Professor Shelley Grady
Communications Cluster
27 January 2013
Should Marijuana be Legalized In an article in the Time Topics the Associated Press states, “President Barack Obama says he won't go after pot users in Colorado and Washington, two states that just legalized the drug for recreational”... Which comment reflects the approach to why other states should legalize Cannabis. Although Marihuana is one of the world’s most popular drugs by choice legalization is becoming a rapidly changing law in American society. Today, people from all walks of life use Marijuana with a little fear of punishment. It’s important to remember that’s it still a crime to have a certain amount with you. The people who voted on the legal circumstance of this plant were dependent on information supplied by those who had an incentive of their own to fulfill. The history of marijuana to make punishable as a crime is filled with racism, fear, money laundering and corrupt legislators. These laws were not only arranged on false assertions, but for the wrong reasons as well, and the time for changing the laws of legal Marijuana is drawing near. America needs to be more like the Netherlands’ which has one of the most nonpunishable drug laws in Europe. For more than twenty years, Dutch citizens over the age of eighteen have been accepted to use and buy hashish and cannabis in government controlled coffee shops. By this policy being in place it has not resulted in greatly intensifying marijuana use. For many age groups over eighteen, the percentages of cannabis use in the Netherlands are similar to those in the U.S. However, young adults, rates of cannabis use are lower in the Netherlands than in the U.S. Many Dutch people strongly approve the current marijuana law which seems to control rather than enact cannabis use. The Dutch government occasionally updates existing cannabis laws, but it remains committed to eliminating criminal penalties. Furthermore, if the U.S.