Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Legal Issues Legalization of Marijuana1 Legalization of Marijuana1 The legalization of marijuana has been questionable for many many years now, but the government just seems to always decline. I feel that marijuana should be legalized. There are many reasons for and against legalization, but the arguments for it outweigh the arguments against it. I believe marijuana should be legalized for three main reasons. Legalization will bring in much needed tax dollars, it will free up prisons and their resources, and it will save the U.S tons of money. If marijuana is legalized, it can be taxed by the federal government, like alcohol and cigarettes are now. If this is done, not only will the government save millions of dollars on searching for marijuana, the government will make billions of dollars off the sale of marijuana which can be used for drug education programs to help educate the youth of America. In the United States, all levels of government (federal, state, and local authorities) participate in the "War on Drugs." We currently spend billions of dollars every year to chase peaceful people who happen to like to get high. These people get locked up in prison and the taxpayers have to foot the bill. We have to pay for food, housing, health care, attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses to lock these people up. This is extremely expensive! If you must know, it costs taxpayers like you and me $42,000 a year to keep just one criminal in jail. That's more than twice the amount citizens spend on sending their children to school. Taxpayers only spend a dissapointing $13,000 a year for public schooling. We could save billions of dollars every year as a nation if we stop wasting money locking people up for having marijuana. In addition, if marijuana were legal, the government would be able to collect taxes on it, and would have a lot more money to pay for effective drug education programs and other important causes. According to The Report of the Task Force on Cannabis Regulation to the Center for the Study of Drug Policy, "marijuana is one of the largest tax-exempt industries in the country today." 10-15 billion dollars a year could be made simply by legalizing cannabis. Hemp, the nonpsychoactive version of the plant, has many, many uses but is outlawed by the U.S. government. Hemp is an incredibly strong fiber that can be used for ropes, clothes and cloth. Its seed can be used in many industrial applications. The seed can also be used for animal and human consumption. Paper can be made from the fiber of hemp. Legalizing marijuana will allow our industries to grow and allow our government to make billions of dollars annually off the taxation of marijuana and hemp. According to a study done by Ethan Nadelmann and Jann Wenner, "approximately 500,000 people each year are arrested for possession, sale or manufacture of marijuana. This money could go to drug treatment and prevention, but instead it goes to keeping someone in jail." If these criminals were released, jails would be much less crowded and the chances of rehabilitating a convict will only increase as crowding decreases. People become more angry and are quicker to be become violent than if we are in an environment For teenagers, one of the big kicks of using marijuana is that it is illegal, it is a way to rebel against society. If marijuana is legalized, part of the thrill of using it will be taken away. I am not trying to say that legalization will wipe out the use of marijuana, in fact during the first few years of legalization, usage will probably rise. But as more and more generations of people grow up knowing that marijuana is legal, less and less people will start using it because it's "thrill of rebellion" will have been taken away. The decriminalization and legalization of marijuana will benefit America by increasing revenue for the government, decreasing the overcrowded prisons, and taking the thrill of using our of marijuana are three main reasons for legalization. Economy, prisons and rebellion among teenagers are not the only reasons marijuana should be legalized, they are just the tip of the iceberg. There is also the issue of all the Pro-Marijuana clubs and organizations, such as NORML that exist today constantly trying their hardest to legalize drugs such as Marijuana. The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws also known as NORML was founded in 1970, an advocate for legalizing marijuana. During the 1970s, NORML led the successful efforts to decriminalize minor marijuana offenses in 11 states and lower penalties in all others. Though the movement eventually fell victim to the "war on drugs," NORML has remained the nation's principal organization dedicated to ending marijuana prohibition. Today NORML serves as an informational resource to the national media on marijuana-related stories; lobbies state and federal legislators to permit the medical use of marijuana and to reject recent attempts to treat minor marijuana offenses more harshly; and serves as the umbrella group for a national network of citizen activists committed to ending marijuana prohibition. Also in Washington, hundreds of students from all over the US gather for the "Student Leaders in Drug Policy and Justice Conference–The DARE Generation Speaks Out", hosted by Students for Sensible Drug Policy (www.ssdp.org), November 10 and 11, 2001. Ranging from high-school age to all levels of university, kids and young adults packed the rooms at George Washington University, listening to numerous freethinkers, politicians, and drug war reform advocates. Organized by SSDP National Director Shawn Heller, with the help of Carolyn Lunman and other SSDP volunteers, the rooms were filled with eager, attentive, youths all trying to figure out ways for abolishing the war on some drugs and users. Topics covered in lectures and breakaway classes included the Higher Education Act of 1998, which denies students who've received drug convictions federal aid for college; harm reduction and club drugs, engaging communities affected by the War on Drugs, international drug policy, and Prohibition does not help the country in any way, and causes a lot of problems. There is no good evidence that prohibition decreases drug use, and there are several theories that suggest prohibition might actually increase drug use. One unintended effect of marijuana prohibition is that marijuana is very popular in American high schools. Why? Because it is available. "You don't have to be 21 to buy weed -- marijuana dealers such as myself don't care how old you are as long as you have the cash. It is actually easier for high school students to get pot than it is for them to get alcohol, because alcohol is legal which is regulated to keep it away from kids." A student who wishes to remain anonymous informs me of. If our goal is to reduce drug consumption, then we should focus on open and honest programs to educate youth, regulation to keep drugs away from kids, and treatment programs for people with drug problems. But the current prohibition idea does not allow such reasonable approaches to marijuana; instead we are stuck with 'DARE' police officers spreading lies about drugs in schools, and policies that result in jail time rather than treatment for people with drug problems. The government tried prohibition with alcohol, and that failed miserably. In conclusion, Marijuana should be legalized because there isn't enough proof or reasoning to label it as a bad thing. I think if God made it we should use it regardless of what the government thinks. Maybe someday they will see it my way after all. Bibliography: Freeman, Sally. Drugs And Civilization. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1988. Schleichert, Elizabeth. Marijuana. New Jersey: Enslow Publishers, 1996. Nadelmann, Ethan and Jann Wenner of http://www.mpp.org/ DuPont L, Robert M.D. Gateway Drugs. New York: American Psychiatric Press, INC, 1984. Word Count: 1266
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