Do you think marijuana should be legalized? Why of why not?

Question

I am definitely pro marijuana and plan to, in the future, fight for what i believe is right.

Answer 1

marijuana is the most commonly uses illegal substance in the United States. it is used by many people, most of which aren't your stereotypical "druggie", with no life agead of them. Many of them hapen to be very successful, good people. Think about it almost if not every person who reads this paper will know (even if they don't realize it) at least one if not several regular users of marijuana. Its often made out to be much more harmful htan it really is, unfortunatly not every one realizes this.

What many people don't realize is marijuana is much less harmful than alcohol or tobacco. Yet it's the one of the three that gets a bad rap and is illegal. Marijuana isn't even physicaly addicting. You certanly don't see meetings for marijuana like you do with alcohol and AA. Unfortunatly due to American culture the less harmful of the three is illegal.

The most common reason why marijuana can be harmful is that people can often come across laced marijuana without realizing it. Marijuana can easily be mixed with other more harmful drugs with out the buyer realizing it, until they have already used it. This is a dangerous thing that causes many people to do more harmful, hard core drugs without realizing it. If it were to be legalized the government could provide guide lines, like it does with alchol to insure that people knew what they were putting into their bodies.

Marijuana actually has many helpful benefits toward diseases / sicknesses. Marijuana can reduce nausea, vomiting, and loss of appetite caused by AIDS. It can Reduce interlobular pressure, which alleviates the pain and slowing and sometimes even stopping the progress of glaucoma. Common side effects of chemotherapy are nausea, loss of appetite, and vomiting, all of which marijuana would help. It can limit muscle pain and relieve tremor nad unsteadiness of gait for multiple sclerosis patients. Marijuana can help prevent epileptic seizures in some patients. It can also alleviate chronic, often debilitating pain caused by myriad disorders and injuries. Each one of these applications have been deemed legitimate by at least one United States court, legislature, and/or government agency.

Due to these reasons and many others many people are going to jail/prison on a daily basis due to simply smoking a little pot These aren't dangerous criminals that would kill or rape someone. Many of them are teachers, lawyers and respected members of their communities. But yet we still pay thousands of dollars of tax payers money to lock up non dangerous "criminals" yearly even though most aren't going to stop after they get out of jail. Don't you think the money spent here is a waste? Couldn't it be going to more useful things such as hospitals, disease research, or better schools? These are the things that would benifit the people of this country. Certanily you would rather benefit the people more than throwing a non violent pot head in jail who was only trying to smoke a joint and relax after a long days work in jail. There is up to forty million regular (note thats just the regular not occasional users) drug users in the United states. If we were to throw all of them in jail it would cost $500,000 per million people, plus the cost and space of building many more prisons. Couldm't that money be spent on building hospitals? There's already about 1.5 million people tax payers are paying to keep in jail over drugs. From 1990 to 2003, nearly 5.9 million people had been arrested for smoking marijuana. Thats a greater number than the entire population of Alaska, Delaware, The District of Columbia, Montania, North and South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming combined. This country simply can't afford to put 40 million more in jail.

Marijuana should be legalized. It has many uses such as helping sick patients. People are going to smoke it no matter what the government sais, and with out govenment guidelines this can be dangerous. Not to mention the fact that we have no way we can afford to throw all those people in jail. Its much less harmful than alcohol and tobacco, which are legal, so doesn't it make sense that it would be also?

Answer 2

Tobacco should be abolished...who cares about ganja....it is not causing lung cancer in the masses the way tobacco does. If you legalized ganja or not makes ZERO difference...the USA is flooded with it...indoor growers using grow lights are in every neighborhood in the USA but you dont see them...they are usually white guys between the ages of 30-50 years old...they often have short hair and never play loud music or make any problems to draw attention to themselves. The best growers blend in and make you think they are the unasuming guys next door. That is their secret. They make 10 times as much money as you and they pay zero taxes. You cannot stop them...because the constitution will not allow helocopters to use infa-red heat detection to spot grow houses eminating heat from the 600-1000 Watt grow lights. I am a world class authority on the subject and you are on the outside of the looking glass. Pass the bong please!

Answer 3

Absolutely. It is a harmless drug. There are ZERO deaths resultant in the use of marijauna, yet other more dangerous drugs are legal and kill people (booze, cigarettes, huffing gas, etc.)

