Do you believe that marijuana should be legalized?

Answer 1

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.
SUMMARY: Individuals deserve the right to decide whether or not they should use marijuana. The government should not tell individuals what to do as long as they do not harm others.

Cost: keeping marijuana illegal is expensive.
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.
SUMMARY: We would have more money to spend on important problems if marijuana were legal.

Failure: prohibition doesn't help.
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.
SUMMARY: Prohibition does not work. Education and treatment are better ways to address the drug problem.

There are plenty of other reasons why marijuana should be legal. Just to name a few:

1. Medicinal use: Marijuana can be used as medicine because it helps to stimulate apetite and relieve nausea in cancer and AIDS patients.

2. Hemp: The hemp plant is a valuable natural resource. Legalizing marijuana would eliminate the confusion surrounding hemp and allow us to take advantage of hemp's agricultural and industrial uses.

3. Religious Use:Some religions instruct their followers to use marijuana. Just like Christianity and Judaism instruct their followers to drink wine on certain occaisions, some Hindus, Buddhists, Rastafarians, and members of other religions use marijuana as part of their spiritual and religious ceremonies. These people deserve the freedom to practice their religion as they see fit. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says that the government cannot 'prohibit the free exercise' of religion, and so marijuana should be legal.

Answer 2

No. But the penalty for possession of 2 ozs or less should be a $5.00 mail in fine. If legalized, the government would control the price, collect taxes on it, limit the hours it can be purchased - and where; you'd have to be 21 to buy, use, or possess it. Transfering to a minor would be a felony, lots of people would get arrested for driving under the influence of marijuana, etc...

But we don't have to worry about marijuana being legalized because the republicans are having too much fun pulling the financial aid of democrats busted with 2 or more joints (distribution). republicans exploit their connections, and their kids rarely even get arrested for possession...they don't even get stopped.

Answer 3

LEGALIZE IT!! I can't believe we haven't arrived yet, at an honest assessment of this issue!! No one should have their life destroyed because they posess it, the only crime should be selling it to minors. I think the ONLY way to reduce it's use among young people, who's bodies are still growing and who's minds are still developing, is to sell it openly, under controlled circumstances, to ADULTS ONLY.

Growing marijuana on farms and selling it in retail shops would create jobs and tax revenue. The plant has practical uses, such as making paper and textiles, that would help out our environment, while simultaneously creating more jobs and more tax revenue. More people would be working, our jails and prisons would have more room for pedophiles and other dangerous violent criminals, and the tax collected on it could solve our whole social security problem in a relatively short period of time. Then we could start parsing the money out between social security, medicare, education, medical research, and rehab programes for people who are desparately addicted to seriously dangerous drugs such as heroin, crack, meth, cocaine, and alcohol. Then, cops everywhere could concentrate on those particular substances in their war on drugs, and leave the mellow stoner alone. They would also have more time to focus on actual dangerous criminals who should be in the jail cell instead of some guy who got caught with a joint!

The environmental impact would be positive, over time, because we could stop cutting down as many trees as we do now, which we need to do in order to clean our air. If i'm not mistaken, this country is responsible for roughly 30 percent of the world's CO2 emmissions. How cool would it be if we could stop whacking down beautiful life giving trees and be part of the solution instead of being such a huge part of the problem? People are getting sick because of our nasty air, we have to do something about it, and I think saving a significant number trees would be a real good start. Here, I digress slightly, because to truly have an impact on our atmosphere, we need to stop using wood for new houses and furniture, which is a whole new can of worms and not really related to the question at hand.

So, to sum it all up, I believe the legalization of marijuana and the utilization of it's by-product would ultimately benefit our young people, our farmers, our economy, our cops, the prisons, the environment, and most effectively end our current social security nightmare. America would have a middle class again, and our most precious resource of all, our kids, would be allright.

Answer 4

Yes, I believe it should be legalized. Everyone would overpay for it and the government can use the proceeds toward our deficit. Marijuana is a drug and there is no denying it but it is a drug that is a natural healer of pain and other things. I d rather drive with people on marijuana than those who drink and drive. Just my humble opinion.

Answer 5

Yes, I believe all drugs should be legalized. Its time we get off our moral high horse and admit that the war on drug has been lost. By legalization, we not only free up more than enough money/resources to fund prevention and treatment programs, we also cut of the major source of funding to drug cartels, gangs, and terrorists. In addition, how much crime is committed just to supply a drug habit and how much money and/or resources could be freed up to address other problems?

I admit this would be impractical since there are too many politicians, bleeding hearts, do-gooders, and holier than thou types that would object.

Personally, I'd make the drugs free to anyone that wants to OD.

Answer 6

YES.... it less harmful than alcohol... way less.

I would also legalize other drugs and make them available cheap... except for meth... let people kill themselves if they wish. It is their right. Cheap drugs would lower the level of crime committed by drug addicts.... No more DEA costs... no rehab costs.... no drug users and sellers in prison.... the benefit would be more dollars for schools....

Screw the users... let them OD if they are ignorant enough to do so.... less of them that way.... You can only protect those who want protection.... and those are the ones who don't need it....

USERS are generally LOSERS..... whether drugs are legal or illegal..... unless they understand that there is drug use and drug abuse.... and have enough self respect to know the difference and develop a will of their own.... you control your use or the use controls you.

Answer 7

Yes.

Prohibition is ridiculous. It puts people in jail, who are otherwise law-abiding. It could be taxed, which brings in revenue and the folks are now going to jail and having their lives ruined would still be productive members of society.

I still haven't heard any reasons for not legalizing other than it would put the black market out of (or at least hurt) business.

Answer 8

Yes, It is safer then alcohol and smokes so why not? It was outlawed because hemp was being outlawed. Wood Pulp cost more then hemp, the pulp people payed off Congress to outlaw hemp so that their people would be bought instead.

Answer 9

YES! It should be as are cigarettes and Alcohol and taxed heavily. At least you would stop the black market trade in that commodity and have a tax basis. Now the money goes to criminals.

Answer 10

The government should come out of the shadows & sell it over the counter.

They're the money behind the drug trade.