Persuasive Essay On Legalizing Marijuana

Marijuana is a very prominent and controversial issue in society today. Although many slanderous claims have been made about cannabis in recent history, the truths are slowly starting to resurface. The big question succeeding these truths is if marijuana should be legalized in the United States collectively. Unfortunately, these truths are under a substantial amount of criticism due to the stereotypical view of what people see as the typical “pot smoker.” This twisted perception of a lazy and unmotivated America is the product of almost one hundred years of propaganda and deception spread by private interests who needed cannabis to be illegal for their own personal benefits. When taking into account the positives and negatives of the legalization

Heath was a researcher at Tulane University, involved in the marijuana research craze of the 1970’s. During this time Ronald Reagan, the so-called "Great Communicator" told the national press, “The most reliable scientific sources say permanent brain damage is one of the inevitable results of the use of marijuana.” (L.A. Times.) What Reagan failed to mention was that the “most reliable” sources, were in fact the least reliable. Dr. Heath had been conducting experiments at Tulane, attempting to prove a direct relation between marijuana use and brain damage in its patrons. Heath’s research methodology involved strapping Rhesus monkeys into a chair and pumping them with the equivalent of 63 Colombian strength joints in “five minutes, through gas masks, losing no smoke.” (Playboy) Dr. Heath concluded that the Rhesus monkeys, forced to smoke the equivalent of 63 Colombian strength joints a day, began to atrophy and die after a number of months due to brain damage. Till this day, reports of dead brain cells discovered in monkeys who were forced to smoke cannabis has lived on in federal booklets, and government sponsored propaganda literature opposing marijuana. The information that has been kept quiet for so long is that other prominent researchers had completely discredited Heath’s experiment after further review. It turned out that Heath’s experiment had no value in connecting marijuana consumption with brain damage, for the reason that he had completely left out facts of

However, there is one major problem affecting this country that either side of the debate would be foolish to overlook. The prohibition of marijuana in the Unites States costs the federal government an excess of 20 billion dollars a year, even with legalization efforts just scratching the surface to reduce that number. This ludicrous amount of money that comes out of the American peoples tax dollars is mostly a result of the imprisonment of marijuana offenders on large and small scales. As of recently, over 50 percent of inmates currently in federal prison, are there for drug offenses. Marijuana related crime accounts for almost 27.6 percent of inmates locked up in prison right now. Jeffrey Miron, a senior lecturer at Harvard University studied the likely impacts of drug legalization, “finding that about $8.7 billion would be saved on law enforcement and another $8.7 billion would be generated from taxes on marijuana. Accounting for inflation, that would add up to about $20 billion now.” (Huffington Post) The exorbitant price to keep marijuana off of the streets where it isn’t wanted is far too high for a substance that does little to harm users, and non-users alike. If marijuana opponents can’t agree on anything, they should at least acknowledge that keeping marijuana illegal in this