A War That Can’t Be Won Should the United States fight a war that can’t be won? The war against marijuana is a costly and inconvenient war that the United States seems to be losing. It started in 1915 when Utah passed the first law against marijuana and it is still going to this day. Recreational use of marijuana has been increasing and is easily accessible. The money that our government is spending on this fight against marijuana could be saved and instead of losing money the government could make money by taxing legal marijuana.
Imagine how much more money could be made if marijuana became legal. The extra tax revenue would help society because there would be an extra income that could be used towards health care or other things that benefits society. Drug dealers cause a threat to society and if marijuana was decriminalized drug dealers would lose most if not all of their business and crime would decrease. (SASTISTIC PG 4 5 OF RESEARCH NOTES) if marijuana were to be controlled by the government people would more likely to buy from a store than a shady drug dealer. Thousands of job opportunities would be made available if marijuana were to be decriminalized.
Others, like me, think that the government shouldn’t have the power to outlaw if it’s not harming or endangering others. There are many reasons why I believe marijuana should be legalized. Marijuana could generate billions of dollars to use for more serious problems, prohibition doesn’t help anything, and legalization could possibly reduce drug use by teens. Our government currently spends billions of dollars annually to lock up marijuana users. These people are normally very peaceful, relaxed, and non-violent.
They believe by using it will bring a person closer to god they also believe that marijuana is the tree of life. Even though not all religions still practice smoking or drinking this herb, for the ones who do they should have the right to religious freedom. The great debate over the legalization of marijuana is costing taxpayers millions of dollars each year. If the lawmakers would just past the law it will help out the Americans people a great deal; by all the positive reason given people will start to see the good side of marijuana. Marijuana can and does help patients reduce pain and help them weight gain.
They say that marijuana is not as harmful as alcohol or tobacco products so why shouldn’t it be legal? One of the biggest things on people’s minds is the money that can be made from the growing and selling of marijuana and how much the government wastes each year trying to fight a losing battle on the war against marijuana.
Marijuana; Not Just a Counter Culture For many people the choice to use drugs is an easy one; no, but for other people when it is a life or death situation, or their depression is great enough, they will do and try anything to help gain relief from pain. With the legalization of Marijuana, medical patients would have the ability to seek other ways of treatment via medicine. Also with the legalization of Marijuana the gateway theory would be proven false. Along with these two solid reasons why Marijuana should be legalized, the federal government would also reap astonishing amounts of revenue that could be used to pay off debts and pay into social security. Marijuana has been used for thousands of years, not always for the “high effect,” but
The jobs it would provide and monetary loss that could be avoided is evident. Health wise marijuana is a safer controlled substance. Marijuana could be an economic gold mine for the U.S. It could be a venture the United States government should not overlook. Legalizing marijuana would and could decrease crime in the drug world.
Moreover, for as long as we have monitored drug use, we have seen that whenever there is a decrease in the percentage of young people who perceive marijuana use as harmful, the percentage of users increases. Inevitably, legalization would suggest to young people that marijuana is not harmful -- thereby knocking down a powerful barrier to use. And even worse, because laws are rightly perceived by citizens in our democracy as the expression of national values, legalization would imply that marijuana use is an accepted -and acceptable -- social practice. For many teenagers, that would intensify the already severe peer pressure they face to use
As of late, the marijuana debate has shifted in favor of legalization. Why has public opinion swayed so much in recent years? The success of the medicinal marijuana market, the heavy support for legalization by the younger generations, and the passing of the more conservative generations can contribute to some significant changes. However, sustained public opinion is very difficult to predict. Recent polls taken by the Pew Research Center and General Social Surveys show that the main reason for support of marijuana is that the American public fails to see marijuana has a major moral issue (Galston, Dionne 1).
The topic of legalizing marijuana is a very controversial issue in American politics today. Marijuana has been vilified in America for over 70 years. Despite it’s many practical uses, medicinal and industrial, our Federal government insists on maintaining the status quo that the growth, possession and use of marijuana is criminal despite the evidence that the legalization of marijuana would have a positive influence on America. The illegality of marijuana has hurt society more than it has helped, legalization would benefit America both economically and medically. Twenty years ago, only 16% of the public said the use of marijuana should be legal and 81% said it should not be legal.