Arguments Against Legalizing Marijuana

Would legalizing marijuana be a smart idea? Marijuana has been around for centuries. Throughout the centuries people used marijuana in many different ways. In the 70s, Hippies started using marijuana excessively. When the crime rate started to rise marijuana was made illegal because people thought the use of marijuana was the cause. Bush, Clinton, and Obama have each admitted smoking marijuana, if these three men have smoked marijuana and can still run the country should marijuana be illegal still? Some people believe marijuana should stay illegal, but most people will argue that marijuana should be legalized for many different reasons. These two sides argue over if the drug helps you, if it helps the economy, and if the use would increase.

The supporters of legalizing marijuana say yes it will help the economy. One in four people are in prison for nonviolent drug offenses. The majority of these people are African-American men or Latino men. By legalizing marijuana people who are in prison for drug-related offenses would be free. This will not only help their families, but it would also help the economy. These men could get back into the workforce and the poverty rate would drop tremendously. By getting these men and women out “the government would save 7.7 billion dollars annually in law enforcement costs,” and it would allow our law enforcers to focus their time on more important things (Benson). Taxing marijuana at a similar rate as alcohol and tobacco would bring in an additional 6.2 billion dollars a year (Benson). The 13.9 billion dollars being saved by legalizing marijuana could go towards programs that educate you on drugs. The non-supporters have remained silent on this subject. The silence on this subject proves that they agree with the

The non-supporters did a survey for high school students and asked them if they would try marijuana if it were legalized “5.6 percent said yes and about 45.6 percent of high school seniors admitted that they have already tried it, meaning that legalization would increase that number to 51.2 percent” (Castillo). Non-supporters have argued that legalizing marijuana will increase the use because the people who used to smoke it, but stopped because they were looking for a job would start to use it again. By legalizing marijuana people will have easier access to it. When people have access to something as dangerous as marijuana it will ruin many lives. Non-supporters say that the number of car crashes will increase tremendously because of the guesstimated amount of people that would smoke if it were legalized. Non-supporters just don’t understand why people would want a harmful drug to be legal. Supporters have argued that if marijuana was legalized a person should have to be a certain age to buy it, just like alcohol and tobacco. Alcohol and tobacco is more dangerous than marijuana, but they are legalized. Supporters argue that young people have a harder time getting alcohol and tobacco because they have an age limit to buy them. They know that young people still get alcohol and tobacco, but it’s harder when there is a strict age limit. Legalizing marijuana would not increase the use because if a person