To legalize or not to legalize?

When people talk about the legalization of marijuana there are usually those who feel quite strongly that it should be illegal and those who feel quite strongly that it shouldn't. Do those who think it should be legal live up to a stereotype? Are they wearing a tie-dyed shirt, speaking slowly and eating chips? Are they "peace loving hippies?" Certainly there are those who live up to the stereotype of a "stoner" who would like to have marijuana legalized for their own gain. Then there are those of us, like me, who think marijuana should be legalized because it just seems to make sense.

Certainly the legalization of marijuana could make it much easier to obtain for teenagers and young people who want to smoke it but, I'm telling you, it's easy for them to obtain now. People have always found ways to circumnavigate laws to get what they want. How many underage kids smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol? To me, those things are more detrimental to their health. The long-term effects of alcohol are much more dangerous for your body (liver, brain etc.) than the long term effects of marijuana usage. According to this Safer Choice article, marijuana is much safer to use than alcohol. It is less addictive, you cannot overdose on marijuana and the usage of marijuana has never been linked to any type of cancer which is not the case with alcohol.

Another possible pro is that the government could tax marijuana were it legal. We spend billions of dollars on this "war on drugs" and imagine of some of that money came from the legal sale of marijuana. Then it wouldn't be coming out of our pockets. One might argue that the legalization of marijuana could cause an increase in crime rates but according to this article, in Amsterdam where marijuana is legal, the crime rate is lower than several major US cities. Now of course legalizing marijuana may not cause a decrease in crime rate, but it just may, and it could certainly provide our country with funding from it's tax.

Lastly, the real reason I believe that marijuana should be legalized, are the medical benefits it can, and does, provide to several. In states like California and Colorado medical marijuana is legal but these are state laws and when it comes to federal laws things get tricky. The DEA can step in at any moment and take away everything in a medical marijuana shop legally even though the employees and owner are not working outside of the law. This has to stop. These people are providing a service for their fellow man. Here you can read about the many benefits of medical marijuana of which there are several. For instance, smoking marijuana can relieve chronic pain, eye pressure and nausea. It is my opinion that marijuana is a more natural choice for helping these symptoms than the chemicals that the pharmaceutical companies have put on the market. These prescription drugs put out by pharmaceutical companies could effect is in several adverse ways several years down the road and we have no way of knowing about it now.

No matter what your stance is there are pros and cons to legalizing marijuana just like any other issue and yes, this issue has been argued time and time again. Maybe one day, we'll all come to the realization that the pros seem to outweigh the cons. For more information on your own state laws regarding marijuana you can go here.