This country’s structure is made up of morals and politics, so anytime an issue receives mixed responses coming from two different points of view it always become controversial. Legalizing marijuana is a controversial topic; however, there many positive arguments to support the idea of legalizing marijuana. First of all, it’s very expensive to keep marijuana illegal. According to Jeffrey Miron, a senior lecturer at Harvard University who studied about the impact of drug legalization, it cost the government almost about 20 billion dollars every year for keeping marijuana illegal. There is no good reason for marijuana not to be legal. From a philosophical point of view, people deserve the right to make choices for themselves. The government only has a right to limit those choices if people’s actions endanger someone else, but marijuana does not
The current laws are doing more harm than good, legalizing marijuana would benefit the country in many ways.
The government should not tell individuals what to do as long as they not harming others. From a philosophical point of view, individuals deserve the right to make choices for themselves. According to the philosopher Herbert Spencer, what equal freedom means is that: firstly people will have the responsibility for their own lives, rather than surrendering this responsibility to others (or pretending that they have given up responsibility, which is every bit as destructive), secondly since that will be true, fewer mistakes will be made, as people will be able to see directly the consequences of their mistakes, and be able to quickly correct them (Marijuana the Facts). So, according to Spencer the government is damaging the human race in the long run by not allowing individuals the freedom to make their own choices and thus destroying the chance for them to develop a sense of responsibility. He would say that individuals couldn't fully develop when shielded by the artificial agency of government from the consequences of one's own actions (Marijuana the Facts). Freedom, in this sense, will allow individuals to improve themselves. By giving individuals the freedom to make their own choices they will receive the necessary practice in order to develop self-sufficiency and self-control so that one's desires, when acted upon, will not involve the destruction of the equal freedom of another (Marijuana the Facts). The ethics of any society that criminalizes and seeks to punish 5% of its population over a simple plant must be called into question (Mcvay).
According to the pair of scientist of California pacific medical center in San Francisco, marijuana can stop cancer by turning off a gene called ID-I, and their research shows that CBD may prevent cancer cells in the lab that had high level of ID-I and treated them with marijuana. The outcome was positive, the cells had decreased ID-I expression and were less aggressive spreaders. Matter of fact, the American association for cancer research has found that marijuana actually works to slow down tumor growth in brain, breast and lungs. People who suffer from serious nightmares especially patients with PTSD, marijuana can be helpful. Nightmares and other dreams occur during these same stage of sleep, by interrupting REM sleep, many of those dreams may not occur. Research using a synthetic combined, like he showed a decrease in the number of nightmares in patients with PTSD. Marijuana may be a better sleep aid than some other medications or even alcohol because the letter too many potentially have worse effects on sleep.
The legalization of marijuana will help benefit the economy, and also help reduce violence. Since Colorado legalized marijuana, it has blown away tax expectations (Wyatt). $98 million is the projected amount of sales Colorado should expect from marijuana in the next “fiscal” year (Wyatt). $40 million of the money that is made from the taxing on pot is already scheduled to be spent on schools, the money is projected to be made by only next year (Wyatt). Think of all the money that would be gained if it was legalized on a national level. It would bring all the drug money from underground and bring it to the surface. Also the U.S wouldn’t have to spend $20 Billion a year on the fight against marijuana (Sledge 1). The legalization will also help reduce drug violence in the United States, and Mexico. 28,000 US citizens have died since late 2006 by the Mexican drug war (Carmin). The National Drug Control Policy has mentioned that 60 percent the money made by the Mexican drug cartels is from marijuana (Carmin). The legalization of marijuana will help the economy while also, help reduce violence.
Marijuana is less dangerous than other legal and illegal choices. Continual marijuana use is at its peak since 1981 (Gwynne). Cigarettes and alcohol have each also reached historic lows (Gwynne). Consumption of alcohol is responsible for 80,000 deaths in America each year (Grush). While cigarettes are the cause for 480,000 deaths annually (Tobacco). While there has not been proof of a single marijuana related death. Synthetic marijuana is also becoming infamous since people are afraid to use marijuana since its illegal, so they turn to the more dangerous and potentially fatal synthetic marijuana. There are more people smoking fake marijuana than real marijuana (Gwynne). Prescription pills/drug abuse is becoming more common. “15.2 percent of 12th graders have abused prescription pills in the past year, making them the second most commonly used drug behind marijuana” (Gwynne). Prescription drugs are responsible for more deaths than methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin all together (Gwynne). Marijuana is less dangerous than other legal and illegal choices. "Marijuana: The Facts." 2006. Drug Policy Alliance. 7 Mar 2006.
McVay, D. (1991). Marijuana Legalization: The Time Is Now. SAGE Publications Inc. 22 Apr 2006.
Sledge, Matt. "Marijuana Prohibition Now Costs the Government $20 Billion a Year:
Economist." Huffingtonpost. N.p., 20 Apr. 2013. Web. 8 Mar. 2014.
Wyatt, Kristen. "Colorado's Legal Marijuana Market Is Bringing in Way More Tax Revenue than Expected Read More: Http://www.businessinsider.com/colorado-pot-market-tax-2014-2#ixzz2vBp002uJ." Business Insider. N.p., 19 Feb. 2014. Web. 6 Mar. 2014. .
Grush, Loren. "Alcohol Consumption Is the Direct Cause of 80,000 Yearly Deaths in the Americas." Fox News. N.p., 15 Jan. 2014. Web. 6 Mar. 2014.
"Tobacco-Related Mortality." Centers For Disease Control And Prevention. N.p., 6 Feb. 2014. Web. 6 Mar. 2014. .
Gwynne, Kristen. "Teens Are Choosing Marijuana over More Harmful Substances." Teens at Risk. Ed. Stephen P. Thompson. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013.