Should Marijuana be legalized in the US?
Category: Other > Personal Interest
Yes
2
I would have to say that legalizing it for the sake of medicinal reasons would be a valid usage for marijuana!
1
do you believe that marijuana should be legal in the united states?
I read in the SF Chronicle today that a case regarding the legality of medical marijuana is going back to the Supreme Court to be argued. The case is Ashcroft v. Raich, 03-1454 for everyone's reference.
This issue has been discussed before but things have changed since the last time it was ruled on and many states allow marijuana to be used for medical purposes, some of them passing laws as recently as this past November.
9 states currently allow medicinal marijuana usage if your doctor agrees....
1
I'd argue that marijuana needs to be legalized completely, not just for medicinal purposes. And let me preface that by saying that I'm neither a pothead nor a user of any other drugs. That being said here are a few reasons:
1. Basic human right to liberty. If I want to sniff glue, let me sniff glue. Of course, make sure that my employer doesn't require me to do it (since it's hazardous to my health), but I should be able to do it if I want to.
2. Equal footing with other substances. Alcohol and tobacco come to mind. Why are those not prohibited?
3. Prohibition doesn't work. All it does is create a black market and an environment in which organized crime flourishes.
4. Enforcement of drug laws is extremely expensive and defies common sense. Murderers are release from prison to make room for single mothers busted for smoking pot. Prisons are ridiculously overcrowded pretty much because of the "war on drugs" alone (and it costs more to imprison someone for a year than to pay for a year of Ivy League education).
