Marijuana Legalization

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The legalization of marijuana in the United States is a long and historically debated subject. Pro-legalization advocates provide many reasons for the decriminalization of marijuana; some of the reasons include, zero recorded deaths from direct use, wasting tax-payer money prosecuting non-violent offenders, and prohibition promotes organized crime. Anti-legalization organizers condemn legalization due to marijuana being considered a gateway drug, moral and religious opposition, legalization could lead to harder drugs being legalized, and the fear that legalization would enable the drug to be more accessible to children. There are many positive and negative aspects of legalization, but personally I am in favor of legalization and taxation of the non-deadly drug. In this paper, I will outline the good and the bad of legalization and investigate if legalization would be beneficial to America and society as a whole.

The history of marijuana in the United States dates to early colonial times. ``In 1619, America's first marijuana law was enacted at Jamestown Colony, Va., `ordering' all farmers to `make tryal of' (grow) Indian hemp seed.” (Tribune) A by-product of the cannabis plant is hemp. Today, hemp can be used to make fabrics, construction, paper, medicines, oils, body care products, and molded plastics. In colonial times hemp was used to make various textile products and in the 1800s hemp was found to have medicinal benefits. Herer says in his book, The Emperor Wears No Clothes, “various marijuana and hashish extracts were the first, second or third most-prescribed medicines in the United States from 1842 until the 1890s. (Herer) For centuries people have recognized the medicinal properties of cannabis; “depending on the c...

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...industrial purposes, but due to greed, misinformation, scare propaganda and moral objections, society turned its back on this wonderful plant. Through advocacy and the spread of factual information, prohibition is slowly failing and the populous is beginning to realize the dangers and harms of marijuana are not as severe as one though. With this information we can change society for the better, gain revenue from taxation, release non-violent offenders, and alleviate the constant fear instilled by authoritative figures. Personally, based on the researched information, I feel legalization would be beneficial for society and alleviate law enforcement to focus on other crimes, such as, murders, rapes, robberies, and other violent offences. The times are changing, and as time goes on more and more citizens of the United States favor the legalization of marijuana.

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