Argumentative Essay: The Legalization Of Marijuana

In recent discussions of marijuana, a controversial issue has been whether or not to legalize it. On the one hand, some argue that the legalization would be beneficial to society and to the medical field. On the other hand, however, others argue that legalizing this drug would be detrimental to society and impact everyone negatively. My own view is that marijuana should be legalized today for recreational and medicinal purpose. I believe this because marijuana has little to no health risks, is far less dangerous than any legal drugs, and because prohibition is costly and not effective. This issue is important because it is becoming so popular today with some states even choosing to officially legalize it. With the world around us changing it

Nobody has ever passed away for consuming too much marijuana, the few addictive assets that it does have are very low, and smoking or consuming it has never been linked to causing any type of chronic or fatal condition. For many years before marijuana was prohibited it was very commonly used in medical setting because of its amazing power to ease pain when it comes to nausea, pain relief, and other ailments. It was used for all of these reasons because marijuana can benefit rather that impair. For an average adult consumer, marijuana will not affect them negatively if they use it nonchalantly and are in good overall health when they do. Like any other drug, the affects that people receive depend on multiple factors. In marijuana’s case it depends on how old the person is, how often they consume it, and how much of the substance they consume at a given time. Even if all of these factors are not in a persons favor they still will not have any serious adverse affects on the consumer and the worst side affects that could occur would be trouble sleeping and becoming cantankerous. Overall, marijuana is not linked to any serious health problems and the minor ones that do occur in people are mild and not life threatening like they might have been with other drugs. This is the only drug that allows its users to live normal and constructive lives while still enjoying the pleasures that comes along with

According to Robert Taylor, a PolicyMic journalist, “Prohibition is a messy business that has never been proven effective. The aftermath sometimes is more terrifying than the times before prohibition. The drug war on cannabis is as illogical as wearing shoes on your head”. Robert Taylor is simply stating that as we can clearly see from times past prohibition only results in more violence and conflict and in the end prove to be ineffective. It is impossible to keep ignoring an issue that has been proven to not effect society negatively and is something that could bring many positives to society as a whole. One of those positives would the revenue that the legalization of marijuana would bring in. It is not surprise that the cost of maintaining prohibition is high, and Harvard Professor Jeffrey Miron agrees when he argues “we could not only save enforcement costs by eliminating prohibition, we could also raise six billion or so annually by taxing the sale of marijuana”. This type of money in the system would greatly benefit our economy as a whole and would allow our police force to focus on other matters besides petty marijuana arrests. New York City alone spends sixty to one hundred million dollars each year on marijuana arrests and that is costing the city more than it can afford. One of the best statements that I have come across in regards to making revenue off of marijuana comes from