The Legalization of Marijuana
With the increase in the number of middle-class users of marijuana in the 1960s and 1970s, there came a somewhat greater acceptance of the view that marijuana should not be considered in the same class as narcotics and that U.S. marijuana laws should be relaxed. The Drug Abuse Prevention Act of 1970 eased federal penalties somewhat, and 11 states decriminalized possession. However, in the late 1980s most states rewrote their drug laws and imposed stricter penalties. People who would choose to keep marijuana illegal are saying that it is an intoxicant less controllable than alcohol, and that our drug-using society does not need another widely used intoxicant. They fight against this despite the efforts worldwide of people studying the medical uses of marijuana.The first and most basic reason that marijuana should be legal is that there is no good reason for it not to be legal. Some people ask 'why should marijuana be legalized?" but they should be asking "Why should marijuana be illegal?" From a philosophical point of view, individuals deserve the right to make choices for themselves. The government only has a right to limit those choices if the individual's actions endanger someone else. This should not apply to marijuana, be
Marijuana is often referred to as a "Gateway Drug," which is completely not true. It is called the "gateway theory," and has been so thoroughly discredited that it is still only used by the undereducated opponents of legal marijuana use. The theory's difficulty begins with a simple fact: Most people who use marijuana, even those who use it on a daily basis, don't go on to use any other illegal drug. According to an Institute of Medicine report, "75% of the Men of the age, 34 to 35 who had used marijuana 10 to 99 times by the age 24-25, never used any other illicit drug." With a minority of only 25% of these men using other drugs, how can marijuana be considered a gateway drug? There is no evidence that the use of marijuana was directly related to the use of other illegal drugs. It is however neglectful to say that marijuana does not have any harmful affects on the body. The reason that marijuana poses a threat to your health is because most people smoke it, and smoking anything is hazardous to your health. But there are other ways to use marijuana which pose no health risk. One of the best ways to get high is by digesting the drug. After all there is evidence that marijuana in food form (such as brownies) produces a more enjoyable high. But eating marijuana is not a choice for most people because it takes more marijuana to get high that way and marijuana is expens
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Approximate Word count = 929
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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