The truth is that long term marijuana is far less harmful than either alcohol or tobacco that are legal. First of all, there has never been a documented case of lung cancer found in a smoker that only smokes marijuana. Also recent studies show that marijuana use is not associated with any type of cancer unlike alcohol or tobacco. Alcohol has a variety of long-term negative health effects including cancers and liver disease. There are thousands of people dying each year from liver disease.
Unfortunately for them, there is no evidence that the prohibition of marijuana reduces the net social risks. In fact, States with marijuana decriminalization had lower overall drugs abuse rates and had lower accident rates than states without decriminalization. In Alaska, accident rates held constant or declined following the legalization of personal use of marijuana. Recent U.S. government statistics show that the highest rates of hard drugs abuse were in Nevada and Arizona, which are the states with the strongest marijuana laws. Marijuana legalization would have social benefits.
With the value of the illicit marijuana market estimated to be $113 billion, maintaining marijuana prohibition costs the taxpayer a further $31.1 billion (Gettman, 1). Legalizing and taxing marijuana would not bring the United States into virgin territory. For the past 20 years, marijuana use has been legal for individuals over the age of 21 in the Netherlands. Contrary to popular belief, legalization in that country has not led to a surge in marijuana usage. For most age groups, marijuana usage statistics are similar between the Dutch and the Americans.
Michael Wallman Professor Scott English Composition 008 February 10, 2013 Compare and Contrast Alcohol and Marijuana If you’re like most Americans, you have been led to believe that marijuana is a dangerous and addictive drug that has destroyed the lives of millions of teens and adults. You have also been made to believe that marijuana causes lung cancer and is a “gateway” to harder drugs. People are also convinced that people who use marijuana are losers who sit on the couch all day doing nothing. To say that marijuana has been given a bad rap over the past few decades is an understatement. So, lets wipe the slate clean and start over.
Do you think marijuana should be legalized, decriminalized or remain illegal? Explain using arguments to justify your response Lamiah Wardak Nov/19/2013 Blk: 03 End Prohibition: The War on Drugs is an utter failure. Marijuana has been in use for thousands of years and has not been contributed to a single death. Legalizing marijuana would save the Canada billions of dollars. Marijuana is not a gateway drug, it's not physically addicting, and it doesn't kill brain cells...
Source: Jack E. Henningfield, PhD for the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Reported by Philip J. Hilts, New York Times, Aug. 2, 1994 "Is Nicotine Addictive? It Depends on Whose Criteria You Use." Source: http://drugwarfacts.org/addictiv.htm Alcohol is one of the most toxic drugs, and using just 10 times what one would use to get the desired effect can lead to death. Marijuana is one of – if not the – least toxic drugs, requiring thousands of times the dose one would use to get the desired effect to lead to death. This “thousands of times” is actually theoretical, since there has never been a recorded case of marijuana overdose.
Marijuana can have dras-tic effects on the American culture medically and economically. Being outlawed in most of the states, it has since been falsely accused with having many negative side-effects... almost none being scientifically proven. It causes a knowledgeable person to wonder why marijuana is kept prohibited, while harmful substances such as alcohol and tobacco are kept legal and supported by the government. Around 50,000 people die each year from alcohol poisoning. Similarly, more than 400,000 deaths each year are attributed to tobacco smoking.
Cigarettes in anything greater than trace quantities. No one has reported adverse effects, although this product has been on the market for more than 3 years. Still, the FDA struck a more ominous tone in its July 2009 press release, warning of the presence of Carcinogens at ‘detectable’ levels. Yet it failed to mention that the levels of the carcinogens were similar to that in NRT products. Whereas electronic cigarettes cannot be considered safe, as there is no threshold for carcinogenesis, they are undoubtedly safer than tobacco cigarettes.
“Total marijuana arrests increased 155% during the 1990s, from 287,850 in 1991 to 734,498 in 2000. However, these increased arrest rates have not been associated with a reduction in marijuana use, reduced marijuana availability, a reduction in the number of new marijuana users, reduced treatment admissions, reduced emergency room mentions of marijuana, any reduction in marijuana potency, or any increases in the price of marijuana.” (Gettman 21) And the enforcement of state and local marijuana laws annually costs US taxpayers an estimated $7.6 billion dollars. Researchers say, “Replacing marijuana prohibition with a system of legal regulation would save approximately $7.7 billion in government expenditures on prohibition enforcement.” (Miron) Legalizing marijuana also creates the possibility of taxation. Studies show that revenue from taxation of marijuana sales would range from $2.4 billion per year if marijuana were taxed like ordinary consumer goods to $6.2 billion if it were taxed like alcohol or
A Schedule One Substance doesn't have any accepted medical use in the United States and a high potential for abuse. The state argued that the federal government's policy [of targeting physicians for recommending Marijuana as medicine] deliberately undermines the state by incapacitating the mechanism the state has chosen for separating what is legal from what is illegal under state law. States are arguing that they could use Medical Marijuana as a source of income to help pull us out of debt. According to “priceofweed.com” a crowd sourced Internet archive of pot prices across the country, the national average cost of an ounce of high-quality marijuana is roughly $350. Pot smokers can really stretch their dollars on the West Coast.