Marijuana Less Dangerous Than Other Legal Substances

Austin Burgess

147 Warren Ln.           

Brevard, NC 28712

(828)-553-8758

asburgess1@catamount.wcu.edu

March 1, 2009

Terry Casey

Editor in Chief

The Daily Collegian

123 Burrows St

University Park, PA 16801

Dear Editor Casey:

In Colin Maxwell’s letter “Marijuana Less Dangerous than Other Legal Substances,” Maxwell responds to a previous letter entitled “Marijuana Higher Risk Drug than Some People Believe.”  In his letter Maxwell points out that many Americans are misinformed about marijuana.  Maxwell also makes an argument for the legalization of marijuana by stating that a legal substance such as alcohol causes more violent crimes and deaths than all illegal drugs combined.  I agree with Maxwell that there is no reason that marijuana should be illegal when far more dangerous and impairing substances such as alcohol and salvia are legal.

At first I was skeptical to completely agree with Maxwell’s statement that alcohol-related deaths occur five times more than any drug related deaths, but after doing research, I found this statement to be surprisingly accurate.  According to Journal of the American Medical Association illicit use of drugs was the cause of 17,000 deaths in the year 2000 while alcohol consumption was the cause of 85,000 deaths, exactly five times more than deaths from drug use (Mokdad).

Maxwell’s letter brings up many good points that even Americans who are against marijuana could not argue.  Statistics like these make me wonder even more why marijuana is not legal today.

Sincerely,

 

Austin Burgess

Austin Burgess

 

Works Cited

 

Maxwell, Colin. Letter. The Daily Collegian Online 13 April 2007.

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