Marijuana and the Winning Debate Alcohol and tobacco each kill millions every year, yet they are perfectly legal in the United States. Marijuana is illegal and has yet to kill anyone. So why is marijuana illegal while drugs with the most responsible deaths are not? There are many benefits to legalizing marijuana: tax revenue will bump the economy, money and resources will be saved from fighting petty marijuana cases, it can end a discriminating cultural problem and brighten the future for minorities, and last but not least, it may be used for medicinal purposes. There are many great reasons in legalizing marijuana and would be stupid to keep it illegal and prevent it from helping millions of people. Marijuana was prohibited nationally in 1937 with the Marijuana Tax Act (“Marijuana …show more content…
Although the bad name and label the Drug Enforcement Agency has given it, it has not been responsible for a death. Unlike tobacco, which takes five and a half million lives under its belt each year, there has also been no evidence that marijuana increases the risk or causes lung cancer according to Dr. Gabor Mate (qtd in “Culture High”). Even Earl Blumenauer, U.S. Representative for Oregon’s 3rd congressional district, agrees that marijuana is not as dangerous as meth. Blumenauer challenges the Deputy Director of the Office of Drug Policy by asking, “If a professional like you can't answer clearly that meth is more dangerous than marijuana, which every kid on the street knows, which every parent knows. If you can't answer that, maybe that's why we're failing to educate people about the dangers. How do you expect high school kids to take you seriously” to the Deputy Director of the Office of Drug Policy (qtd in “Culture High”). The fact that it is illegal causes it to be seen as a “dangerous”