Legalization of Marijuana The legalization of marijuana will free up the resources that are currently being used in the fight against the illegal use of it and this means that the government will be able to redirect these resources into other areas. The name cannabis refers to the variety of products of the marijuana plant that are taken by a person through various methods such as ingestion or smoking and are meant to give a psychoactive effect to the user. The drug can also be taken in its raw dried form where it is usually smoked. Marijuana is the most widely used illicit substance in the world (Levinson 9). It is illegal to grow, possess, or use the drug in its various forms. However there is an increasing debate for legalizing the drug.

The first argument that proponents of the drug have pushed are that the drug is not as dangerous as the authorities and other parties against it have made it seem. Marijuana has the same, if not less than effect on the user’s body, in comparison to alcohol and tobacco, which are legal in many countries (Johnson 702). Studies have been conducted on the chemical compounds contained in marijuana such as the British Medical Association, and they found that the nicotine found in cigarettes is a lot more addictive than THC: the active compound found in cannabis. Another argument on the dangers of these legal drugs are the numbers of deaths that have been attributed to alcohol and tobacco use mainly through disease and accidents caused while under the influence of these substances (Douglas et al 83). It is shown that more people have died through lung cancer, ulcers, drunken driving accidents and other alcohol and tobacco related incidents than the total number of people that have succumbed as a result of marijuana use. The second point that supports the legalization of the drug is many studies finding an increase in its use as a medicine. Marijuana has shown to be helpful in some cases as a result of its various properties such as pain relief and also the fact that its use results in a drastic increase in appetite. Marijuana has been used where patients are suffering from various chronic diseases such as multiple sclerosis and later stages of certain types of cancer. The legalization of cannabis has been pushed by people who believe in its use as a medical substance.

Another argument that proponents of legalization have pushed forward is that the legalization of the drug will have many economic advantages to the government through the freeing up of resources that are currently used in the fight against marijuana and in the incarceration of those convicted on marijuana related charges. Another economic benefit is that the legalization of the drug will bring about an increase in job opportunities and also through taxation increase the revenue that the government gets. Marijuana is considered a gateway drug by many groups against the use of cannabis (Levinson 117). This means that users of the drug are more likely to find themselves moving on to harder, more dangerous substances such as heroin and cocaine. For this reason, these groups have pushed for increase in efforts against marijuana as a way of ensuring that many people are not enticed into the use of other drugs. However, there have not been any studies or other concrete evidence that show that the use of marijuana encourages the use of these hard drugs in any way. The figures that are available on the use of various substances however, show that this notion is farfetched. This is because for the number of hard drug users such as cocaine and heroin, the numbers of people that use marijuana are tens or even a hundred times more (Douglas et al 96). This shows that the use of marijuana does not result in the use of other more dangerous and addictive substances.
There is no debate that marijuana is indeed a drug and that its use should be controlled, however the illegality of marijuana results in a lot more burdens to the society than if it was legalized and people allowed to use the substance without fear of legal ramifications. The legalisation of the substance will generally be better for society as it will provide a basis for control and monitoring as well as a much needed relief to the country’s legal system that is already burdened by crimes of a greater magnitude such as violent crime and theft.The figures on the deaths caused by alcohol and tobacco do indeed show that many people are suffering as a result of the use of these drugs. However this argument does not mean that since marijuana related deaths have been reported as less than these two that the drug is not dangerous (Johnson 614). This argument holds a stronger basis for the push that these drugs should be controlled in a stricter manner as opposed to simply giving people another option. The argument on the prison figures does not take into account that the offenders might not be involved purely in marijuana related illegal activities. Some of these people are most perpetrators of other crimes but their convictions are on marijuana grounds only, this means that even with the legalization of the drug the prison system should not expect the total number of people to reduce commensurate to the number of marijuana convictions: many will still be sent to correctional institutions held on different charges (Douglas et al 84).
There are several reasons that researchers point out in support to this cause and this includes: first there are too many people who enter and are retained in the American legal system as a result of marijuana related convictions. On the other hand, legalising marijuana will not be against the public good as it is responsible for less death and other adverse effects when compared to other legal drugs such as tobacco and alcohol. Another point is that the legalization of marijuana will not lead to an increase in its use and that there is no proof that the use of marijuana is a “gateway” to other drugs: meaning that the use of marijuana does not result in the use of other hard drugs (Inciardi 58). Finally there are economic advantages through the legalization of marijuana in that it will create jobs as well as increase revenue through taxation. The legalization of marijuana will also free up the resources that are currently being used in the fight against it and this means that the government will be able to redirect these resources into other areas. In conclusion, it is worth noting that legalizing of marijuana should not be perceived not only from a social point of view, but also from an economic standpoint to legalize the use of marijuana.

Work Cited

Johnson, Bankole A. Addiction Medicine: Science and Practice. Warren: Springer. 2010, Print
Levinson, Martin H.(2002) The drug problem: a new view using the general semantics approach. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group. 2002. Print
Inciardi, James A. The drug legalization debate. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications. 1999. Print
Douglas N. Husak, Peter De Marneffe. The legalization of drugs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,.2005, Print