from our history and legalize marijuana to reduce violence even further. We tried prohibition with alcohol, and that failed miserably. We should be able to learn our lesson and stop repeating the same mistakes.
If our goal is to reduce drug use, then we should focus on open and honest programs to educate youth, regulation to keep kids away from drugs, and treatment programs for people with drug problems. The current prohibition plan does not allow such reasonable approaches to marijuana; instead we are stuck with 'DARE' police officers in schools telling half truths about drugs, and policies that result in jail time rather than treatment for people with drug problems.
After decades of prohibition and intensive law enforcement efforts to do away with illegal drugs, violent drug traffickers still endanger our cities, drug offenders are still pouring into our jails and prisons, and marijuana is still crossing our borders unobstructed. As I have shown, there is no logical reason why marijuana should be illegal. We are still putting up billions of dollars a year in attempt to reduce drug use and trafficking, yet the results are minimal. Prohibition of marijuana seems to be causing more problems than it is worth. We need to stop making the same mistakes and start learning from our past.