English 101

Mr.Gordan

May 22, 2013

Marijuana should be legalized because it would save the government money, it’s medically beneficial, and it’s the right of a citizen to use it.

Legalizing marijuana would save the government billions of dollars. “Jeffery Miron suggests that if the government legalized marijuana it would save 7.7 billion dollars annually by not having to enforce the current prohibition on the drug.” “The government could also save 6 billion dollars per year if it taxed marijuana at the same taxed rates similar to alcohol and tobacco.” "At a minimum, this debate will force advocates of current policy to show that prohibition has benefits sufficient to justify the cost to taxpayers, foregone tax revenues, and numerous ancillary consequences that result from marijuana prohibition," the petition says. Legalizing marijuana would also save billions that they spend to imprison people and the cost for healthcare, housing, attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses for inmates.

Marijuana is very beneficial to a person’s health. “The Scripps Institute, in 2006 proved that the THC found in marijuana works to prevent Alzheimer’s by blocking the deposits in the brain that causes the disease.” According to a study published in Journal of the American Medical Association in January, marijuana does not impair lung function and can even increase lung capacity. One chemical found in marijuana, called cannabidiol, prevents cancer from spreading, researchers at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco reported in 2007.“Since medicinal marijuana was legalized in California, doctors have reported that they have been able to treat more than 300,000 cases of migraines that conventional medicine could not do.” “According to the Disable-World magazine marijuana relieves muscle spasm, chronic pain, aides, glaucoma, epilepsy, depression, anxiety, and much more.”

Marijuana should be legalized because it is simply a freedom the citizens should have. People should have the right to make their own choices as