Debate on Marijuana Use

Legalizing Marijuana

The war on drugs is quite an expensive battle since a great deal of the resources are normally spent on catching those that buy and sell the illegal drugs in the black market prosecuting them and putting them in jail. The legalization of Marijuana in the U.S. has been an object of continued debate. Some states have already enacted laws that have legalized the therapeutic use of marijuana whereas there are others that still have pending legalization laws. There are confusing messages that re being sent by popular culture, media proponents of medical marijuana as well as political campaigns to make marijuana legal are used to perpetrate a false notion that marijuana causes no harm. This paper will look at the negative and positive aspects of legalization of marijuana in a community and in American society as a whole.

Positive aspects

The prohibition of marijuana has to be weighed against the loss of an individual's personal freedom. Every individual has to have his or her own free will and a community and America in general has the responsibility of respecting this free will. The legalization of marijuana means that an individual's free will is respected. Legally prohibiting marijuana does not stop people from consuming the drug and at the same time, it does not stop the traffickers from producing and selling it. The marijuana prices are very high due to its black market status, which alongside its powerful effects it might lead to the users to commit crimes to fund their addictions. If marijuana is, legalized entrepreneurs that notice great profits that can be realized from marijuana market can start their own and lead to an increase in supply of marijuana in the streets. This results to the prices going down almost to its cost of production.

Therefore, there will be a decrease in crimes in the community since the users will have no reason to commit crimes. Illegal drug dealers sell marijuana to anyone without excluding children. Merchants that are going to be allowed to sell marijuana legally will not be allowed to sell it to children. Therefore, legalization of marijuana means that it will not be available to children unlike when it is not legal.

Legalization of marijuana could also be transformed to profits to the government. If the tax on marijuana is same as the difference between local and production cost and those prices in the streets that people are paying currently, if the revenue is transferred from those that currently produce it and marketers to the government with all marketing and transportation issues left out then the government will earn revenue (Malerba, 2010). The medicinal value of marijuana cannot be totally thrashed aside since the cancer patients find it as a pain killer and also helps them in activating appetite to eat.

Negative aspects