The legislation of marijuana has been a question on the minds of many people for some time. The issue is whether or not the legislation of marijuana will lead to more crime in society. We should legalize marijuana in the United States for many reasons: the black market would be eliminated, adults should have the right to choose whether or not they want to smoke marijuana, there are other more damaging drugs that are legal in today's society, and the legalization of marijuana would tremendously help our country economically.

This country's prohibition on marijuana has caused a dangerous, underground black market.

"Drug prohibition causes the bulk of murders and property crime in major urban areas by creating a black market characterized by warring suppliers, who charge inflated prices to users, who in turn steal to pay for their habits. Drug prohibition also fosters crime abroad, funding violent entrepreneurs and even terrorist insurgencies that threaten fragile civilian governments in poor countries" (Bandow 16).

The legalization of marijuana would not only reduce crime, but it would also give the government control of marijuana, which would

The legalization of marijuana could help the United States greatly, economically. "The United States spends $150 billion or more a year on the fight of drugs: $100 billion a year on law enforcement and criminal justice programs, $35 billion directly related to drug-law enforcement, and another $15 million that is related to crimes committed to obtain drug money or is otherwise systematically related to drug commerce"(Duke and Gross 32). Legalizing marijuana could save us a good bit of money! We could even make more money by legalizing marijuana and putting a tax on it. The money made off sales could go to the building of a lot more rehabilitation centers, so instead of arresting people because of problems with marijuana, we would offer them a way to help themselves. This would also give the police more time to concentrate on stopping the "harder" drugs.

Many people believe that adults should have the freedom to choose whether or not they want to smoke marijuana. Some government officials believe that since marijuana is illegal, most people do not smoke it. "Criminalizing drug use fails to reduce it significantly. A large percentage of the population has experimented with drugs(one-third of those over the age of twelve have used marijuana)" (Bandow 16). This quote proves that making marijuana illegal does not reduce the use of it, so we should let people make their own decision about smoking it

create a safer environment for drug users. Therefore, instead of our society using local drug dealers, which could be very dangerous because you have no idea of what they are giving you, what the drug dealers might do to you, or if they will try to persuade you into buying more harmful

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