Legalize It, Man

Drugs, illegal or otherwise, are a major influential force in our country today. One of the most controversial issues in the world of drugs currently is if we should legalize marijuana. Although many people believe marijuana should not become legal. I believe it should for the following reasons, prohibition of substances has been proven not to work, relief to a overloaded justice system, and most importantly, marijuana provides more good than harm unlike other legal controlled substances .

The first point for legalization of marijuana is that prohibition is simply not working. There is no scientific or historical evidence that suggests prohibition of a substance decreases that substance's usage. There are however several theories and one recent historical event that suggest prohibition might actually increase the prohibited item's use. Another effect of marijuana prohibition is that it makes the drug available to minors. Marijuana dealers usually don't care how old a buyer is, as long as they have the money. Recent studies have shown that it is actually easier for high school students to obtain marijuana than it is alcohol; this is because alcohol is legal and therefore regulated to keep it away from teenagers. If marijuana were legal to people above the age of twenty-one like alcohol, then it would be just as hard for teenagers to obtain it and not easier. Simply put, prohibition is not working to keep marijuana out of the hands of those who want it.

The second point that can be made for legalization is the relief it will provide to an already over taxed justice system. Law enforcement has more important responsibilities than arresting close to 750,000 individuals a year for marijuana possession, especially given the additional justice costs of disposing of each of these cases. Marijuana arrests make justice more expensive and less efficient in the United States, wasting jail space, clogging up court systems, and diverting the attention of police, attorneys, judges, and corrections officials away from violent crime, the sexual abuse of children, and terrorism. Furthermore, taxation of marijuana can provide needed and generous funding of many important criminal justice and social programs.

The last point to be made is that marijuana has more positive effects than other controlled substances that are currently legal. Marijuana provides relief from pain, nausea, spasticity, and other symptoms for many individuals who have not been treated successfully with conventional medications. Many adults prefer marijuana to the use of alcohol as a mild and moderate way to relax without the damage that occurs to the body by the way of alcohol poisoning . People use marijuana because they choose to, and one of the reasons for that choice is their personal observation that the drug has a relatively low dependence liability and easy-to-manage side effects. Most marijuana users develop tolerance to many of marijuana's