by Alex Hill

Created on: July 13, 2009   Last Updated: July 15, 2009

Should or shouldn't Marijuana be legal - the debate for the ages. And it's literally just that; for as long as its been illegal, people have debated whether or not it should be. If the lies the government has filled our heads with were true, then no, "weed" shouldn't be legal. However, these lies or myths, whatever you want to call them, are NOT true! The first lie is that pot is a gateway drug. First of all, you must understand what a gateway drug is to realize that this is absolutely false. According to

http://www.answers.com/topic/gateway-drug , a gateway drug is a habit-forming substance whose use may lead to the abuse of drugs that are more addictive or more. It is here that these lies start to contradict themselves. How can Marijuana be a gateway drug when Marijuana itself is not physically addictive? The answer - it can't be. Marijuana is an herb which, in some cases, can cause a slight mental addiction. This means that your mind THINKS it needs the drug but, when the drug is stopped being used, the user will experience no physical withdrawals.

SO WHY ISN'T MARIJUANA LEGAL?

So what's the truth, why doesn't the government want to legalize Marijuana? After all, alcoholic beverages are legal and they DO cause physical addiction. Also, alcohol is responsible for thousands upon thousands of deaths every year and, whether you want to believe it or not, weed isn't. So I ask again, why isn't weed legal? When it comes down to it, the answer is actually pretty simple. Alcohol is legal because the government can tax it, people just don't produce liquor like they did during the prohibition era. However, this is not true with marijuana - that is, the government can't tax it.

This raises another question, why can't weed be taxed? As an herb, weed is grown by the seeds in which its male plants produce. In order for the government to be able to tax it, they would have to be the lone producers of the product. For example, tobacco plants, just like marijuana, are grown by the seeds in which they produce. However, when smoking a cigarette, cigar, or any other tobacco product, you will never find a seed. This is because if a seed were to get out, the person that found that seed would grow and sell the tobacco for way less than the price offered at your local cigarette store. Also, they would sell not only the tobacco itself, but the seeds too. Doing this would kill the sales of tobacco everywhere.

The same principle applies to marijuana legalization. In order for the government to legalize "bud", they would have to slowly get rid of all the seeds! Impossible right? Maybe not, after all they did the same thing when tobacco started being sold in stores. So in the end the government, if they wanted, could have marijuana legalized. But, if you sit down and think about it, do you really WANT it legalized? The answer, whether you believe it right now or not, is probably not. The reason is simple. If you're under 18, weed will become very hard to obtain for you, just like cigarettes are for young smokers. Also, the price would rise tremendously and seeds would be virtually impossible to obtain. So, yes weed should be legal but, when you stop to think about it, it might not be the best idea for those who smoke.

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