Marijuana also doesn't make people crazy theives so they can get their next fix. They're not gonna steal grandma's heirlooms for their next fix, they're gonna raid her refridgerator.

Most importantly, marijuana does have medicinal value and should be considered a hollistic cure. It's excellent for glaucoma, eating disorders, and for mitigating the effects of radiation treatment.

Harry Anslinger got this substance scheduled as a class I drug in the 1930s against the advice of doctors. Now it is ranked with the harmless likes of heroin and coccaine. Go figure.

Answer 4

I think marijuana should be legalized for medical purposes. I have back pain. Some days it is so severe I can't turn my head. I refuse to take prescription pain killers because they are highly addictive. Pot is not addictive, at least not physically, and is a very good muscle relaxant. So for purely selfish reasons, I think marijuana should be legal.

Answer 5

The first and most basic reason that marijuana should be legal is that there is no good reason for it not to be legal. Some people ask 'why should marijuana be legalized?" but we should ask "Why should marijuana be illegal?" From a philosophical point of view, individuals deserve the right to make choices for themselves. The government only has a right to limit those choices if the individual's actions endanger someone else. This does not apply to marijuana, since the individual who chooses to use marijuana does so according to his or her own free will. The government also may have a right to limit individual actions if the actions pose a significant threat to the individual. But this argument does not logically apply to marijuana because marijuana is far less dangerous than some drugs which are legal, such as alcohol and tobacco.

The second important reason that marijuana should be legal is that it would save our government lots of money. In the United States, all levels of government (federal, state, and local authorities) participate in the "War on Drugs." We currently spend billions of dollars every year to chase peaceful people who happen to like to get high. These people get locked up in prison and the taxpayers have to foot the bill. We have to pay for food, housing, health care, attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses to lock these people up. This is extremely expensive! We could save billions of dollars every year as a nation if we stop wasting money locking people up for having marijuana. In addition, if marijuana were legal, the government would be able to collect taxes on it, and would have a lot more money to pay for effective drug education programs and other important causes.

The third major reason that marijuana should be legal is because prohibition does not help the country in any way, and causes a lot of problems. There is no good evidence that prohibition decreases drug use, and there are several theories that suggest prohibition might actually increase drug use (i.e. the "forbidden fruit" effect, and easier accessibility for youth). One unintended effect of marijuana prohibition is that marijuana is very popular in American high schools. Why? Because it is available. You don't have to be 21 to buy marijuana -- marijuana dealers usually don't care how old you are as long as you have money. It is actually easier for many high school students to obtain marijuana than it is for them to obtain alcohol, because alcohol is legal and therefore regulated to keep it away from kids. If our goal is to reduce drug consumption, then we should focus on open and honest programs to educate youth, regulation to keep drugs away from kids, and treatment programs for people with drug problems. But the current prohibition scheme does not allow such reasonable approaches to marijuana; instead we are stuck with 'DARE' police officers spreading lies about drugs in schools, and policies that result in jail time rather than treatment for people with drug problems. We tried prohibition with alcohol, and that failed miserably. We should be able to learn our lesson and stop repeating the same mistake.

Answer 6

Marijuana will never be legalized in the United States for one reason: textiles.

You see kiddies, clothing made from hemp is actually more durable, resilient, and stronger than clothing made from cotton, which as you know is one of the largest U.S. exports. If we legalized marijuana within the states, it would cripple our economy (but we'd have some nifty hats and shirts).

Answer 7

I think that it should be legalized. I know that they say it impares vision and you can't concentrate. LIE! If anything it makes you see better and concentrate on everything, I think its grown from the earth and its natural. I know they use marijuana for alot of medical reasons. There is nothing wrong with it. Its only a plant. So I say legalize

Answer 8

I definitely think it should be legalized. For one thing governmentally speaking think of the taxes they could collect on it's sale if it were legal it would be taxed. People can't become chemically addicted to it, and if they end up doing other drugs...they were likely to do that anyway. But, other than that I would have much less trouble getting my hands on it if it were legal...lol.. Best wishes

Answer 9

I believe it should be legalized. because most people that start marijuana only start using it because it is not legal. do you get what i am saying? i mean people do stuff thats not legal because they think they are getting away with something. they think they are cool for what they are doing. if it was legalized then i think most people would quit using it!

Answer 10

Yes, marijuana is a harmless and quite useful plant. The war against cannabis is full of propaganda and complete lies. I say end the prohibition, tax and regulate, stop the senseless prohibition.