Argumentative Essay: The Legalization Of Marijuana

The legalization of marijuana has been heavily debated for decades and now it’s finally happening. It’s time to look at the facts and see that marijuana won’t harm society, but allow it to thrive through revenue and much more. Marijuana should be and remain legalized because of the countless health benefits, it’s relatively harmless, it already exists in society, benefits for the economy and the reason it was banned in the first place.

Marijuana should be legalized because of the health benefits that it provides to those who smoke the drug. For starters, it’s the least harmful drug and is barely considered a drug so this term is to be used loosely. This “drug” has relaxing and euphoric properties and helps millions with their struggles.(Kenny,

The truth is that marijuana is not something that should be feared considering it is less dangerous that things that have been legal for centuries. Marijuana should be legalized because it is relatively harmless, it is even less harmful than alcohol or cigarettes. Marijuana can lead to a mild psychological dependence, but not a physical dependence. Also, 1/100 marijuana users lead to coke, but there is no proof to show that marijuana is the reason they tried harder drugs. (Williams, 18) Next, the gateway theory has been dismissed and family environment and living conditions are factors in the gateway.(Kenny, 63) Addiction comes from trying other drugs and that can happen through laced weed but by selling it though the government it is ensured to be quality. This shows that it is not as addictive as you may have been taught. Marijuana is also less harmful than alcohol because you cannot overdose on weed, just green out (throw up) and that is much less severe than getting your stomach pumped from alcohol poisoning.(Williams, 64) Alcohol even causes “2/3 of all health, legal and economic problems.”(Cermak, 13) Lastly, there is a stronger dependence on legal substances like tobacco and alcohol compared to marijuana. For example, dependant rates in 1999 were, tobacco at 32%, alcohol at 15% and lastly marijuana at 9%. (Kenny, 47) Therefor marijuana should

Marijuana should be legalized because of its place in society. A poll stated that 40.2% of the population of America has tried marijuana. (Sanger) Another poll stated that 3.2 million Americans smoke regularly but most drug users stopped by the age of 34.(Van Tuyl) In 1996, 68.6 million, that’s 32% of the United States, had admitted to trying it, but only 5% were current users.(Williams, 17) This shows that millions have used the drug but have proven that they are not addicted. If marijuana is made legal the amount of people going to jail for possession will go down. There are millions of people that smoke marijuana and around 872 000 were arrested last year alone. (White) People are sent to jail over something that is widely used. If marijuana is made legal not all 7 billion people in the world will start smoking, just those who had already tried it and a few more so there will be no difference than now. So many people are users and the society is still functioning. Marijuana should be legal because freedom of choice is extremely important and a right. Considering there is proof that millions have used marijuana and still continue to live their lives, this should allow marijuana to be sold safely by the