by Kenneth Sawhill

Created on: June 13, 2007

The most immediate affirmative argument that comes to mind regarding the legalization of drugs in the United States, most specifically, marijuana, is that it has specific medicinal application. For those undergoing chemotherapy, it relieves nausea. To not allow any effective means of relieving the pain and suffering of cancer patients is inhumane.

In a broader sense, how much money, time, energy, and man-power, have been wasted on the "war against drugs" in this country? What is the cost of all this misspent energy? Again, in reference to marijuana, people who otherwise are "upright" citizens, once arrested on a marijuana offense, are traumatized, harassed, put through the ringer, i.e., the court system, penalized financially and devastated emotionally. An arrest on a marijuana offense can create havoc for an individual's family and jeopardize employment. When it comes to smoking weed, the government simply does not have any business sticking its nose into citizens' private lives, as long as the privacy and well-being of others is respected and not affected by the actions of the individual. Law enforcement's time and energy would be much better spent on more serious crime.

The Netherlands has decriminalized marijuana for personal use, and the progressive approach of this country provides a worthy legal model that the United States should study and seriously consider.

The devastating effects of addiction to alcohol and nicotine, both legal substances, are infinitely more ravaging than the excessive use of marijuana. If there is addiction to pot, it is primarily psychological addiction, and those that have a propensity for this behavior, that is, those with addictive personalities, are the ones that are going to be affected. It is the individual who makes the conscious choice to try harder substances such as cocaine, heroin, or a myriad of pills, prescription and otherwise, and not the fact that marijuana erroneously has been represented as a so-called "gateway drug." If someone needs physical or psychological help due to their use of marijuana, then our current legal system shouldn't make that person feel like a criminal when they try to get help.

References: www.norml.org

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