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My english essay is on legalization of marijuana. Can you give thoughts/comments on it? Mods can lock if you feel its inappropriate.
For every 40 seconds, a person in America is arrested for the possession of marijuana. In the year of 2005, according to the Federal Bureauof Investigation's annual Uniform Crime Report, an estimated 1.8 millionpeople have been arrested for drug possessions. Of these 1.8 million arrests, 786,545 people have been arrested for marijuana violations. These results arestaggering solely based on the fact that marijuana is harmless to the body and police arrests should be made for more important conflicts. Although marijuanais less harmful to a person than alcohol, cigarettes, or even caffeine, 9 billion tax dollars are spent yearly dealing with marijuana laws. Marijuana is ableto be used as a natural legal medicine with proven health alleviations showing that it is very safe and because of that, there is no reason for it to be anillegal drug. Marijuana should be legalized because there are no proven facts stating marijuana is detrimental to the human body, police arrests and 9 billiondollars spent enforcing marijuana laws will be ceased, and the taxation and selling of marijuana may help the economy providing new jobs related to marijuanaand government money from taxing.
Marijuana is the least harmful illegal drug known today and even safer than many potentially harmful substances such as alcohol and cigarettes.Unlike cigarettes and alcohol, there are no long term affects from the consumption of marijuana such as lung cancer, brain damage, or damage to the immunesystem. In fact, marijuana is used legally for medicinal purposes to help people deal with cancer. The consumption of marijuana would relieve people fromchronic pain, stimulate their appetite, and alleviate nausea and vomiting. There are very few side affects of marijuana and those side affects which includeshort term memory loss are only when a person is under the influence of marijuana. According to the Bureau of Mortality Statistics, annually, 435,000 peoplehave died from the consumption of tobacco, 85,000 people have died from the consumption of alcohol, and 0 people have died from the consumption of marijuana.The only way a person could die from an overdose is by consuming 1,500 pounds of marijuana all at once.
The beliefs that marijuana is harmful to a person's body are absolutely false. An opposition to the legalization of marijuana may state smokingmarijuana can cause cancer and serious lung damage. However, this statement is untrue as a 1997 UCLA School of Medicine study conducted on 243 marijuanasmokers over an 8 year period reported that, "Findings from the long-term study of heavy, habitual marijuana smokers argue against the concept thatcontinuing heavy use of marijuana is a significant risk factor for the development of chronic lung disease." The opposition may also state that marijuanaimpairs learning ability. Although this statement is true, marijuana only impairs learning ability temporarily and only while being under the influence ofcannabis. It has been statistically proven that casual marijuana users showed no long term signs of impaired learning. In fact, heavy alcohol use has beencited as being much more detrimental in terms of brain damage when compared to marijuana.
Annually, the U.S. spends around 9 billion dollars each year to jail, prosecute, arrest, or counsel marijuana users. The amount of money the U.S. spends isastounding considering the fact that the time and money used to enforce marijuana laws can instead be used for more practical things. If marijuana islegalized, no money or time would be spent enforcing laws illegalizing marijuana. This would mean police would have more time to do more important things thanarresting people for the possession of marijuana. There have been so many arrests that in the year of 2007, it has been reported that there were more arrestsfor the possession of marijuana than murder, manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault crimes combined.
If marijuana is legalized, the revenue from the possible taxing of marijuana and new jobs related to marijuana will help the nation's economy immensely.In the year of 2006, according to marijuana policy researcher Jon Gettman, although marijuana is illegal, it was the most valuable cash crop in America. Infact, marijuana production at a value of 35.8 billion is so big that it even exceeded the combined value of corn and wheat. If marijuana were to be taxedsimilar to alcohol or tobacco, an estimated 6.2 billion dollars would be made annually with 9 billion dollars saved annually in law enforcement costs. In theyear of 2009, the unemployment rate of America is 8.9 %. If marijuana were to be legalized, although not an extremely significant number of jobs would beavailable, badly needed jobs related to the production of marijuana would still be created nonetheless.
Opposition against the legalization of marijuana may say that cannabis is a "gateway" drug meaning after consuming marijuana will result in peoplewanting to try harder and stronger drugs such as cocaine and heroin. However, recent research has proven that the gateway drug theory is completely false. Thestudy conducted by Jan van Ours of Tilburg University in the Netherlands concluded that after covering 17,000 people through four surveys, it was found thatthere was little difference in the probability of an individual taking up cocaine as to whether or not he or she had used cannabis. Statistically, according toNORML Foundation Executive Director Allen St. Pierre, or every 104 Americans who have tried marijuana, there is only one regular user of cocaine, and less thanone user of heroin. The gateway drug theory is nothing more than a myth that has more than often been proven to be incorrect.
Right now, the United States government is losing the war on drugs against marijuana. The War on Drugs is a campaign that has been launched since 1969intending to reduce the illegal drug trade. For three decades, the United Sates has been fighting for a lost cause as marijuana is more popular and easier toobtain than ever. The United States has spent billions of dollars trying to get rid of the biggest cash crop in America without success. It is only smart tolegalize something that almost half of the nation now approves of. On February 23, 2009, California Assembly Bill 390 was proposed by Tom Ammiano which was thefirst bill introduced to legalize the sale and use of marijuana in California. If passed and signed into law, marijuana would be sold and taxed openly toadults age 21 and older in California. This bill is one of the first steps to the process of legalizing marijuana as this bill has gained much nationalattention and approval.
