Where Knowledge Rules

Health & Fitness:

Substance Abuse & Addiction

Debate_icon Get a Widget for this title

Should marijuana be legalized?

Results so far:

Yes
59% 1524 votes Total: 2571 votes
No
41% 1047 votes

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

Learn more about this author, Kenneth Sawhill.
Contact this writer Click here to send this author comments or questions.


Below are the top articles rated and ranked by Helium members on:

Should marijuana be legalized?

Yes
  • 1 of 132

    by Cody Ryder

    Decriminalizing Marijuana: A Growing Controversy
    There are so many reasons why marijuana should be legalized.



    If marijuana

    read more

  • 2 of 132

    by Stu Wilson

    The economic downturn has hit Ohio like a ton of bricks. Ohio has a manufacturing economy, and the country has decided we

    read more

No
  • 1 of 35

    by Carel Two-Eagle

    The argument against legalization of marijuana use is simple - You only get one brain, and anything that alters your perceptions

    read more

  • 2 of 35

    by Felisa Daskeo

    If there is one thing I hate so much in this world we are in, it is drugs. How many lives were ruined because of drugs?

    read more

Add your voice

Know something about Should marijuana be legalized??
We want to hear your view. Write_penWrite now!

175066

Featured Partner

Needful Provision Inc.

Needful Provision's mission is to research, develop, demonstrate, and teach innovative self-help technologies to assi...more

What is Helium? | Buy Web Content | Contact Us | Privacy | User agreement | DMCA | User Tools | Help | Community | Helium’s Official Blog | Link to Helium

Helium, Inc.
200 Brickstone Square Andover, MA 01810 USA