Legalizing Marijuana

Tori Bell
Prof. Ford
GOVT 2301.PR1
October 8th, 2013

Marijuana is the third most popular drug in America, behind the obvious, alcohol and tobacco. It has been used, in one way or another, by at least 100 million Americans. This drug is far less dangerous than tobacco and alcohol, more than 50,000 people die each year from alcohol poisoning, and more than 400,000 people die each year due to tobacco (“10 Facts About Marijuana”). Marijuana is nontoxic and cannot be a cause of death by overdose, even in long-term use; it is in no way harmful to health. Marijuana should be a legalized drug in the United States because of the many advantages it can have on society. Marijuana is one of earths many natural growing herbs, it also has many more advantages than disadvantages; such as it used to be used for medicine. Many people only see the negative side affects of the drug, rather than the positivity it can have in the different communities. Many things could be ruled out because it could be potentially bad for the body; however, using anything to an extent could be harmful to ones health. Marijuana has been legalized in Colorado and Washington and also in California for medical purposes. Alcohol and tobacco are legalized and have been for many years even though they are some of the leading causes of death and health issues in the United States. Legalizing marijuana can also help benefit the United States economy by taxing the product and using that money to help decrease the debt here in the U.S.
Alcohol is a drug that the majority of the United States citizens have had an experience with at least once in their lifetime; however, it is not illegal. People can develop and addiction to alcohol, also known as alcoholism in a sever case. Approximately 5,000 people under the age of 21 die each year do to and alcohol related activity. That is a number that will continue to increase each year, and does not even begin to include the people who are over the age. There are 80,000 deaths total per year, which is 16 times the number of deaths of underage drinkers. Excessive alcohol is responsible for about 2.3 million years of potential life lost each year, yet alcohol is still legalized in the Unites States (“Centers for Disease Control and Prevention”). The people in the United States have tried to ban it and for a period of time it was working, but that is not what the people wanted. Even by taxing it through the roof, the citizens of the United States wanted their alcohol back. Which is what happened in the end, the people got what they fought for. In the year of 2010 there were 25,692 deaths do to alcohol; however, in that same year the death toll for marijuana, was zero (“Annual Causes of Death in the United States”). Close no deaths have been caused by marijuana, yet it is still illegal. Colorado and Washington have listened to the people in their communities about how marijuana is not as bad as everyone puts it out to be. Smoking marijuana is just as bad as smoking any other substance; however the drug itself has no harmful effects on the human body. Colorado and Washington gave the people in their states what they wanted, which is exactly what the United States, as a whole, did when re-legalizing alcohol. When alcohol was legalized again, the government put a major tax on it because they knew how bad their communities wanted it and taxing the product would not stop them from purchasing it. This was a smart move for the United States government; it collects plenty of easy money for the government to use for many different reasons such as helping pay of the national debt in the United States. Legalizing marijuana would do the same; the government could, and should, make it legal and tax it through the roof. The government could be raking in so much money for them to use if they went ahead and legalized hemp. Marijuana; however, if legalized, should still have laws and