The fact that marijuana is considered a Schedule One drug also has negative effects on the use of medical marijuana. A Schedule One drug means it currently has no accepted medical use and is highly addictive. Some states have passed their own laws about medicinal marijuana but can still be held under the United States executive laws. Medical marijuana cannot be legally prescribed by a doctor, it can only be recommended. It is then left up to the patient to find a medical marijuana clinic and obtain a legal medical marijuana card.
Many people debate over whether or not marijuana should be legalized. They argue about the moral issues or moral conflicts that would arise with the legalization of it. Although there is a lot of we could say for each side, if we put aside our personal feelings and see it from the economics point of view, we would realize that legalizing marijuana would be the right thing to do (especially with the recession we are in). In this paper I will be discussing why the government should legalize marijuana by analyzing the financial costs of keeping it illegal and the financial gain we would receive from being able to tax every sale. First reason why the government should consider legalizing marijuana is because expenditures on drug enforcement would
Dylan Kelley Rough Draft 11-15-10 Yes We Cannabis Should marijuana be legalized in the United States? Should people be punished for smoking a harmless natural plant? The legalization of marijuana is a topic that most Americans have a powerful say in. Some believe it should remain illegal because they believe it’s a “gateway” drug or because it causes violence. Others, like me, think that the government shouldn’t have the power to outlaw if it’s not harming or endangering others.
Mohamed Alamoudi Why We Should Legalize Marijuana Many people believe that legalizing marijuana is only an issue of importance to “stoners” and other stigmatized groups in society; they couldn’t be more wrong. Marijuana is much less unhealthy than prohibition propaganda would lead you to believe. Furthermore, the government wastes vast resources on prosecuting and incarcerating nonviolent marijuana users. For these reasons, the United States should legalize and tax marijuana. The examples of the Netherlands and Portugal show that decriminalizing marijuana does not lead to “pot epidemics”.
Stack (2011), “It wasn't until 1914 that drug use was defined as a crime, under the Harrison Act,” (para. 4). Use of Cannabis is seen throughout history and became taboo in the eyes of Americans after finding that many medicinal drugs used were found to be addictive. To this day all narcotic drugs used to treat a variety of conditions are proven to be addictive and are all still widely used in the practice of medicine. Ethical issues and a lack of research studies that prove the effectiveness of Cannabis are the reason the drug has not be legalized in all states.
Final Paper 5/13/2011 Marijuana in California. The debate regarding the legalization of soft drugs such as marijuana is capable of being characterized as one which pits the concept of freedom of the individual against the concept of a paternalistic State. Advocates of legalization argue that amongst other things, marijuana is not only less harmful than alcohol and tobacco, which are legal substances, but also as a matter of fact has been proven to possess certain medicinal property. The people who support the legalization are member of law enforcement and medical professionals, who really know how ineffective and unnecessary in stance prohibitionist. In contrast, those opposed to legalization argue that the legalization of marijuana will
With all the facts showing how much the decriminalization of marijuana would help benefit individuals, society and the government it is unclear as to why there are prohibitions put in place against the use of marijuana. It would be an overall great profit if marijuana were made legalized because it is such a growing industry that is not going to leave. Marijuana benefits individuals with serious and fatal illnesses and when compared to tobacco and alcohol it has less harsh health risks. There is no reason why marijuana should be illegal in Canada and it would only help benefit the majority of people if it were declared legal. As marijuana is a large part of Canadian society the issue needs to be addressed with an open
Amsterdam allows the consumption of marijuana to a controlled amount per person. Because of this, Amsterdam has lower crime percentile than any of the major cities in the Unites States. The legalization of Marijuana would take the business away from the drug cartels and would be safer to get in all the country. By taking the drug cartels out of business the crime would be reduced. In addition, smoking and having small possessions would no longer be considered a crime, so the smokers will not be sent to jail for simple possession of marijuana.
Memorandum To: John P. Walters, Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy From: Susan Fisk Re: Marijuana Prohibition in the United States Date: April 25, 2005 Introduction to Marijuana Prohibition Marijuana has not always been a controlled substance in the United States, but has become increasingly criminalized over the years with increased punishments for its possession, distribution, and growth. These measures have been justified under the assumption they protect America from drugs and keep us safe. However, time has shown us that the prohibition and criminalization of marijuana has created many problems, including huge amounts of government spending, decreased resources for other government projects, and thousands of lives ruined or destroyed. The problems created by our strictly enforced prohibition policies are even greater than the problems marijuana itself is reported to cause. To minimize the harms caused by these policies, the Office of National Drug Control should work to ensure both the repeal of mandatory minimum laws and de facto
Economics : If we legalize marijuana from an economical view, the government would be able to put a tax on marijuana like they do alcohol and cigarettes, which would be a huge advantage to our economy. There would be less criminals out on the street selling illegal drugs because it would not be illegal. There would be less prisoners in the jail, which in return would decrease our taxes and we would not have to pay to food and housing of the prisoners. There would be less road rage because people would be laid back and our fine police officers could use there time with other more serious criminal matters. I want to add that there are at least 16 states that have already decriminalized marijuana use.