With the evidence stated above in mind, it is obvious that we, the people, were entitled the right to possessing marijuana to begin with, but deceptive tactics were used to trick the people of the nation into thinking marijuana was a dangerous drug and that it was the cause of America’s crime rate. But till this day, there still has been no evidence that proves the use of marijuana alters the user’s conscious, causing them to commit a crime. In fact, studies show that the examination of relationships between marijuana and crime are nowhere near being significant enough to conclude that they are indeed correlated. Also, among the marijuana users who do commit crimes, marijuana never plays a causal role (
http://www.drugpolicy.org/marijuana/factsmyths/). Due to the propaganda towards marijuana, the majority of the nation was deceived into believing marijuana was an evil drug that would lead to an increase in crime and would plague the nation’s minds with insanity (
http://www.reefermadness.org/propaganda/prop.html). Although a majority of the nation now recognizes that marijuana is not as dangerous or bad as it was once portrayed, there are still those that hold onto the false allegations of marijuana because they have no experience or no desire to even care. These people are obviously the ones who would vote against the legalization of the plant! It is only moral for America to right its wrongs and give marijuana the fair trial it deserves- without ANY biased fallacies being committed toward its ‘campaign.’
For decades, marijuana was assumed to be a dangerous substance that led to crime, when abused, and was therefore proposed to be outlawed. Ironically, the outlawing of marijuana has backfired and has only made things worse. There are no means of proving that outlawing marijuana has decreased its use and countless theories have been devised stating that prohibition itself has actually caused an increase in its use (i.e. the Forbidden Fruit Effect) (
http://www.mjlegal.org/essayspeech.html). The fact that marijuana is growing in popularity among high school students and is widely available proves that prohibition does not work and is not even deterring new users from experimenting with the plant. If the original intention of outlawing marijuana was to target crime rates and lower them, then why does the outlawing of marijuana create more crimes? This rhetorical question is supported by the fact that when a particular “product” is high in demand but is illegal, crime takes place and with crime, comes people who suffer and millions of dollars wasted towards taxes spent on jails and its inhabitants. For instance when alcohol was considered contraband, moonshine (home-distilled alcohol) was still manufactured “underground” and was still distributed across America and was a source of great profit. Of course, many of these ‘moonshiners’ were caught, just like many users are caught with possession of marijuana, today. In present time, alcohol is legally sold, assuming it is purchased by someone the age of 21 or older. What was once illegal and sent many people to jail is now an everyday drink that can be seen on the shelves of just about any supermarket. What reparations can be given to those who served time for what was once a crime, which is now a “social drink?” In that same essence, what reparations can be given to the tens of thousands of so-called “criminals” rotting away in prisons across America for possessing a harmless plant?? NORML.org representatives summarize it:
More than 700,000 Americans were arrested on marijuana charges last year, and more than 5 million Americans have been arrested for marijuana offenses in the past decade. Almost 90% of these arrests are for simple possession, not trafficking or sale. This is a misapplication of the criminal sanction that invites government into areas of our private lives that are inappropriate and wastes valuable law enforcement resources that should be focused on serious and violent crime. (
http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=3418#question5)
Many people argue that marijuana should be kept illegal because it is both a harmful and addictive substance but this is not true. There has never been a single recorded account of anyone dying from an overdose of marijuana, yet there is an overwhelming amount of evidence showing that there are at least 100,000 deaths from alcohol poisoning each year (
http://www.thc-ministry.net/untoldstory/hemp_9.html). If we should keep marijuana illegal because it is supposedly dangerous, why isn’t anyone doing anything to prohibit alcohol once again and for all? A primary reason people argue that marijuana is addictive is because there are an approximate 100,000 people that are registered for the “drug treatment” of marijuana each year. But what this statistic fails to report is that most of these registered people were people ordered by the courts to enroll in these programs as an alternative to being sentenced to custody time (Stroup and Lowry 19). Besides this significant fact, the U.S. Institute of Medicine (IOM) has reported that fewer than 1 in 10 people that try marijuana become regular users of the drug, and most voluntarily cease their use after 34 years of age, on average, if they do (
http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=3418#question5). The addiction of marijuana is described to be as strong as the addiction one might have for chocolate- they simply like it so much they want it, but they are not physically or psychologically dependent on it (Herer 31). In other words, users don’t actually feel the urge to need it. Marijuana is not addictive nor is it harmful so to base the reason that marijuana should be illegal because it is addictive and harmful, would be blatantly incorrect.
Like alcohol, taxes can be applied to marijuana when legalized, bringing the nation’s economy up and possibly putting the nation out of debt eventually. The United States is in a trillion dollar debt, owing about 40% of this debt to the Federal Reserve and 25% of it to other countries (
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/faq.html). Although the taxation of marijuana may not total the amount of a trillion dollars in a year, it is projected to produce at least two billion dollars a year, if taxed, which is still a large sum of money (
http://www.prohibitioncosts.org/). This is assuming the taxes on it are an average of 7%. The government spends approximately 300 million dollars annually fighting marijuana itself (Brown, 2003). By legalizing marijuana, the government could keep 300 million dollars annually and produce a couple billion dollars on top of it by taxing marijuana sales. This would be a great source of income for the Federal Government and everyone would be in a win-win situation.
Marijuana use is not a dangerous or addictive practice and should be subject to legalization. Since the beginning of its time, no one has complained about hurting from it and no one has ever died from it. The citizens of the early 1900’s were deceived into believing marijuana was a detrimental substance that would lead to chaos which is an outright lie. If we could somehow take back these lies as if they never happened, marijuana would not be in the state it is now. It would more than likely be respected and regarded as a natural “stress reliever” as opposed to cigarettes (which contributes to tens, if not, hundreds of thousands of deaths a year); a natural pain reliever, opposed to aspirin (which contributes to an approximate 10,000 deaths a year); and would be a common pass time among social activities just like alcohol is today. We also wouldn’t have tens of thousands of middle-class workers in prisons that are suffering due to the possession of a mere plant; a mere plant that could do the United States a huge favor by being taxed upon each sale of it, helping bring the U.S. towards a smaller debt. Marijuana has taken baby steps towards its legalization in recent years as medicinal marijuana has been approved in a few states. In time, we should find that its use has proven to not be a threat to America’s society at all, and the legalization of the plant should definitely take place nationwide, not just for medicinal use, but for all to explore a world of new heights!