Danielle Howard
Mrs. Urbina
English 4
12/19/2012

Pro’s & Con’s Of Marijuana Legalization

Marijuana is a substance that is both good and bad. It’s a substance that has the power to be both beneficial to mankind and harmful to it. However, despite the many cons of legalizing marijuana, the pros of legalizing marijuana still manage to far outweigh the cons.

The most common argument against marijuana is that it’s physically unhealthy for the human body, especially when taken in large doses, but isn’t any substance harmful to the human body when taken in large amounts? If one ingests an excessive amount of what is considered unhealthy food, then is that not bad for them? Take ordinary water, for instance. About two-thirds of the human body is composed of water and it’s quite obviously essential for human life. Despite this, drinking an excessive amount of water in a short amount of time can lead to death. Back in 2007, a woman was competing in a radio station’s on-air water drinking contest; she consumed about six liters of water in three hours, vomited, went home with a headache, and ended up dying due to water overdose.

The same case lies with the use of marijuana, but it’s just as harmful, if not less, to the human body as tobacco and alcohol are. Tobacco is the second major cause of death in the world and its active ingredient is nicotine, which is highly addictive. Alcohol, on the other hand, causes many health problems mainly regarding the liver and kills about 100,000 people every year. Although marijuana has the same risks as smoking cigarettes does, it can also be medicinally used to help treat a variety of illnesses, such as asthma, AIDS, cancer, and other illnesses, so it’s not all bad. Really, the only thing separating alcohol and tobacco from marijuana is the fact that it’s illegal.

Regardless of these reasons, why should the government have any say in what you should or shouldn’t consume? Whether or not you choose to use marijuana is your personal decision and nobody should be allowed to intrude on that. Don’t get me wrong, though. Even though I don’t think the government should have a say in this, I do firmly believe that people should be educated about this before taking it so that they know what they’re getting into. Marijuana can also be seen as a very common gateway or stepping stone for teens and adolescents to start with. One of the main reasons for this is because of how easy it is to get a hold of. This clearly shows that the illegalization of marijuana isn’t very effective in the first place.

Putting that aside, marijuana has an economical effect on the United States, as well. It is estimated that the US government spends about $10 billion a year in an attempt to keep marijuana off the streets; at the same time, California makes $14 billion a year off of the production of medicinal marijuana. Clearly, these numbers show that the US government would make a fortune off of marijuana if it was legalized, and surely it would help with our economy right now. The