Legalization of Marijuana
One would assume that with more and more money being spent on the enforcement of drug abuse, with a huge amount of that money being spent on marijuana abuse the statistics for marijuana and drug abuse would be lower. Yet the opposite is true; the statistics are only continuing to get worse for the amount of marijuana users among a younger age range as well as for users in general. People assume that marijuana is safer then alcohol and tobacco and that it should be legalized because alcohol and tobacco are legal. Yet people seem to push out the idea "that marijuana is just as lethal as tobacco" and "as for alcohol, while it, unlike marijuana, can cause death when taken in extremely large doses, the same could also be said for such legal substances as aspirin," as well, marijuana like alcohol and tobacco products among adults "18 and 21 years of age, are the psychoactive substances most widely abused by adolescents (Joffee 1)" and are gateway drugs with adverse health effects (Linker 1). One must then question if people are able to make the choice to drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes, why are they not allowed to choose whether or not to smoke marijuana, regardless of the adverse health affects? One
Furthermore legalizing marijuana for health reasons does nothing but create more work for the government, but also allows more individuals access to this gateway drug. Furthermore if the government did legalize marijuana their would be an increase in the amount of people in drug rehabilitation centers "which will come at the cost of " not only the marijuana smokers but the non marijuana smoking "taxpayers and the government" (Hedman 3). Doctor and patients are all now set up to become part of the "black market" making a profit off of something that was legalized to help those in need (Hedman 2). " Seeing how there is a "direct correlation between frequency of marijuana use and "delinquent/depressive behaviors" among those ages 12 to 17"; one would again ask, why would the adults of this country want to legalize something that their children would have access to that would make them have "delinquent/depressive behaviors"(Murdock 5,6)? Marijuana has been proven to show that it has "negative effects on short-term memory, concentration, attention span, motivation, and problem solving, which clearly interfere with" the learning process (Joffe 1). Then there is marijuana use for medical reasons which seems like a good idea to some, but a logical thinker must take the time to look at all of the corruption that would come from just legalizing marijuana for medical reasons. It has been shown that marijuana smokers "are 85 times more likely to try cocaine" then that of someone who had not tried marijuana (Murdock 1). By legalizing marijuana the government would be throwing away a portion of the youth of tomorrow. Then someone, eighteen who is legal to buy marijuana, could be buying it for their friends who are younger only corrupting that group of younger children. It would allow doctors who had the right to prescribe medical marijuana "to become part of the black market by handing out prescriptions to those who want it" and have the right amount of money for it "rather than those who need it" for medical reasons (Hedman 2). Patients as well must now be watched, for now they to could become part of this "black market," making a profit off of something that was prescribed to them for "medical purposes"(Hedman 2). If then the government does legalize marijuana smoking for those individuals eighteen and older, one must ask why would a person want children to make the choice to smoke marijuana? There are too many eighteen year olds in the world who are not responsible enough to make that kind of decision. must also question why would a person want to legalize marijuana considering the adverse health affects and the long term damage caused by marijuana? Marijuana is a cash crop that brings in billions of dollars a year illegally. Then there are the adverse health effects that come from smoking marijuana that medicine cannot fix. According to "the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) estimates the governments war on pot smokers costs tax payers $9.
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