Federal Legalization of Marijuana In this essay I will be arguing why marijuana should be federally legal. I will be comparing alcohol and tobacco against marijuana and using facts and statistics as well. I will mostly be getting my information from my main source “Exposing Marijuana Myths: A review of the Scientific Evidence” by Morgan, John P., and Lynn Zimmer. I believe a drug that has not affected people in such a harmful way that alcohol and tobacco has should be 100% federally legal. The main reasons I believe it should be federally legal is because it would reduce our incarcerated population by quite a bit and it would raise money for our country drastically. Not only that but if it were legal we could use our law enforcement for more …show more content…
According to the Mexican Institute for competitiveness, 40 to 70 percent of the weed consumed in the U.S. is grown in Mexico. Which means that the drug cartels coffers are roughly making $2 billion annually. Although since Colorado and Washington have legalized marijuana for recreational use it has costed the cartel a billion dollars per year (Blumenauer and Polis). Seeing these numbers and seeing how much we could save is one of the reasons marijuana should be legalized. Marijuana Legalization would help reduce a lot of crime due to less illegal drug sells. “Crime and violence, both within the U.S. and at the U.S.-Mexico border, are greatly increased due to illegal selling and buying of marijuana. Legalization would logically end the need for such criminal behavior” (White). Great portions of money are spent on marijuana drug busts, drugs trades, and selling. Which is not wrong , but maybe if it were legal it would reduce the amount of illegal drug sells and therefore save america money and …show more content…
Which research shows is completely false. “Advocates of marijuana prohibition claim that even if marijuana itself causes minimal harm, it is a dangerous substance because it leads to the use of "harder drugs" such as heroin, LSD, and cocaine. The facts, most users of heroin, LSD and cocaine have used marijuana. However, most marijuana users never use another illegal drug” (Morgan and Zimmer). It is also said that “Other drugs that are currently legal, such as alcohol, tobacco, and prescription drugs, have significant negative public health effects: Approximately 80,000 people a year die related to excessive alcohol use. Over 10,000 people a year are killed