“Should Marijuana be legalized?”
PRO
The legalization of marijuana has been a real hot button issue amongst Americans today. Data shows that over 55% of Americans believe marijuana should continue to be illegal and the remaining 45% believe that marijuana legal status should be altered. Many people believe that marijuana is harmful to the body and causes diseases, but research into the harmfulness of marijuana are inconclusive and contradictory. Most doctors would agree that it's not very harmful if used in moderation. It's only when you abuse the drug that problems start to occur. Most doctors believe that marijuana is no more addictive that alcohol or tobacco.
If marijuana was legalized, Police would be freed up for more serious crimes. Many people throughout the US consider the War on Drugs to be a failure. Resources for DEA, FBI, and border security are being wasted. The cost of police officers, judges, public defenders, prosecutors, juries, court reporters, prison guards, and so on. Legalization of marijuana would free up those people to concentrate on more important things like terrorism, harder drugs, rape, murder, and so on. In addition, an already overloaded civil court docket would be improved; thus, the wait time for other legitimate court cases would be reduced. Also the United States could be savings up to two billion to ten billion of tax payer money on law enforcement like the FBI, police, courts and prisons.
Marijuana could be taxed. A lot of money is raised through government taxation of alcohol and cigarettes. American consumers today reportedly spend around thirty billion a year for marijuana. The legalization of marijuana would create another thing that could be taxed. I'm sure the government would have no problem spending all that extra money.
CON
If marijuana is legalized, people will think smoking marijuana is something we can do every day at any time they want. People are going to smoke marijuana without getting in trouble or getting arrested. Also there is going to be easier access to marijuana, and it will be cheaper to buy. Marijuana is often used as the first step towards other drugs, such as heroin or cocaine. Studies show that marijuana use often progresses to the use of harder drugs. In other words, people experiment with what is often thought of as a "harmless" drug. Then, after using it for a while, they will want a bigger high so people start using stuff like heroin, LSD, cocaine, etc.
Legalization of marijuana could eventually lead to the legalization of harder drugs or all drugs altogether. Step-by-step, more drugs will gain acceptance, with advocacy of the legalization of harder drugs. Drugs like heroin, cocaine, and amphetamines, which we may view now as unacceptable for legalization may eventually be sold over the counter at every corner drug store.
More widespread use would increase the dangers of secondhand smoke-damage to bystanders. The dangers of secondhand cigarette smoke are well-publicized. Common sense tells us that more widespread usage of marijuana increases the likelihood that other people would suffer the damage of inhaling other people's smoke. Public places like bars would expose innocent patrons. In the home siblings, roommates, kids, and spouses would all face increased exposure. Thus, the health damage to society becomes somewhat exponential. Even marijuana smoked at home can make it's way to others, such as in multi-level apartment complexes.