Why the Pros out weigh the Cons of legalizing marijuana Essay

Why the Pros out weigh the Cons of legalizing marijuana - Essay Example Herein will contain the reasons why the legalization of marijuana should take place, taxes placed on it for the purpose of debt relief and the medicinal value of the plant. It is imperative that the United States pass legislation to legalize the use of marijuana, as there are many people that use the drug for recreational reasons, and those who use it for medicinal reasons as well. According to a survey conducted by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health in 2009, 16.7 million Americans over the age of 12 had used marijuana at least one time in the month before this survey was conducted. That is roughly 5% of the population in the U.S. that were honest enough to admit to marijuana use. Given that so many people use the drug, if legalization were to take place, the taxation of it alone would critically help the United States’ debt problems. Often marijuana is labeled as a ‘gateway’ drug, meaning that it is the beginning drug for people to pursue other more dange rous drugs, like cocaine or heroin. This is a false assumption, and this report will seek to prove that as well. Marijuana has been used for centuries by varying indigenous peoples throughout Europe and Asia. It is thought to be first used as an intoxicant around 1000 B.C. in India. In China, it was used to make cloth and medicine, and considered to be in use in other parts of the world prior to 500 A.D. (National Commission of Marijuana and Drug Abuse, 2010). Among the many religions that use marijuana for religious purposes, the most commonly known are the Rastafarians. They use the drug to â€Å"enhance their consciousness of the relationship between God, Creation and the individual soul.† (Marijuana Legalization Organization, [MLO] 2006). Among other religions, the Quakers, Judeo-Christian, and Shinto use marijuana for religious reasons (MLO, 2006). Marijuana should be legalized, taxed and restricted to certain age groups for use in the United States, as the reasons for l egalization far outweigh the reasons not to legalize. Methodology In order to find out the medicinal value and the reasons for taxation of marijuana, I employed a Google search, and found a multitude of articles, journals and other written outlets both for and against legalization. Marijuana has been found to relieve pain and is a safe and effective treatment of peripheral neuropathy, which is a common occurrence in HIV/AIDS patents. Caused by nerve damage, this type of pain often cannot be effectively treated with standard narcotic pain medicines, but marijuana was shown to give these sufferers relief. It has also been shown to help those suffering from hepatitis C virus to curb the nausea associated with the traditional treatments. It is also being used for sufferers of multiple sclerosis and diabetes (Kampia, 2007). Although there are many medicinal purposes for the plant, legalization and taxation of it would be of enormous benefit to the United States Economy. The costs to the United States and taxpayers are enormous to keep marijuana illegal. There are no certain numbers available due to the variability of costs of factors. Some of those factors are: Cost of law enforcement officers Cost of prosecution and defense of offenders Cost of incarceration of convicted offenders Cost of social services and foster care for children of offenders (MLO, 2006). Given these costs, which are few in the plethora of available issues concerning keeping marijuana illegal, the costs of growing the plant and taxing it are hugely different and beneficial. According to MLO (2006) estimates, the U.S. spends anywhere from $7 to $12 billion each year on drug control programs. These do no include misdemeanor cases, but it is important to note that these numbers to not allow for the expenditures on marijuana alone, as it is all