hs. During the next ten years, marijuana use escalated to the point that it was literally everywhere. Marijuana use was becoming a more accepted practice across the nation.
             In 1970, the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act reduced the classification of simple possession and non-profit distribution of marijuana from felonies to misdemeanors(Himmelstein). However, Richard Nixon declared a war on drugs in 1973, and over the next twenty years, each succeeding president continued to escalate the drug war. This particular "drug war" is not only against marijuana but also harder drugs that are more dangerous. This policy has obviously done nothing to stop the recreational use of marijuana in this country. Rather it is causing great harm. When some people imagine the legalization of marijuana, they fear marijuana free for all with everybody constantly getting high and the government is burdened by the legalization. In fact, the process of legalization would include a law passed by Congress allowing the government to regulate the content, quality, and distribution of marijuana. The laws would be similar to the current laws regulating alcohol and tobacco, including laws governing age, limits for driving, and distribution (McGrath). Also, a thorough investigation of the costs and benefits of legalization must be examined before any policy is implemented.
             As mentioned earlier, there are several myths associated with the use of marijuana, which anti-legalization supporters repeatedly cite. One of these is that marijuana uses causes brain damage. People who oppose legalization base their claim on a study done by Dr. Robert Heath on monkeys in the late 1970's. Heath's work was criticized for its sufficient sample size of only four monkeys, its failure to control experimental bias, and the misidentification of normal monkey brain structure as "damaged" (Haggar). In fact, the Journal of the American Medical Association conducted...