Legalization of Marijuana

Legalization of Marijuana

Marijuana is an herbal psychoactive drug that comes from the plant cannabis sativa.  Human consumption of this herb can be traced back all the way to the Stone Age, smoking being the primary method of consumption.  Since then marijuana has become the third most popular recreation drug in the world, coming in right under alcohol and tobacco.  However, at the beginning of the 20^th century many countries made the possession, use and sale of marijuana illegal.  Over time many arguments have been made for why marijuana should be legalized.  While some may oppose these arguments, many present valid points that would make many wonder why marijuana is not legal today.

One of the most common arguments for the legalization of marijuana is that alcohol, a far more dangerous substance, is legal while marijuana remains illegal.  To this day, marijuana has not been found as a direct cause of death in any instance.  On the other hand, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association, alcohol was the cause of 85,000 deaths in 2000.  The use of drugs other than marijuana was the cause of 17,000 deaths, exactly five times less than alcohol related deaths (Mokdad).  Looking at these statistics, alcohol seems to cause much more of a problem that marijuana.

Some believe that marijuana should remain illegal due to the theory that marijuana kills brain cells.  This theory comes from studies that have shown heavy marijuana use does cause impairment on verbal fluency and ability to learn and recall new information (Pope).  However, it cannot be proven that any brain cells are actually lost from smoking marijuana.  To counter this argument, similar studies have been done with heavy drinkers (alcoholics) as test subjects.  The results show that alcoholics were impaired on all measures of learning and memory just as heavy marijuana users were (Ryan).  If a legal substance such as alcohol has the same impairing effects as marijuana, why should this be used as a reason marijuana should remain illegal?

 While companies such as Above the Influence and D.A.R.E. preach about the dangers of this drug, however, it has been proven that marijuana is the safest psychedelic drug.  Unlike heroin, meth or even alcohol, marijuana users do not become physically addicted to the substance.  Marijuana users also do not have the risk of freaking out or going out of their mind unlike users of other drugs such as LSD, mushrooms or even salvia divinorum, which is still legal in some states (“Legalization of Marijuana”).

Other common arguments for why marijuana should remain illegal include marijuana being associated with violence or the herb being a gateway to harder drug use, both of these arguments can be proved irrelevant.   In most cases, marijuana users are friendly and sociable; no direct relationship has been found between violent crimes and marijuana.  Marijuana has been commonly referred to as a “gateway drug”  (“Legalization of Marijuana”). While this may prove true in some cases, the progression to harder drugs is due to the social aspects in the users life, there is no direct relation between the two types of drugs. 

Legalizing marijuana could also have a positive effect on the economy.  ProhibitionCosts.org reports that legalizing the herb would reduce government expenditure by $5.3 billion and a state level and $2.4 billion at the federal level.  The taxation of marijuana would also help to boost the economy bringing in $2.4 billion annually (Miron). 

While the debate for marijuana legalization has been going on for years, it seems that legalization could be in our near future.  Looking at facts and statistics such as these, it seems very obvious that marijuana should be legalized for the good of both users and the American economy. 

 

Works Cited

“Legalization of Marijuana.”  CQ Researcher.  2 Apr.  2009 < id="cqresrre1967080900&type="hitlist&num="6">

 

Miron, Jeffrey A.  “The Budgetary Implication of Marijuana Prohibition.”  ProhibitionCosts.org.  June 2005

 

Mokdad, Ali H. "Actual Causes of Death in the United States, 2000." The Journal of the American Medical Association 291.10. 2004:

 

Pope Jr, H.G., and D. Yurgelun-Todd.  “The Residual Cognitive Effects of Heavy Marijuana Use In College Students.”  The Journal of the American Medical Association  275.7. 1996.  12 Feb. 2009.   .

 

Ryan, Christopher, and Nelson Butters.  “Learning and Memory Impairments in      Young and Old Alcoholics.”  InterScience  4.3 2008