Should Marijuana be legalized?

Question

Legalizing Marijuana?
I am writing a Persuasive Paper for my oral comm. class in college and my paper is on "Legalizing Marijuana" and i was wondering what you people thought about it. Do you all think marijuana should be legal or not? If you think it should be legal then give me a reason why you think that and if you know any books or websites i can get information from then let me know. Thanks guys!

Additional Details
Marijunana is not anymore addicting than ciggs or beer, in fact it is better and safer for you. It makes you calm and if you have noticed that it hasn't killed anyone like ciggs or beer and no one has murdered anyone while driving! But that is my opinion!

Answer 1

OK...so far a lot of people who replied and answered knows nothing about the subject. The first guy...no legalizing marijuana will not cause more accidents, in fact its the other way around because people under the influence of marijuana tend to stay indoors. They don't drive because its too much of a "task" and they would rather sit back and "chill". The second person...smoking 1 joint does NOT equal smoking 1 pack of cigs! I don't know who told you this, but if you got this information from school, your teachers are stupid retards. Marijuana has no chemical additives and no nicotine. The tar content becomes only a fraction of that of a cigarette.

Now, since their stupidity has been cleared, lets move on to answering this question. Legalizing the substance will have many positive results. Do any of you know or can guess the amount of money and cash flow generated per year based on estimated sales or marijuana? Millions, and all this is done illegally without proper point of sales. Legalizing it will have 2 definitely positive results. 1) it'll be easier to control and maintain because of the government control and regulations. Quanities and movement of the substance can be better monitored and sales can be controlled in a sense that like beer and cigarettes, minimum age will be required. 2) These substances can be taxed. Why allow the money go to crooks and criminals when that money can go to the government and to the people for better use? People are going to buy drugs no matter what. Whether it is legal or not. I am not saying since we can't stop it, we should just allow it. No, what I am saying is that there has been no hard solid research evidence that shows marijuana of doing significant harm to the human body. For those who advocate for marijuana to remain illegal, then so must you for beer, hard alcohol, cigars, cigarettes, etc. For these cause far more harm to the human body than any amount of marijuana.

Marijuana calms the human body, its use for medicinal purposes have already been determined and are considered useful. The 1999 case study that showed that it served no medical purpose? Well neither do cough and cold medicines if you want to argue that way. Its not the drug that causes murder and robbery. That's just society. The fact that guns and ammunition are so easily accessible had NOTHING to do with it right? We have nothing to gain by keeping marijuana illegal but have so much to gain by legalizing it. Don't think about the stereotypes of those who use drugs, all types of people use drugs. Politicians, doctors, lawyers, parents, college students, ceos, and those who will run the companies and government of tomorrow...we will have better opportunities by legalizing it...it'll be a step forward in the right direction. Marijuana does not cause harm to the person or to society...you're worried about car accidents? What about all these old senior citizens who drive everyday? Having them on the streets is like playing Russian Roulette. Marijuana slows reflexes? Their reflexes are faster than that of any normal person when they are concentrated on the task at hand. You're all arguing that it causes this and will do that. Well there are already other legal or natural things that cause problems everyday...yet we ignore and live about our daily lives as if there were no problems at all...but why the sensitivity with this?

Answer 2

Marijuana should be legalized. The money being spent on law enforcement as well as incarceration to combat marijuana is phenomenal. That additional funding could be put back into the "war on drugs" efforts to help going after methamphetamines, heroin, cocaine and some of the other drugs that are more harmful and addicting. Plus it could be controlled and the government could gain tax money as a added bonus. Not to mention all the medicinal uses that has been proven to be substantial.

Answer 3

In my opinion marijuana is less harmful and addictive than tobacco. I am from a family in which my father and brothers all smoke marijuana and we have all questioned and tested its effect on us. I dont believe it has an adverse effects on behavior or experienced an inability to quit. I have tried it ,and it does have mild halucenagenic properties (others say it clears your mind) but I chose not to use it for personal beliefs on the health effects of smoking in general. It is a far more useful and versitile plant for its use in medicine and cultural practice and far less harmful than its legal counterparts. Therefore a believe that it should be legalized.

Answer 4

No, it should not.. Marijuana is the equivilent of 16 tobacco cigarettes at once, therefore not safer than cigarettes. Marijuana slows your reflexes down, and yes there have been accidents where the driver has been under the influence of marijuana and they have killed people.

Marijuana can lead to dependance and abuse. It is easy to argue that Marijuana is medicine, but a 1999 study by the Institute of Medicine showed that there was no scientific evidence that smoked marijuana had medical value, even for the chronicly ill.

Answer 5

Legalize it, collect taxes from it, or maybe when you go to purchase it you have to show drivers license or something with age, the same way you have to now days to buy sinus medication,or any over the counter drugs, being that they are used in Meth labs.
The other problem is the jails are overcrowded with young and old people for being caught with marijuana or smoking it, so your hard earned tax dollars go to keep someone locked up, and it costs quite a few dollars for that.
Drugs are big business and they pay big salaries, for people who work in enforcing, drugs , guns alcohol and tobacco.

Answer 6

yes because of the reasons youve stated and more for some that dont know pot can be eaten or vaporized therefore none of the toxins are released cleaner then smoking cigs. the use of marijuana alone has never killed anybody it is not pysically addictive and only a small amout of people have a psyc. addiction for 7-14 days and most cops would rather deal with a pothead then a drunk seek info on NORML websites, hightimes, yahooka

Answer 7

You have not checked your facts the THC in a joint has been estimated to be 25 times that of a standard cigarette. A road accident caused by a stoned driver can in fact kill quite a few people. I work with heavy machinery operators and it is very scary to see them in action when they come to work off their dials. They certainly cause more accidents because they are just so slow and thoughtless. On a highway at 110km per hour it's even worse.

Answer 8

medicinal use is leagalized in some places of California. my parents actually have the right to grow there own marijuana. Of course they have to have a legitimate reason to have the
"215 Card" . My boyfriend has siezures(also has a 215 card" and we have got pulled by the police 5 times and everytime he has got his medicine back bcuz they have no right to take someones leagally precribed medicine from them. I honestly believe the leagalization of marijuana would be the beginning of society crumbling. But as long as the "government" makes money off of it they will never leagalize something that makes them billions of $ every year. If you would like more info on leagalization of medicinal marijuana please email me.

Answer 9

My opinion would be, I would rather get in a car with a pot smoker then an beer drinker any day of the week. I would rather share the road with a pot smoker then a beer drinker.
I have NEVER in my whole life time, heard of anyone getting seriously hurt or killed by someone who was smoking pot.
If my 15 year old son came up to me today and asked if I would prefer him to smoke pot, drink beer, have sex, or smoke tobacco. My answer.......Pot.....everytime!

Answer 10

I agree with you..
Marijuana not only should be legalized but it should never have
been made illegal...
Unfortunately,
Too many self serving people have jobs & funding that depend
on the US war on drugs...