Definition of the problem
Marijuana is best described as the dried flowers, leaves and seeds of the hemp plant that is commonly known as Cannabis sativa. It is known by many other names such as bhang, dope, pot, Ganja among others. The drug is a hallucinogen commonly known to distort the mind. It is illegal in many parts of the world where it is smoked as a cigarette or in a pipe. In more recent times it is being mixed with other foods and brewed with some beverages such as tea. When it is smoked or used, its effects are felt within minutes, and it immediately increases a person’s heart rate, reduces balance and coordination and makes them transit into a dreamy state. Marijuana is a drug that has been highly misunderstood by most people and has remained to be dangerous because almost everyone thinks it is dangerous (Rosenthal & Kubby 7). Its usage is cited as not good for the country, and that is the reason there have been many reasons to have it remain illegal.
Solutions to the problem
It is ideal that marijuana is legalized
Reform marijuana laws
Create tougher laws on marijuana
The most promising solution
Legalizing marijuana is not only promising, but looks like the only ideal way of dealing with the problem of marijuana use in the United States. This approach might seem outrageous to average Americans, but it remains to be the surest way of dealing with this problem. Looking at the facts about its usage and the arrests that are made every year, it becomes clear that the consequences of marijuana legalization are not that bad. The benefits are equally as good because everybody stands to gain. It might seem to be the hardest and most outrageous thing to do in this modern day, but the few states where it has been legalized have not faced the dire consequences everyone thinks of at the slightest thought of legalized marijuana (Rosenthal & Kubby 19). The debate has been rife as to what could be the solution to the problem of the use of marijuana in the United States, and many are failing to see how important it could be to have this drug legalized. It is for that reason that this essay will argue that the best and most practical solution to the problem of marijuana in the United States is legalizing it.
Legalizing marijuana should have happened by now because the drug is not as dangerous as the government and other stakeholders want it to be. In fact, there is no tangible reason ever given for it to remain illegal. If only this debate would embrace a philosophical point of view, people should be given the freedom to choose what is right for them as long as they are not harming others. The choices people make are the ones that make or destroy them, and no one will be willing to make deliberately destructive choices in as far as the use of pot is concerned. The use of alcohol legally has been around for far too long yet not every American is alcoholic, neither is everyone using alcohol. If only the same case is applied to the use of marijuana the situation could have been different. The more marijuana users are targeted, the more the drug will attract many people who will wish to experiment with it trying to know what it has that makes it a threat to the government.
Also, the legalization of marijuana will go a long way into saving the government a lot of unnecessary expenses it uses in fighting its use. In the United States, all levels of governance play a huge role in a drug war the country is losing. The war on drugs has not yielded as many fruits as it out to have for the simple reason that they are not doing enough to contain the use of marijuana. Billions of dollars are being spent on otherwise peaceful citizens who only want to get high. Many of them are law abiding people who work very hard to promote the economy and by locking them up, it means the country is equally losing out on something (Caulkins et. al 67). Lest one forgets, it is the taxpayers who pay for their upkeep in prison, and that is money that could have been channeled to better projects that will benefit the country. There is a lot of money the government could have collected as proceeds from the taxation of legal marijuana businesses from across the country (Rosenthal & Kubby 104). There is a lot of progress that can be achieved from the legalization of marijuana, and more money will be made available for use in other important issues affecting Americans.
Prohibiting the use of marijuana does not benefit any American in any way because in the end it only leads to a lot of problems. It is for a fact that its prohibition has not reduced its use, and neither has it stopped it. It is common knowledge that most people will want to experiment with that one thing that they are told not to use just so as to experience it and know how it feels like using it (Doweiko 17). That explains the reason marijuana is very popular, so much so that its market keeps increasing all the time. The one thing that the government and other anti-marijuana agencies forget is that this drug is always available even to underage persons. The dealers do not care who they sell the drug to as long as they make their profits. If only the drug became legalized and was sold under safer conditions, then underage persons and high school children could not be having access to it. That is so because it will only be sold to people of legal age. Those who champion for its legalization hold a firm conviction that if there were open and honest forums through which the drug is accessed; then there could be lesser marijuana problems to deal with than there are at the moment.
Counterargument to the legalization of marijuana
But again, there is a section of the population that believes that the legalization of marijuana is not the best move for the country for now. That is especially true considering that scientific studies link the use of this drug to heart and lung diseases, cancers as well as decreased memory capacity. That only means that allowing the drug to be legal; there are very high chances that many people will use it, and that will expose them to these health conditions (Rosenthal & Kubby 61). Besides that, others believe the legalization of marijuana will serve as an impetus to the rise in illegal and criminal activities in the country (Doweiko 98). By legalizing marijuana, there will not have been a tangible result that will positively impact the lives of all the law abiding Americans who would wish to engage in its use. Neither has the illegal status of this drug affected them. But again the government does not possess the moral authority to legalize a drug that a bigger section of its population thinks is immoral. Marijuana is considered unhealthy just like many other illegal substances, and if the state or federal governments are keen on protecting its citizens, then it should do so without compromising its stand on what is immoral.
Rebuttal of the Counterargument
Of course, not everyone will agree to have marijuana legalized, what those who oppose this debate forget is the reality that their facts are not proven. There are a lot of other causes of chronic illnesses, such as cancer and other heart problems than marijuana. One other thing they forget is that medical marijuana has proven to be medicinal to most of the ailments they cite. The legalization of marijuana will not only be beneficial to cancer patients and others who are suffering from other known ailments, but the move will go a long way into ensuring that the drug will be used under organized and protected circumstances that will make it less harmful to its users (Rosenthal & Kubby 23). It is a fact that marijuana use cannot be directly tied to the rates of crimes in the country because there are a lot more drugs that are used together with it. For instance, alcohol which is legalized leads to addiction and impaired reasoning so much so that it can lead a person to commit a crime. Other drugs such as crack cocaine are also as harmful. It is hard to separate crimes that have been committed due to the use of marijuana from others. What the anti- legalization of marijuana agencies and people should remember is that they only need to give this legislation a chance and perhaps that is when they will realize how important it will be to have this drug legalized.
Works Cited
Caulkins, Jonathan, P., Hawken, Angela., Kilmer, Beau, & Kleiman Mark A. R. Marijuana Legalization: What Everyone Needs to Know. New York: OUP, 2012. Print
Doweiko, Harold. Concepts of Chemical Dependency. Belmont: Cengage Learning, 2011. Print
Rosenthal, Ed &Kubby, Steve. Why Marijuana Should be Legal. New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2003. Print
