e under legalization, resulting in an increase in the nation’s health care costs. Olson states the doing drugs have the same risk as playing dangerous sports; sooner or later you will get hurt. The Medical Purposes In November 1996, California and Arizona had the opportunity to debate the merits of marijuana for medical purposes when the issue was presented to voters in the form of statewide ballot propositions. In both states, voters agree that medical marijuana should be allowed. As of 1998, the Arizona legislature had effectively rescinded the proposition in that states, while law enforcement officials in California have adopted a range of innovative strategies to deal with their new law. All the ramifications of the new law have yet to become clear, but the debate continues about its merit, and other states are watching California’s experiment carefully. Nick Gillespie, a senior editor of Reason magazine, believes that the passage of medical marijuana initiated in California and Arizona in 1996 challenges the extreme anti-drug tone of the current war on drugs. Since marijuana will no longer be seen simplistically as a purely evil substance, national leaders of the war on drugs will be forced to adopt new strategies and acknowledge the misleading nature of their rhetoric, according to Gillespie. He thinks that the legalization of marijuana as medicine may lead to wider rejection of the war on drugs. For elder’s point of view, I interviewed my grandparents. My grandfather Petronilo stated that there was a lot of drug back in her time too. The thing was that the drugs weren’t as publicized as they are to day so many people didn’t know about them. He said that people would do it so openly to the extent that they were walking in the streets rolling or smoking in the parks. The cops wouldn’t do anything to you if they saw you do that. He said that she would not like to see marijuana legalized. ...
