DECRIMINALIZING MARIJUANA COULD BENEFIT THE U.S.

In 2003 marijuana possessions accounted for 21 percent of all
arrests. In a 2004 National Survey on Drugs and Health, it was found
that 94,000,000 Americans had at least tried marijuana once, and over
3 million people use it daily. About 2 million people try marijuana
for the first time every year. Yet this drug is still illegal. Should
we legalize it?

As a non-smoker, I don't feel this would solve the problem. If
marijuana is legalized, the FDA will regulate it and corporations
will sell it. They will use addictive chemicals and possibly increase
prices. The answer is to decriminalize it. If marijuana is
decriminalized there will be less over-crowding in prisons, less
organized crime profit and it will allow for more research into
medicinal uses as well as keep corporations from being able to sell it.

Comparing this situation to prohibition, society donated a lot of
time and money to the prevention of illegal sales and illegal use of
alcohol. However, this did not stop people from drinking. Organized
crime groups became the suppliers of alcohol and all of the profit
went to them. There was increased gang violence over territory, not
to mention that the illegal production made some alcohol dangerous to drink.

The same is true for marijuana use today. Laws are not keeping people
from smoking and organized crime factions are profiting. Smokers do
not always know what they are getting and the marijuana they purchase
could be laced with more dangerous drugs.

According to the FBI's Uniform Crime Report in 2000, the number of
people arrested for marijuana charges was 734,000; this number far
exceeded the number of arrests for all violent crimes combined,
including rape, murder, robbery and aggravated assault. Of these
734,000, many will not go to jail and many will not even go to trial.
They will see a judge to plea bargain, their case will be dismissed,
or they may be diverted to treatment. If marijuana were
decriminalized police forces would have more time and resources to
devote to catching real criminals, such as rapists and murderers, and
we would be able to devote our court time to sentencing such people.
Decriminalization would also lessen the prison population, which in
turn would reduce over-crowding and allow more room for these real criminals.

One medicinal use for marijuana is for cancer patients. If patients
go through chemotherapy they often have trouble eating due to nausea.
Medicinal marijuana's anti-nausea properties helps patients overcome
this feeling and also stimulates their appetite. With more research
and development, doctors may be able to find more ways to help
patients with other ailments through use of this drug.

Why not legalize? First of all, the FDA would implement standards of
growing, add taxes and instill a legal age to smoke marijuana.
Legalization would also allow corporations to control the sale of
this drug. Tobacco companies add chemicals to their cigarettes that
make them physically addictive; what is to say they would not do the
same to marijuana? By decriminalizing it, Americans would be able to
grow, possess, and smoke their own herb, only criminalizing the sale
of marijuana. In effect, this would reduce gang activity and taxes
appropriated to marijuana related offenses.

The effects of marijuana are no worse than cigarettes or alcohol.
Putting laws similar to alcohol or cigarette use on marijuana use
would curb criminal charges to only apply to underage users and
irresponsible adult users. In the Netherlands, they have a hard
drug/soft drug law that makes a clear distinction between hard drugs
[cocaine, heroin, ecstasy, i.e. drugs that have been medically proven
to be physically harmful to the human body] and soft drugs
[psilocybin mushrooms, marijuana, psychedelic drugs with minimal
harm]. The distinction comes from whether or not the drug causes
dangerous withdrawal symptoms.

If America were to decriminalize marijuana and pass laws such as
those in the Netherlands, marijuana would become less of a taboo
subject, ultimately reducing use. Prisons would benefit, Americans
would face less violence and less criminal charges and to put it
bluntly [no pun intended] everyone would be much more chill. If you
ask me, the world could use a bit more of a laid back attitude. Put
down the nuclear weapons and pick up a bag of potato chips.