Free Essay on Marijuana Legalization

Marijuana Legalization in the United States

Marijuana, also commonly referred as cannabis, is a drug prepared from the cannabis plant. The drug is used as medicine or as a recreational drug. At present, the usage of marijuana has become a very controversial and prominent issue. In the United States, it is illegal to use Marijuana at the federal level of government and okay to use for the medical purpose at some state level of governments. The discussion on the usage of marijuana has gained momentum in recent year. 25 states have enacted laws to allow usage of marijuana for medical purposes, however, recreational use of marijuana is completely legal in some states. From the statistics provided by the federal government, over 80 million individuals consume marijuana. Many of the people who smoke marijuana are law obeying people, who positively contribute to their societies, remit taxes and work hard. Arguably, a considerable number of individuals who consume marijuana are not felons, and consequently, it will be wrong to treat them as such. There is a dire need to review the reality on the state and federal regulations. This essay will give reasons supporting the legalization of marijuana.

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Criminalization of marijuana has the detrimental effect of ruining the lives and careers of thousands of hardworking people every single year. Thousands of individuals are detained and charged with smoking marijuana. Most of the persons are arrested for being in possession of marijuana, and not trafficking or vending. Clearly, this is an illegal sanction whereby the personal lives of individuals are intruded on and interfered with. The government should rather use its resources to focus on violent and grave crimes.

Legalization of marijuana will also save the government a lot of money. The government uses billions of dollars each year hunting down peaceful citizens who smoke marijuana for recreational purposes. The arrested persons get detained in jails, and the taxpayers’ money is channeled towards maintaining them in prisons. This is enormously expensive! The government will save a lot of billions of dollars each year if marijuana is legalized and direct the billions towards improving the general well-being of the population. Furthermore, if marijuana is legalized, the government will receive a lot of tax revenue from its sale, and it will have more money to channel towards significant causes.

Another reason why marijuana should be legal is that a ban on its usage does not assist the nation in any way, and indeed it results in more problems than solutions. There is no proper evidence that criminalization reduces drug use, and there are many theories that indicate a ban possibly will upsurge drug use. Since you do not need to be 21 to buy marijuana, it is readily available even to high school going juveniles. People who sell marijuana do not care about the age as long as you have to buy. Marijuana should be legalized like other drugs such as tobacco and alcohol and have an age limit imposed on its consumption. This will keep the drug away from kids. The government should focus its resources on programs to educate youth on the effects of drugs and treatment programs for addicts.

In conclusion, the government ought to give a thoughtful deliberation in decriminalizing marijuana. The advantages of marijuana are numerous and without a doubt outweigh the undesirable effects of it. It does not make sense to legalize alcohol and tobacco which serious health problems and sometimes death and leave out a drug that can save millions of lives due to its medicinal value.