Should marijuana be legalized? What do you think? In my opinion I think that that it should definitely be legalized for both medicinal and recreational use. But I also think that it should come with restrictions. And I have plenty of reasons to back my opinion up.
First off I think that the prohibition of marijuana is based purely on political opinions, and not scientific facts. For instance political figures that are for the prohibition of marijuana ignore overwhelming evidence that most people who smoke marijuana do little or no harm to their health. Furthermore the essential ingredient of marijuana, T.H.C., is an F.D.A. approved ingredient and is widely used in prescription drugs. If those drugs are legal, than why isn’t marijuana? Marijuana has also been shown to have many medical benefits such as: reducing vomiting and nausea for cancer chemotherapy patients; improves appetite in AIDS-related wasting cases; reduces muscle spasms for epilepsy and multiple sclerosis victims; and lowers pressure within the eye for glaucoma sufferers.
Another reason for the repealed prohibition of marijuana is the fact that the tax payers pay for the arrests. Taxpayers pay approximately 9.2 billion dollars a year fighting the war against marijuana, and for what? Marijuana is not bad enough to spend this much money on. Do the taxpayers even know they’re spending this much money on the prohibition of marijuana? This money could be used for so much more useful things than arresting kids for the simple possession of a joint.
Now some people say that marijuana is gateway drug that leads to much more harmful substance abuse. Can it be a gateway drug? Yes it can be, but studies have shown that the vast majority of Americans that have tried marijuana have never gone on to try other illicit drugs. Ethan a. Nadelmann has said “Trying to reduce heroin addiction by preventing marijuana use, it's been said, is like trying to reduce motorcycle fatalities by cracking down on bicycle riding. If marijuana did not exist, there's little reason to believe that there would be less drug abuse in the U.S.”
people fighting for the prohibition of marijuana have also said that that marijuana is illegal because “the fact of the matter is that marijuana is harmful.” Are they trying to say that all things that are as harmful as marijuana should be prohibited? The list of illegal activities would be enormous, including thousands of: legal drugs, food products, sports activities, and more if you compare the safety of them to marijuana. Studies have also shown that marijuana is not nearly as harmful or debilitating as alcohol, and many legal drugs. It has also been shown that cigarettes are much more harmful to the the lungs than smoking marijuana.
Some people might also use the argument that marijuana today is much more potent then it was thirty years ago. But everyone that they've asked that smoked marijuana thirty years ago and still smoke it today agree, that anything you can get today can be matched by marijuana that was available thirty years ago. Besides even if that rumor is true that would mean that it would only take a few puffs to get the desired effect. This means less wear and tear on the lungs.
However I also think that their should be restrictions on this law. Similar to the restrictions of alcohol and cigarettes, as in it should be legal for adults but not children. Because if these are the only restrictions for alcohol and cigarettes, then it makes no sense to me that marijuana restrictions shouldn't be the same.
Furthermore getting detained by the cops can be a traumatizing experience for most kids. Is it really worth traumatizing kids for life for something that isn't even that bad? I dont know about you but I don't think this is a good idea. Also arresting kids can cause many problems with cops using unnecessary violence in arrests, and illegal searches and seizures. Which is a lot more common than people think, and has happened to me personally.click here to see an article that i definitely think is worth the time to read.
In conclusion I would once again like to state that I think marijuana should be legalized for both medicinal and recreational use. I hope that reading this essay will at least make you consider agreeing with me. Thank you for your time.