LEGALIZATION WOULD BE HARMFUL ECONOMICALLY AND MORALLY

Finance the Bailout: Legalize Weed" was an editorial published
on April 7, 2009. I don't agree with this article [editorial] about
legalizing and taxing weed to help produce money , reducing the cost
of law enforcement, and a better alternative to cigarettes.

Legalizing would generate money, but not enough to make a difference.
Today's drug dealers have came up with ways to continue to sell weed
while its illegal. If it becomes legal they are going to find ways to
sale other things such as heroin, cocaine, and etc. The drug dealers
are going to find a way to make money. As long as it's a demand for
those harder drug, then that how they are going to make it. The only
way the government would be able to make a profit is to sell the weed
cheaper than on the street.

The cost of law enforcement if anything will increase because the
consequences for those harder drugs are far more worst than the
consequence for weed. The addiction to crack and heroin are much more
stronger, therefore the money spent on drug rehabilitation will
increase as people become more dependent on it. The restrictions
would definitely have to be stricter.

The author states that "cigarettes have more proven negative health
effects than marijuana." So should we legalize weed and make
cigarettes illegal? I don't think the author understands that the
government has more control over the tobacco industry than it ever
will over the weed industry. So what if weed isn't as bad for your
health as cigarettes are or doesn't really have any long term
affects. Weed has an extreme short term effect that causes people to
get high. When people are high they don't make good decisions.

If weed is legalized, this means that's people will be able to come
to work and drive high causing a more dangerous situation. I believe
that legalizing weed would only hurt Americans, economically and morally.

Tyneia McGill