Most Americans don't realize how extreme the war on Marijuana actually is. Since 1965 there have been over 9 million arrests for Marijuana law violations. Over 7 million of these arrests were for possession of personal amounts (Hightimes 1). The average time served in prison for selling Marijuana is four years, compared with just one year for rape or manslaughter (Drugsense 1). Our country treats drug crime as more important than our God-given, constitutionally protected rights. It puts more emphasis on Marijuana than it does on violent crime. These are facts which need to change.
             Why is Marijuana illegal? The adverse health effects of marijuana are still unproven and it is known to be a rather soft drug, yet it is still illegal, even though alcohol and tobacco, which are other soft drugs, are not. The reason for this is that Marijuana is a gateway drug. It is a soft-illegal drug that opens the gate between less dangerous legal drugs and hard-illegal narcotics. LSD, ecstasy, mushrooms, cocaine, heroin and other hard drugs all have seriously harmful side-effects which can range from permanent psychosis to death, and this is why Marijuana is feared. Who has the most to fear from marijuana legalization -- parents. They fear that if marijuana is legal more kids will smoke it and use hard illicit drugs.
             The fact is that legalizing marijuana will help protect America's children from more potentially dangerous drugs. Juvenile marijuana use is inevitable. The real fear, though, is that this will lead to an increase in hard drug use. This is not true. Legalizing marijuana will finally close the gateway between legal drugs and illegal drugs. Marijuana, alcohol, and tobacco will be known as legal and reasonably safe whereas hard drugs will be known as illegal and extremely dangerous.
             Recreational marijuana users are not the only people hurt by the prohibition of marijuana. There are hundreds
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