Legalizing Marijuana

ENGL 1020

June 25, 2012

Legalizing Marijuana

I will be researching the topic of whether marijuana should be legalized or not. Today this concept is a rather large debate. It also relates back to the era between 1920 and 1933, which is where the sale of alcohol was forbidden. This time period was called Prohibition, which was made the Eighteenth Amendment. No one could have possession or even sell alcohol, which is like how today marijuana cannot be possessed or sold. During Prohibition, people would still find ways to drink secretly. This is similar to how people still find ways to get marijuana. Just because making something illegal, does not mean that it will stop its usage completely, as the United States learned in the 1920s. I believe that if alcohol is sold with an age limit in the United States, marijuana should be sold legally too.

Most people say that others who use marijuana will also use more intense drugs. This can be because of the suspicious drug deals that take place. Most drug dealers will try to sell stronger drugs that are seriously more dangerous than marijuana. If marijuana were legal today, most of these shady drug deals would stop completely. We would be living in a safer society without worrying about strangers trying to sell us seriously harmful drugs. Also, in addition, people assume that marijuana is highly addictive. Any different kind of intoxicant can cause addiction, but not if it is used in consideration. People are addicted to smoking and alcohol but yet, those two things are legal. The risk of addiction is low. Marijuana may not be as dangerous as everyone seems to think.

Marijuana could help the United States in more ways than one, if it was sold legally. The first is the economy. As we all know, the nation is trillions of dollars in debt. If the government put marijuana on the shelves, with an age limit, the proceeds will immediately profit the United States. Marijuana is strictly grown for profit....