Pros And Cons Of Legalizing Marijuana

Submitted By yungworthington
Words: 1631
Pages: 7

The Plan
The potential for so much to gain and improve medically and financially from legalizing marijuana is too much to look past. Right now there are 90 uses for weed medically and that list will grow if the plant is legalized due to more research done. This is why both parties need to come together to negotiate and compromise a piece of legislation to appease both parties and end this ongoing feud. There is just too much to gain in multiple aspects and the possibilities are endless for what the future could hold. I feel that a piece of legislation to legalize marijuana would be most beneficial to our country as a whole. Now certain regulations and stipulations would be in place to ensure that this movement would benefit to all sides as much as possible to ensure that the best legalizeing bill is created. Whether or not the substance should be legal or illegal shouldn’t even be the question. We should be choosing between decriminalizing or legalizing it. If you legalize something, you make it like cigarettes and alcohol, which you can buy in corner stores. If you decriminalize it, you don’t necessarily permit it to be sold publicly or freely, but you no longer jail people for their personal use of the drug. You might still make it illegal to traffic in it. All the government is doing is changing society into thinking that what one person chooses to do on his free time makes him a criminal. Prior to the established prohibition of alcoholic beverages in the United States, you were pronounced a criminal if you took part of simply drinking a beer. What really is the difference?
While I was writing this paper it came to my attention that Amendment 64 had been passed in th first state ever. With the new amendment being passed it is a big stepping-stone into the legalization of mariujuna. Colorado Amendment 64 is an amendment to the Article 17 of the Colorado state constitution to adopt a progressive cannabis drug policy. Section 3 will allow the "personal use and regulation of marijuana" for adults 21 and over. Section 4 addresses legal commercial cultivation, manufacture, and sale. The intent is that cannabis be regulated in a manner similar to alcohol. The measure passed on November 6, 2012, and along with a similar Washington measure is "an electoral first not only for America but for the world". With this being the case, recreational smoking for adults is now legal! You will have to be at least 21 years of age to buy or use the substance. When operating a motor vehicle you may not use the substance while driving or at anytime before in which the effects have not worn off. A certain tax would be placed on all sales of cannabis that would be determined by the government. Other standards will be put in place in order to make sure it is properly used.
The anti-marijuana side is very respectable and upholds some critical points in their argument ,but, countless studies have been done to disprove popular beliefs and stigma associated with the use of marijuana. Along with research and studies taken from this field, common sense is a major role during indicating whether or not marijuana should be legal. When 5.4 million people die from cigarettes a year and 75,000 people die alcohol related issues per year, why did the usage of recreational marijuana become known to be the wrong thing to do? For the past 80 years the anti-legalization members have been winning the fight. What you don't see through all the war on drugs publicity is the positive things it can create for the United States. First thing that is important to take into account is that fact that marijuana is the nations leading cash crop. If we capitalized on this opportunity we could help erase our national debt and chip away at the recession we are currently in. TIf this amendment were to be passed in all the states, the United States would save the government 10-14 billion dollars if cannabis were legalized. That’s just how much it would save, not the