This is an argumentative research paper on the federal legalization of marijuana. So far, a high number of Americans have admitted being users of marijuana. The number has been increasing every single year (Maier, Mannes & Koppenhofer, 2017). Americans have not been alarmed by this but have instead continued to voice their support for legalization of the drug. The recent legalization of marijuana in Washington and Colorado states point to the growing pressure on the need to make it legal. Many media reports tend to project that more states are set to follow the precedent. Moreover, marijuana appears to be widely secretly consumed, no wonder its countless name slangs mainly adopted to evade intelligence of law enforcers. Given this social atmosphere, it is obvious anticipation that the drug should be legalized.
The controversy over the federal legalization of marijuana is that it has been categorized alongside drugs like heroin and cocaine which truly have severe medical and mental consequences, and usually leading to death. However, marijuana has been proved by healthcare professionals as having useful medical value on patients with such diseases as HIV and cancer. On the other hand, tobacco smoking and alcohol which have scientifically been proven to have serious health consequences is legal (Maier, Mannes & Koppenhofer, 2017). Tobacco and alcohol cause various cancer diseases, among other biomedical diseases, and more addictive than marijuana. The only serious adverse effect of marijuana is causing mild brain impairment after long use. However, this is a condition that one can cope up with, unlike diseases and death that legalized drugs like alcohol and tobacco can cause.
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In America, it seems to have been presumed that the costs of legal drugs are less than the revenue they generate. Although legalizing marijuana for recreational use will have to be accompanied with some financial implication, like those related to enforcing responsible use, and combating negative impacts, this implication cannot outdo that of alcohol and tobacco, given the relatively low severity level of marijuana use. In 2009, close to $185 billion was spent on consequences related to alcohol against $14.5 billion collected as revenue. Similar to tobacco, more than $200 billion were estimated for adverse effects against a paltry $25 billion obtained as revenue (Monte, Zane, & Heard, 2015). From the figures, it can be seen that expenditure on legalized alcohol is 12 times higher than its revenue. For tobacco, the cost is eight times greater than the revenue it generates. Apparently, this is more of a devastating tradeoff, economically.
With no doubt, marijuana can be a better drug than some already legalized drugs, considering impact perspectives. Well, it has been widely circulated that marijuana is at present leading in regards to drug and substance reliance, more than alcohol. For example, a survey by National Household Survey on Drug Abuse in 2008 showed that 4.2 million out of 7 million surveyed were marijuana users categorized as abusers or reliant of the drug; a proportion higher than that of alcohol and tobacco (Monte, Zane, & Heard, 2015). While a survey like this might be a reflection of reality, still the issue of illegalization ought to be blamed. As can be pointed from the socio-psychological and scientific facts, marijuana is less addictive than tobacco and alcohol. As such, it could be that it being illegal has raised the curiosity of many to abuse it. Or maybe, it was only at that particular time that the survey was right. But irrespective of what the truth could be, the issue at hand is that does the negativity of marijuana make it socially, biologically, and economically bad, especially than drugs that are already legal, more specifically alcohol and tobacco? Obviously the answer should be a no. Just as mentioned earlier, marijuana impacts are less compared to those of tobacco and alcohol. As at present, marijuana is the most widely consumed illegal drug in America and in the entire world. Despite of this, it has never been associated with any disease or death, hence expected to be cheap financially unlike alcohol and tobacco smoking. Moreover, its medicinal value even qualifies it more.
The pros of using marijuana for medicinal and recreational reasons outweighs its effect of dependency, addiction, and potential health risks. Marijuana should be legalized for its high medicinal value, recreational and economic benefits.
References
Maier, S. L., Mannes, S., & Koppenhofer, E. L. (2017). The Implications of Marijuana Decriminalization and Legalization on Crime in the United States. Contemporary Drug Problems , 44 (2), 125-146.
Monte, A. A., Zane, R. D., & Heard, K. J. (2015). The implications of marijuana legalization in Colorado. Jama , 313 (3), 241-242.
