preview

Legalization of Marijuana Essay

Decent Essays

Legalization of Marijuana "The only way in which a human being can make some approach to knowing the whole of any subject is by hearing what can be said about it by persons of every variety of opinion and studying all modes in which in can be looked at by every character of mind. No wise man ever acquired his wisdom in any mode but this.' - John Stuart Mill" (Mill. 7). The topic of legalizing marijuana is a very conservational issue in American politics today. There are many good arguments both for and against legalization. But most important is that all of these arguments are based on facts. The Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, the act that effectively made marijuana illegal in the US, was based on the fact that "marijuana caused …show more content…

It is clear that our society cannot be both drug-free and free." (Grinspoon. 142) The war on drugs is not only eroding our civil liberties but is also wasting our tax money at a rate of almost "18 billion dollars a year"(Lynch.153). Moreover, more than "300,000 people a year are arrested on marijuana charges, contributing to the clogging of our courts and overcrowding prisons." (Grinspoon. 142) All this is also costing tax payers' money on top of the 18 billion a year. The war on drugs is a war within our homes, a war between our friends and family. From the early 1970's until present we have heard that marijuana "destroyed brain cells, caused psychoses, lowered testosterone levels ad sperm counts, led to breast development in males... caused chromosome breakage and birth defects." (Ginspoon. 139) However not one of these claims could ever be proven and more and more people have grown to resent the governments deceiving propaganda. So far, "not a single case of lung cancer, emphysema, or other significant pulmonary pathology attributable to cannabis use has been reported." (Grinspoon. 139) Furthermore, Marijuana has many medical benefits and has been proven to help those suffering from "Chemotherapy nausea, glaucoma, chronic pain, epilepsy, migraine, and AIDS wasting syndrome." (Grinspoon 138) Also "some people find it so

Get Access