Should Marijuana Be Legalized?

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Johnathon Nguyen

Unit 3 – Persuasive Essay

10/19/15

Adena Weiser

Marijuana Legalization?

Should marijuana be legalized or stay illegal? There are pros and cons of performing ei-

ther action. There are a lot of factors that come into play. Legalizing marijuana can bring a lot of

benefits such as economic benefits, marijuana can replace prescription drugs, lives of many law-

abiding citizens won’t have their records tarnished, and the medical benefits for many patients

and diseases. Keeping marijuana illegal also has a lot of benefits such as we won’t be promoting

drug use to be okay, another substance that affects people won’t be easy to obtain, people won’t

be probed to trying harder drugs which leads to the gateway theory, and marijuana won’t be

pushed on society. The legalization of marijuana has been a topic for many decades, both sides of

the argument have pros and cons but the benefits of legalization out weigh the benefits of keep-

ing marijuana illegal.

I. The Case for Legalization of Marijuana

A. The Economical Case for Marijuana

One of the biggest arguments to legalize marijuana is the economical benefits that it can

bring. Colorado’s sales alone in the year of 2014 was around $700 million with $386 million in

medical sales and $313 million in recreational sales (Cox). $63 million of that was straight tax

that benefits Colorado statewide and nationwide. Legalizing marijuana with out a doubt will

bring in money from both sides medically and recreationally. Washington is another state that

fully legalized marijuana for medical sales and recreational sales (Marijuana L). They also have

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benefited economically from legalizing marijuana with $80 million in tax revenues in the year of

2014. Also millions of dollars are saved from not arresting and prosecuting minor offenses in-

cluding marijuana. Both states are expected to bring in more money than they did the first year.

Colorado is expected to bring in $1 billion in revenue from medical and recreational sales (Cox).

The facts are that marijuana can bring in serious money for businesses and the state government.

B. The Medical Case for Marijuana

There are many studies out there that prove the health and medical benefits of marijuana

usage. Marijuana studies have shown multiple health benefits like treating glaucoma, prevent the

spread of cancer, slow down alzheimer’s, stop muscle spasms, relieves arthritis, treats Chron’s

disease, help veterans with post traumatic stress disorder(PTSD), and replace prescription drugs

(Loria). According to Business Insider, marijuana has a huge effect on epilepsy and seizure re-

lated incidents. Dravet’s Syndrome is a seizure disorder that causes around 300+ seizures a week.

A documentary on Dravet’s Syndrome named “Weed” reflects on a family that treats their 5 year

old daughter with marijuana and it brought her seizures down from 300 a week to 1 every several

days.An article states that: “According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 44

Americans die each day from painkiller overdoses” (Prescription). Marijuana has been proved

and able to replace 5 big prescription drugs that people abuse everyday. Marijuana is proven to

treat chronic pain, anxiety, sleep, ADHD/ADD issues, and depression. So prescription drugs like

Vicodin, Xanax, Adderall, Ambien, and Zoloft can be replaced (Jaeger). If Marijuana is able to

replace those prescription drugs it will give doctors a safer option to suggest to their patients.

Marijuana also has zero recorded deaths. A big factor into legalizing marijuana is that many stud–

ies reflect that it benefits cancer patients by giving them an appetite again, killing cancer cells, or

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relieving the pain of chemotherapy (Loria). Marijuana helps veterans with PTSD because mari–

juana helps the part of the brain and body in charge on fear and anxiety.

C. The Decriminalization Case for Marijuana

Colorado and Washington have saved millions for not arresting and prosecuting viola–

tions based on possession of marijuana (Marijuana L). Legalizing marijuana will have less peo–

ple charged for just marijuana possession, less people in jail, and allow law enforcement to spend

their time on more dangerous drugs and criminals. The U.S. nearly spends $3.7 billion on enforc-

ing marijuana laws every year (Crawford). America has the #1 incarceration rate while homing

25% of the world’s criminals. In 2013, law enforcement arrested 693,483 people for marijuana

violations and 88% of those people were arrested just for possession only. 60,000 people are in

jail because of marijuana violations. The cost of them being in jail costs the us $1.2 billion each