Marijuana Legalization

Marijuana Legalization

A number of movements to legalize the use of marijuana have been gaining steam lately. There are places in California where it's already legal for medicinal purposes. Much of the American public now believes that the drug should be legalized (41 percent according to a Zogby International Poll) but others are still concerned about health damage and other adverse affects.Yes
1. The drug generally isn't more harmful than alcohol or tobacco if used in moderation. As you'll see by reading research studies from the related links section at the bottom of the page, the studies of the harmfulness of marijuana are inconclusive and contradictory. Most doctors would agree that it's not very harmful if used in moderation. It's only when you abuse the drug that problemsstart to occur. But isn't abuse of almost any bad substance a problem? If you abuse alcohol, caffeine, Ephedra, cigarettes, or even pizza, health problems are sure to follow. Would you want the government limiting how much coffee you can drink or how much cheesecake you take in? Most doctors believe that marijuana is no more addictive that alcohol or tobacco.
2. Limiting the use of the drugintrudes on personal freedom. Even if the drug is shown to be harmful, isn't it the right of every person to choose what harms him or her? Marijuana use is generally thought of as a "victimless crime", in that only the user is being harmed. You can't legislate morality when people disagree about what's considered "moral".
3. Legalization would mean a lower price; thus, related crimes (liketheft) would be reduced. All illegal drugs are higher in price because the production, transportation, and sale of the drugs carry heavy risks. When people develop drug habits or addictions, they must somehow come up with the money to support their cravings. Unless a person is wealthy, he or she must often resort to robbery and other crimes to generate the money needed to buy the drugs. Legalizationwould reduce the risks and thus reduce the prices. There would therefore be less need for the secondary crimes needed to raise money.
4. There are medical benefits such as the those for cancer patients. As detailed in the related links section, there are a number of medical benefits of marijuana, most notably in the treatment of patients undergoing chemotherapy. Others believe it helps in thetreatment of depression. Certain states like California have brought initiatives to legalize the drug for at least medicinal purposes.
5. Street justice related to drug disputes would be reduced. Currently, if someone in the drug trade screws you over, there's no police to call or lawyers to litigate. You must settle disputes yourself. This often leads to cycles of retaliatory violence.Legalization would create proper means to settle disputes.
6. It could be a source of additional tax revenues. An enormous amount of money is raised through government taxation of alcohol, cigarettes, and other "sins". The legalization of marijuana would create another item that could be taxed. I'm sure the government would have no problem spending all that extra money.
7. Police and courtresources would be freed up for more serious crimes. Many consider the War on Drugs an expensive failure. Resources for DEA, FBI, and border security are only the tip of the iceberg. You must add in the cost of police officers, judges, public defenders, prosecutors, juries, court reporters, prison guards, and so on. Legalization of marijuana would free up those people to concentrate on more importantthings like terrorism, harder drugs, rape, murder, and so on. In addition, an already overloaded civil court docket would be improved; thus, the wait time for other legitimate court cases would be reduced.
8. Drug dealers (including some terrorists) would lose most or all of their business. Perhaps the biggest opponents of legalizing drugs are the drug dealers themselves. They make their...