Legal Marijuana
Legal Marijuana: Helpful or Harmful?
James Nix
Soc:102
Amber Anderson
May 25, 2013
Legal Marijuana: Helpful or Harmful?
The year is 2013 and the reality of legalized marijuana in the United States seems to be getting closer with each year. A highly controversial topic because marijuana’s primary use throughout history has been for abusive purposes more than anything else. Marijuana has medicinal uses and the stalks of the plants can be used for making paper or even fibers for ropes or canvases. All this takes a backseat to the reputation marijuana has as an illegal drug throughout history. This paper will take an in depth look at the topic of legal marijuana from an ethical point of view and analyze this with critical thought and reflection.
In this day and age everyone is brought up with knowledge of the “War on Drugs.” How much does this war cost us each year and would the decriminalization of marijuana be helpful or a harmful in this? There are quite a few reasons why many people are for the decriminalization of marijuana and quite a few reasons why it is opposed. If marijuana were to be decriminalized then the United States government would spend much less annually on the war on drugs than currently.
Our government spent an estimated 25 billion dollars in the last fiscal year towards the war on drugs. I found that “In support of the 2013 National Drug Control Strategy (Strategy), the President requests $25.4 billion in Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 to reduce drug use and its consequences in the United States. This represents an increase of $0.9 billion (3.7%) over the FY 2012 final level of $24.5 billion.” (2014, Funding). So on average our government spends 25 billion dollars a year toward eliminating or fixing this problem or epidemic depending on individual point of view.
Not only are we paying money yearly on fighting a seemingly losing battle on the war on drugs there are also quite a few good reasons marijuana should be decriminalized. There are
James Nix
Soc:102
Amber Anderson
May 25, 2013
Legal Marijuana: Helpful or Harmful?
The year is 2013 and the reality of legalized marijuana in the United States seems to be getting closer with each year. A highly controversial topic because marijuana’s primary use throughout history has been for abusive purposes more than anything else. Marijuana has medicinal uses and the stalks of the plants can be used for making paper or even fibers for ropes or canvases. All this takes a backseat to the reputation marijuana has as an illegal drug throughout history. This paper will take an in depth look at the topic of legal marijuana from an ethical point of view and analyze this with critical thought and reflection.
In this day and age everyone is brought up with knowledge of the “War on Drugs.” How much does this war cost us each year and would the decriminalization of marijuana be helpful or a harmful in this? There are quite a few reasons why many people are for the decriminalization of marijuana and quite a few reasons why it is opposed. If marijuana were to be decriminalized then the United States government would spend much less annually on the war on drugs than currently.
Our government spent an estimated 25 billion dollars in the last fiscal year towards the war on drugs. I found that “In support of the 2013 National Drug Control Strategy (Strategy), the President requests $25.4 billion in Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 to reduce drug use and its consequences in the United States. This represents an increase of $0.9 billion (3.7%) over the FY 2012 final level of $24.5 billion.” (2014, Funding). So on average our government spends 25 billion dollars a year toward eliminating or fixing this problem or epidemic depending on individual point of view.
Not only are we paying money yearly on fighting a seemingly losing battle on the war on drugs there are also quite a few good reasons marijuana should be decriminalized. There are
References: Crenshaw, W., & Guyot, K. (2012, Nov 26). Double take: Pros and cons of legalizing marijuana. Daily Journal World. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1202747284?accountid=32521 McKinney, M. (2013, Feb 03). Politics | medical marijuana uses varied. The Providence Journal. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1283580393?accountid=32521 Miron, Jeffery A., & Waldock, Katherine,; The Budgetary Impact of Ending Drug Prohibition,; The Cato Institute, 2010,; www.cato.org Mosser, K, 2010,; Bridgepoint Education, Inc. www.bridgepointeducation.com | content.ashford.edu National Drug Control Budget (NDCB),; FY 2014 Funding Highlights,; retrieved from http://www.whitehouse.gov on May 25, 2013.