Legalization of Marijuana Essay

Submitted By mvindischman
Words: 713
Pages: 3

Legalization of Marijuana There are many arguments to be had—therefore we must weigh the pros and cons of each argument before deciding to fight for a cause. I believe that marijuana should be legalized because there are more positives allowing recreational use than there are negatives. Marijuana is a drug that can be used for medical treatments, it does not have poor effects on human health. I believe that this battle against marijuana should not be fought because victory over the drug and its users will not make the world a better place. There are opportunities for the government to benefit from marijuana whereas the justice system has to waste valuable vacancy for minor charges. While some people argue that marijuana is a gateway drug they do not consider that correlation does not equal causation. Unlike alcohol, marijuana is not toxic to humans. Excessive drinking of alcohol is actually more dangerous and is worse for human health. It is nearly impossible to overdose on marijuana, while there are approximately 2.5 million lives lost per year because of the harmful use of alcohol, according to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence. While alcohol and tobacco are legal for recreational consumption, they are both more addictive than marijuana. Marijuana can have many positive effects on people as it can provide a relief from pain, nausea, spasticity, and other symptoms. Many people use marijuana as a medical treatment for glaucoma and to lessen the side effects of chemotherapy. Many adults admit that they prefer the use of marijuana as a means to relax instead of alcohol. Overall the medical both physical and emotional outcomes of using marijuana have been positive. There are approximately 750,000 people arrested each year for possession of marijuana. This costs the justice system, law enforcement, and detainment facilities an unreasonable amount of money for an unprofitable cause. People that serve time for possession are taking up valuable cells in prisons that could be used to keep communities safer. For example, the use of that cell would be better suited to keep a sex offender off the streets rather than a person that uses marijuana to relax. Not only do these unnecessary measures take away time and money from the courts and law enforcements but legalizing marijuana could provide monetary benefits to the government. If marijuana were legal instead of taking money away from courts it could provide funding to the government through taxes. I acknowledge the statistics that suggest marijuana encourages people try harsher, more dangerous drugs. With that being said I encourage those that make that accusation to consider that the two are not as closely related as you may think. “Just because users of heroin, cocaine or other hard drugs are very likely to have used marijuana earlier