For every 40 seconds, a person in America is arrested for the possession of marijuana. In the year of 2005, according to the Federal Bureauof Investigation's annual Uniform Crime Report, an estimated 1.8 millionpeople have been arrested for drug possessions. Of these 1.8 million arrests, 786,545 people have been arrested for marijuana violations. These results arestaggering solely based on the fact that marijuana is harmless to the body and police arrests should be made for more important conflicts. Although marijuanais less harmful to a person than alcohol, cigarettes, or even caffeine, 9 billion tax dollars are spent yearly dealing with marijuana laws. Marijuana is ableto be used as a natural legal medicine with proven health alleviations showing that it is very safe and because of that, there is no reason for it to be anillegal drug. Marijuana should be legalized because there are no proven facts stating marijuana is detrimental to the human body, police arrests and 9 billiondollars spent enforcing marijuana laws will be ceased, and the taxation and selling of marijuana may help the economy providing new jobs related to marijuanaand government money from taxing.
Marijuana is the least harmful illegal drug known today and even safer than many potentially harmful substances such as alcohol and cigarettes.Unlike cigarettes and alcohol, there are no long term affects from the consumption of marijuana such as lung cancer, brain damage, or damage to the immunesystem. In fact, marijuana is used legally for medicinal purposes to help people deal with cancer. The consumption of marijuana would relieve people fromchronic pain, stimulate their appetite, and alleviate nausea and vomiting. There are very few side affects of marijuana and those side affects which includeshort term memory loss are only when a person is under the influence of marijuana. According to the Bureau of Mortality Statistics, annually, 435,000 peoplehave died from the consumption of tobacco, 85,000 people have died from the consumption of alcohol, and 0 people have died from the consumption of marijuana.The only way a person could die from an overdose is by consuming 1,500 pounds of marijuana all at once.
The beliefs that marijuana is harmful to a person's body are absolutely false. An opposition to the legalization of marijuana may state smokingmarijuana can cause cancer and serious lung damage. However, this statement is untrue as a 1997 UCLA School of Medicine study conducted on 243 marijuanasmokers over an 8 year period reported that, "Findings from the long-term study of heavy, habitual marijuana smokers argue against the concept thatcontinuing heavy use of marijuana is a significant risk factor for the development of chronic lung disease." The opposition may also state that marijuanaimpairs learning ability. Although this statement is true, marijuana only impairs learning ability temporarily and only while being under the influence ofcannabis. It has been statistically proven that casual marijuana users showed no long term signs of impaired learning. In fact, heavy alcohol use has beencited as being much more detrimental in terms of brain damage when compared to marijuana.
Annually, the U.S. spends around 9 billion dollars each year to jail, prosecute, arrest, or counsel marijuana users. The amount of money the U.S. spends isastounding considering the fact that the time and money used to enforce marijuana laws can instead be used for more practical things. If marijuana islegalized, no money or time would be spent enforcing laws illegalizing marijuana. This would mean police would have more time to do more important things thanarresting people for the possession of marijuana. There have been so many arrests that in the year of 2007, it has been reported that there were more arrestsfor the possession of marijuana than murder, manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault crimes combined.
If marijuana is legalized, the revenue from the possible taxing of marijuana and new jobs related to marijuana will help the nation's economy immensely.In the year of 2006, according to marijuana policy researcher Jon Gettman, although marijuana is illegal, it was the most valuable cash crop in America. Infact, marijuana production at a value of 35.8 billion is so big that it even exceeded the combined value of corn and wheat. If marijuana were to be taxedsimilar to alcohol or tobacco, an estimated 6.2 billion dollars would be made annually with 9 billion dollars saved annually in law enforcement costs. In theyear of 2009, the unemployment rate of America is 8.9 %. If marijuana were to be legalized, although not an extremely significant number of jobs would beavailable, badly needed jobs related to the production of marijuana would still be created nonetheless.
Opposition against the legalization of marijuana may say that cannabis is a "gateway" drug meaning after consuming marijuana will result in peoplewanting to try harder and stronger drugs such as cocaine and heroin. However, recent research has proven that the gateway drug theory is completely false. Thestudy conducted by Jan van Ours of Tilburg University in the Netherlands concluded that after covering 17,000 people through four surveys, it was found thatthere was little difference in the probability of an individual taking up cocaine as to whether or not he or she had used cannabis. Statistically, according toNORML Foundation Executive Director Allen St. Pierre, or every 104 Americans who have tried marijuana, there is only one regular user of cocaine, and less thanone user of heroin. The gateway drug theory is nothing more than a myth that has more than often been proven to be incorrect.
Right now, the United States government is losing the war on drugs against marijuana. The War on Drugs is a campaign that has been launched since 1969intending to reduce the illegal drug trade. For three decades, the United Sates has been fighting for a lost cause as marijuana is more popular and easier toobtain than ever. The United States has spent billions of dollars trying to get rid of the biggest cash crop in America without success. It is only smart tolegalize something that almost half of the nation now approves of. On February 23, 2009, California Assembly Bill 390 was proposed by Tom Ammiano which was thefirst bill introduced to legalize the sale and use of marijuana in California. If passed and signed into law, marijuana would be sold and taxed openly toadults age 21 and older in California. This bill is one of the first steps to the process of legalizing marijuana as this bill has gained much nationalattention and approval.
