Legalizing Marijuana
The argument of legalizing marijuana is an age-old argument. There are so many pros and cons that can be argued about this subject. Both sides have equally convincing arguments as to why it should or should not be done. The most common arguments for people that are against legalizing is that Marijuana could become a "gateway drug" to harsher, more dangerous drugs; pot making you stupid; the rates of crime increasing; and making the drug readily available to our country's youth. Compared those arguments to those of people that are for it. They argue that Marijuana creates peace and is a stress reliever; it will decrease the crime rate if the herb is readily available; it will eliminate the need of an under ground culture; medical values; and pot enhances your creativity.First, marijuana would be safer because customers would know what they were buying. Too often in the black market, dealers lace marijuana with foreign substances and other drugs (e.g., chronic) to produce various effects. Since marijuana would be safer, health care costs would subside. Second, the government
would receive valuable revenue from taxing the product. These savings could be redirected toward solving more critical social problems such as violence, poverty, and under funded public education. There for, laws that make marijuana illegal have the undesirable effect of creating organized criminal activity, a fact that accounts for a lot of street violence. Drug users, many of whom are unable to hold jobs, commit robberies not only to obtain drugs, but also to purchase food, shelter, clothing and other goods and services. One of the more persistent is that marijuana is a "gateway" drug that leads to the use of harder drugs such as heroin and cocaine. " A real world example that confirms Hager's assertion can be found in Holland. This strongly contrasts with 40,000 times the marijuana alcohol, which requires only 4 to 10 times the usual amount to have a lethal effect. Increased violent crime and increased numbers of criminals will result in even larger prison populations. In fact, scientists estimate that you would have to consume required to get stoned in order for it to be lethal. Another common misconception about marijuana is that it is more dangerous than tobacco. This can be attributed to the fact that while tobacco has a 90% addiction rate, marijuana is less addictive than caffeine. Since the Dutch partially legalized marijuana in the 1970's, the use of heroin and cocaine has declined substantially. Yes, it is true that marijuana and tobacco contain relatively similar amounts of carcinogens and smoking an equal proportion of marijuana to tobacco will create more tar build-up. Patients suffering from diseases such as cancer, AIDS, glaucoma, and chronic multiple sclerosis have used marijuana to help alleviate pain, anxiety, and nausea.
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