Contrary to popular belief, marijuana was not made illegal in the US because it was considered a dangerous drug. Marijuana was made illegal in the United States for population control of Mexican and Black minorities in the 1930.
With a mix of racism, irrational fear and ignorance, legislators between the decades of 1910's-1930's sought ways to control minorities, afraid that they would one day overthrow the white government. According to Harry J. Asslinger, the first director of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, marijuana should be outlawed because of "...its effect on the degenerate races." and because "[marijuana] makes darkies think they're as good as white men."
Finally, after a series of congressional hearings in the 1930's, irrational fear won over science and marijuana was made illegal in 1937.
Fast forward to 2007, and marijuana is still very much illegal. Scientific evidence is mounting showing marijuana is not only harmless, but even beneficial. However, the US government is still going strong with its expensive "War on Drugs".
Here are my two cents on why marijuana should be legalized:
Medical reasons.
Medical studies of THC and Cannabinol (here's a good example) show marijuana can be used from nausea prevention and pain relief in chemotherapy patients to glaucoma. Legalization would most certainly lead to further scientific investigation
Save the money spent on the war on drugs and put it to better use.
Say education? Spending just a portion of the $20 billion spent on the much applauded albeit useless “war on drugs” (mostly war on marijuana) on education would improve the chances of younger generations to become more successful in life and decrease the chance of them falling prey of more dangerous drugs (meth comes to mind).
Control the market = reduce crime.
Dealing illegal drugs is very lucrative. Drug dealers form empires around illegal drugs, and they will stop at nothing to keep their money making empires. Legalize the drugs, prices drop, and drug empires hurt.
Stop Americans from subsidizing Middle-Eastern terrorists.
One way Islamic fundamentalists fund their organizations is through drugs. If the government controls the market, it can control where the drugs come from.
Replace extremists in the hearts of Middle-Eastern/South American rural farmers.
Instead of telling poor farmers in Afghanistan that they cannot grow hemp, buy all of their crops before Al-Qaeda does. Farmers will love America and hate Al-Qaeda. Isn’t that what we want?
Get rid of the coolness factor.
If marijuana were not illegal, would it be perceived as a cool recreational drug as it is now?
Eliminate the stigma of using marijuana…
… and chances are that more individuals will stick to marijuana instead of more dangerous drugs such as crack cocaine or methamphetamine. Eliminating the stigma on marijuana will also reduce the stigma of using other drugs, making it easier for individuals with a drug addiction to come out and seek help.
And finally…
Tax the product.
Taxing marijuana would open a brand new source of revenue for the government. Revenue that they could very well use in say….education?
15 comments:
Thank you for this. I am studying this exact issue myself.
yup me 2 thanks
Marijuana should be! The reason its not legal right now is because we can't tax it or can we!? Yes, its simple Cigrette companies! If cigrette compaines such as Marlboro says if you legalize it we will sell it problem solved who would buy it form people when they can get really good weed from the away nobody would buy it from people they would buy it from the store plain and simple i am a proud pot smoker
so you think that children should go to school high and out of their right minds? If you take a study over a person who smokes marijuana and a person who has never even touched the stuff, who would live longer. smoking is bad for you. period. plus, because marijuana is a "mind-altering weed", deaths in the U.S. would become much higher! suicides and murders will take place.
no one has ever died from it. n well have less deaths in america because people will switch from alcohol to weed
it should be legal...there is nothing wrong with it.it doesnt kill you and it actully improves your health. and improves your eye sight!!!it makes you feel good!!!!
from a pot smoker of 3 years!
I'm currently doing a debate that marijuana should be leagalized. This has really helped. It really should be legal. Thanks
This is targeted towards parents especially with teens. Although many say the positive effects of marijuana, they forget what's most important, and what it can really do. I am an intern at a parenting site, and it's a site that has articles for parents written by teens themselves! Here is an article that I think would be great to look at because it talks about this topic (why parent's shouldn't support it)- Go to www.radicalparenting.com and type in marijuana. Unfortunately it won't let me type the article. Melissa
Learn about medical marijuana, about how taxing it can help our economy while at the same time, we can help the sick. Visit our information center:
Medical Marijuana Orange County
The people didn't vote yes just to legalize it they wanted it to be accessible too, otherwise what's the use?
thanks iam doing an essay it really helped me out and marijuana should be ligalized
While legalizing it will take some of the Cartel's income, they sell twice as much cocaine in America regardless
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