Legalization of Marijuana
Research has been published in favor of legalizing marijuana. The legalization of marijuana is a political issue that has continued to surface for decades. There is countrywide support lobbying for reinstating the right to use this natural product. A large majority of this country's population refuses to accept the United States government’s decision to prohibit citizens from enjoying the benefits that this organically grown herb provides. In my paper I will research and have knowledge on the legalization and political issues about marijuana.
Most Americans do not want to spend scarce
public funds incarcerating nonviolent marijuana
offenders, at a cost of $23,000 per year. Politicians
must reconsider our country's priorities and attach
more importance to combating violent crime than
targeting marijuana smokers.
Marijuana prohibition costs taxpayers at least
$7.5 billion annually. This is an enormous waste of
scarce federal dollars that should be used to target
violent crime.
Marijuana prohibition makes no exception for the
medical use of marijuana. The tens of thousands of
seriously ill Americans who presently use marijuana
as a therapeutic agent to alleviate symptoms of
cancer, AIDS, glaucoma, or multiple sclerosis risk
arrest and jail to obtain and use their medication (Grinspoon and Bakalar).
Americans, it turns out, aren't conflicted in their attitude toward marijuana. They want it illegal but not really enforced. A Time/CNN poll last week found that only 34% want pot to be totally legalized (the percentage has almost doubled since 1986). But a vast majority have become mellow about official loopholes: 80% think it's O.K. to dispense pot for medical purposes, and 72% think people caught with it for recreational use should get off with only a fine (Time Magazine, Oct 2002).
Between 1978 and 1996, 34 states passed laws
recognizing marijuana's therapeutic value (Wesner). Most...