The Lost War

We are losing the war on drugs. The US is paying almost 1 billion dollars each year to house and feed criminals incarcerated for marijuana related charges. One out of eight people incarcerated are behind bars for marijuana related charges. The drug has in fact been illegal in the United States for seventy years, but its use has far from ceased. A recent government study reported that over 83 million Americans over the age of 12 have tried marijuana at least once. Marijuana is the most frequently used illegal drug in the United States. It is the third to most used drug in the United States under tobacco-products and alcohol.

Not only is marijuana the most used drug in America, but it is also the biggest cash crop. Out of every plant grown and sold in the country, marijuana yields the most profit. Drug dealers take in over thirty billion dollars annually from the sale of American grown marijuana. This money could not only be taxed, but the legalization of marijuana would lead to a decrease in power of drug lords and a decrease of crime in America.

Many European nations and other nations around the world have either reduced or done away with criminal charges related to the possession and consumption of marijuana. Considered to be a soft drug, marijuana has lost its reputation of being a threat to society. However, these same countries have then turned around and turned up the heat on drivers driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs. The Netherlands has laws making it illegal to possess and consume marijuana in certain areas, yet its percentage of marijuana users compared to that of the United States is much lower.

As of right now, marijuana is a schedule 1 drug, meaning that the government has deemed it with a high potential for abuse with no currently accepted medical use.

This we know is untrue due to findings that marijuana can help with patients suffering from glaucoma and Alzheimer’s. Also, marijuana is one of the only known naturally occurring appetite stimulants. This combined with its pain relieving qualities could benefit say AIDS patients who have trouble with both pain and loss of appetite due to over-medication. Being ranked with all other recreational drugs of abuse, marijuana ranks scored the lowest for addictive properties. So to say that marijuana has no valuable medical use is not completely true as some states are now allowing it to be obtained by prescription.

On the other hand marijuana is being abused. Without getting into statistics, it is well known that taxes from tobacco and alcohol products contribute a large amount of revenue into our economy. Both of these drugs as well as certain others were excluded from the Schedule I list of illicit drugs due to the amount of current users in the United States. Marijuana use is becoming more and more accepted and open in many circles of society, and criminal penalties are slowly being reduced. However, it is still illegal as a recreational drug.

The tendency to rebel could be a leading factor associated with teen and preteen use of illegal marijuana. Facts show that when alcohol was made illegal during the Prohibition, America experienced a great rise in the production and sales of illegal alcohol. When the Prohibition period ended alcohol consumption and sales did not cease in the least bit but they did decline and since have been under more government control and supervision. You could compare this to the elongated Marijuana Prohibition. The bootleggers of years past now take on the term drug dealer. If marijuana was made legal not only could it be taxed, monitored, and more controlled, but also the sense of danger and breaking the law, an element of excitement for many teens and preteens, would no longer exist. Underage teenagers may have some trouble going to the store and buying cigarettes and alcohol where identification is required to purchase drugs, but the drug dealer down the street doesn’t care if you are seventeen or twelve.

There will always be people supporting the movement to legalize marijuana for medicinal and recreational purposes; chances are that you know one of them. The law will not stop all users from smoking marijuana, but you, the voter, can decide if what they are doing is worth them going to jail.