Persuasive Essay On Legalizing Marijuana

Words: 713
Pages: 3

As America has adapted to changing cultures, one issue that has evolved tremendously over the years is the issue of marijuana legalization. It is a much more acceptable topic up for debate within the last few decades, with medical marijuana use legalized in five states in the past two years. Nationwide, it appears that public opinion is changing: a current petition to make marijuana legal has garnered nearly 100,000 signatures. Legalizing it would mean significant changes in the way we view crimes and the use of drugs across the country (web).
The main issue today is the stigma that has been attached to marijuana for so many years. Although it is waning, in parts of the country it is still very much alive. For example, a common myth is that
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If physicians are welcoming the use of marijuana for medical purposes, then why isn’t the government on board? Not only is marijuana administered to many people suffering from cancer to glaucoma to arthritis, but there is absolutely no comparing the effects of this plant to other street drugs such as heroin, cocaine, or ecstasy. Medical examiners reported a recent year that consisted of 8426 drug related deaths, and in 587 of them marijuana was found in the system of the victims. But not one was solely from marijuana alone. In every single case, another drug was found as well. (Zimmer …show more content…
When Colorado legalized marijuana, the state pulled in $2 million in taxes related to the sale of recreational marijuana in January 2014 alone. Combined with taxes on sales from medicinal marijuana, the state pulled in nearly $3.5 million in marijuana-related tax revenue. If that trend continues, the state will see more than $40 million in additional tax dollars in 2014. (Phillips Erb 1) Imagine the people we could get off the streets, the children we could feed, the schools we could fund with those tax dollars, rather than funding this war on