The High Life
Should the Federal Government legalize the use of marijuana?
Remone Forestal
North Miami Beach Senior High school
Abstract
The federal government should legalize the use of marijuana. The Federal Government prohibition on marijuana has failed to control the use and the domestic production of marijuana. Very few Americans knew about marijuana when it was first federally prohibited in 1937. Today, between 95 and 100 million Americans admitted to have trying it, while nearly 15 million say they used it in the past month. A study released in December 2006 found that marijuana is now the leading cash crop in the U.S., exceeding the value of corn and wheat combined. The government has used criminal consequences to avoid marijuana use for over 75 years but over 25 million people now use marijuana annually. Marijuana is also causing the justice system $1.7 billion in 2010, with an added $1.37 in state acquired court and legal costs and $496 million in marijuana punishment related costs. The state of Colorado alone expects to make 600 million dollars of legal marijuana. Also marijuana is safer than alcohol. Marijuana does not cause overdose deaths and comes with fewer long-term health consequences unlike alcohol. A 2009 Canadian study determined the annual health-related costs related with alcohol are more than eight times greater per user than with marijuana and, according to the Institute of Medicine, people who use marijuana are far less probable to become reliant on than those who drink alcohol.
The High Life
Marijuana also known as Cannabis has been documented back to 7,000 B.C. Many countries have used it in ancient history for medical reasons such as ancient Chinese, Egyptians, Greeks and the Romans. Marijuana was first used in the U.S for medical purposes but the plant fiber was in use for many years. The plant fiber was called...