This is a paper that I am wrote for school and have decided to
post here as a blog. Please note that this IS NOT the final draft and
that there will be many mistakes grammar wise so please refrain from
criticizing me to harshly on that. Here is the
rough draft in its entirety. this research was based on legalization in the state of Kentucky alone.
Adam McNary
4-21-2010
Eng101: Writing 1 4096_5708
Legalizing Marijuana
Not
since the prohibition of alcohol has there been such an intense debates
on a substance, marijuana. Marijuana has been deemed illegal by federal
law due to its effects on humans. But let’s look at other drugs like
alcohol, in what ways does that affect humans? Most become happy or sad
depending on their previous mood, some become violent and some appear as
if they’re in a trance like state. Marijuana gives off similar effects
when consumed. In fact most of the time people who consume it become
rather calm. I believe marijuana legalization would open new
opportunities that would better our economy, and I’ll explain that later
in my discussion. So what good could come out of legalizing marijuana?
In my discussion I will talk about how its can help our economy, help
prison population, and help decrease organized crime.
Countless million of Americans consume marijuana on a regular basis.
Based on that statement there have been also an equal number of arrests
with the charges of marijuana possession, consumption, or cultivation.
After so many repeated offenses what do you think happens to that
individual? They go to prison. Like I said before, millions of people
have some drug related offense due to marijuana. Prison are packed full
of people who have been charged with on offense or the other related to
marijuana. With that being said, prisons are becoming over populated and
for what? Marijuana has no more affect on us than alcohol. Prisons are
crowded enough with murderers, rapists, thieves, and repeated offenders
of other various crimes. Either they’re going to have to build more
prisons or stop arresting people, or we all know that’s not possible
unless crime ceased. So what is another solution? We’ll legalizing
marijuana would dramatically decrease the amount of arrests made daily
which would prevent the over population of prisons. When a person smokes
a joint who are they hurting, themselves right? If that’s one of the
reasons for it to be illegal then there should be a ban on alcohol,
cigarettes, and other tobacco products. The drugs I just mentioned are
both harmful and highly addictive to a person. Cigarettes can cause lung
cancer and heart disease, while alcohol causes liver damage, brain
damage and can harm you nervous system. So where’s the harm of smoking a
joint any worse that what I just mentioned? None that I can see. It’s
no better or worse than consuming alcohol or tobacco. Legalizing
marijuana would let cops not worry about busting people for weed and
they can worry about worse crimes and put people behind bars who
actually deserve to be there. I’m sure it costs each state millions to
prosecute and house those convicted of marijuana offenses. Couldn’t
those millions got toward something better like improving schools or
creating new jobs? In the state of Kentucky if you’re caught with just
possessing 8oz or less of marijuana then that can be punished by 1 year
in prison plus a $500 dollar fine. But a repeated offense could result
in a 1-5 year sentence with a $1,000 - $10,000 dollar fine. You may
think that’s a bit harsh, and you’re right. But lets look at a man who
lived in Oklahoma; he was caught with 0.0008 grams of marijuana. Now if
you know math then you know that that’s not very much of marijuana. Well
the state of Oklahoma thought it was enough to put him behinds bars for
life without chance of parole! That’s ludicrous that he will spend life
in prison without any chance of getting out. Another man from the same
state, whom is paraplegic, was caught with having a half ounce of
marijuana that he uses for pain. His punishment was life plus 15 years.
So as you can see laws are not very forgiving when it comes to marijuana
possession in some states. And is that at all necessary? Who are theses
people harming? Of course they’re breaking the law but serving life for
0.0008 grams is a little much don’t you think?
You may be
thinking that controlling prison population is a good thing but what
else? Well have you thought about that legalization of marijuana might
actually lower other crime rates? I’m talking about organized crime.
They usually get their funding buy selling marijuana as well as other
drugs. Marijuana legalization would cut their funding substantially;
therefore their agenda would be crippled. That’s sometime people never
thought about. On the street marijuana sells for hundreds of dollars per
ounce, its no wonder crime is so high, with those prices the seller
could do and buy just about anything they wanted. Think back to the
prohibition when alcohol was deemed illegal, look at how Al Capone got
rich from getting his people to illegally distribute alcohol. They were
able to buy guns, cars and whatever else they needed to help them push
their agenda, which was to break the law ultimately.
So far
we talked about prison population and crippling funding for organized
crime, so now lets talk about something that’s a big issue in today’s
new; the economy. I mean just look at the sorry state it’s in. We’re
trillions of dollars in debt, gas prices are outrageous, jobs are
getting harder to find, and prices of other goods have skyrocketed in
the past few years. It’s absolutely ridiculous. What’s a way that we can
help our economy? You guessed it, legalize marijuana. But how can
legalizing it help out our crippled economy? Tax. Taxing marijuana would
help our economy recover quite quickly. In the state of California
they’re putting the legalization of marijuana on the next poll for a
vote. If it passes then it would be legal to sell and tax marijuana in a
free marketing system. Taxation of marijuana sales could bring in $1.4
–3.1 billion a year! Think of what we could do with that money if all 50
states legalized it. We could regulate our budget, pay off most of
America’s debt, create new jobs, and fund medical research.
Lets say that marijuana has just been legalized to sell by the free
market and the general public is now allowed to buy and consume it
freely, how can we put borders around it to make sure it stays legal
like alcohol? For starters people should not be able to purchase any
marijuana if they’re under the age of 21. To bring more security to that
plan there should be a special license to show you’re legal to buy it,
because lets face it people use fake drivers licenses all the time for
various things like getting into a club or buying tobacco or alcohol.
The work place would have to change its rules on consuming controlled
substances such as marijuana, because most places of business perform
drug test at random times to make sure none of their employees consume
anything illegal. To be able to smoke marijuana you must be in a
secluded place such, such as your house. It must be absolutely illegal
to smoke in the presence of a minor, no exceptions. Even though people
drink alcohol and smoke tobacco in front of minors, marijuana is very
different and can have negative affects towards their health. Just like
every other law there must be a set of rules to this idea in order for
it to be made safe to do.
The legalization of marijuana is up
to the voter and ultimately up to the lawmakers to set standards and
borders. With the legalization of marijuana tax profits would greatly
improve our economy and could possibly create new jobs. We could cripple
the organized crime rates in the country. Prisons would not need to
worry about overpopulation because of senseless and we’d save money from
not having to have them tried in court or house them in jail, which
would help lower our tax. Contrary to popular belief legalization would
reap more benefits than harm to the country. In the coming months we’ll
see what unfolds with the subject and what will become of the proposal.
