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Legalization

Essay by   •  March 14, 2011  •  799 Words (4 Pages)  •  1,125 Views

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To Be Legalized, or Not To Be Legalized?

For one to argue if marijuana should or should not be legalized, they should first be able to see both sides of the argument equally. Having never smoked a cigarette or marijuana, I am not personally familiar with the addiction and effects of cigarettes and marijuana. Alcohol? Special occasions only, and it was never enough to make me slightly buzzed. If I were to take a side, morally I would say that marijuana should not be legalized. Why? While growing up, we as children were taught that drugs were bad. After reading Kim Edward Light's essay, which argued that marijuana should not be legalized, I was convinced to think the same way. Light states, "Marijuana use in the U.S. peaked one year after the eleventh state enacted its decriminalization laws" (282). By looking at the past statistics of the damage alcohol and cigarettes has done on the people in the U.S., Light believes marijuana should not be legalized. But now, I crumple up my original thesis paper, throw it away, and start anew. Why? Since my friends and I do not know much about drugs, I went into work and sought the knowledge of my co-workers, who are part of the "older crowd." After hearing their personal experiences and observations about alcohol, cigarettes, and marijuana, I was convinced that marijuana should be legalized.

In Light's essay, "Past Experience with Legalization," he explained that back when the government banned alcohol, deaths and hospital admissions that were related to alcohol decreased (280 Light). Alcohol clearly has harmful effects when abused. My friend Josh, who goes to U.C. Irvine, has been drinking so much up to the point where he became drunk three times in one week. Right now, he is only eighteen. "Imagine how bad it would be for me when I'm twenty-one," he confesses. Out of alcohol, cigarettes, and marijuana, alcohol is the most deadly because of the strength of its influence. Drunk driving, one of the number one reasons of automobile accidents is evidence of this. Compared to marijuana, alcohol is by far a lot more dangerous. "There are rare cases where marijuana has actually killed someone," shares my co-worker Matt, a student at San Jose State University.

During the early 1900s there was considerable pressure against, if not outright prohibition of smoking by womenÐ'....Seventy years later, smoking related lung cancer surpassed breast cancer as the leading death among women" (281). Light shows through this statistic that cigarettes are harmful to health. My co-workers told me that cigarettes are extremely difficult to quit because you and your body become accustomed to it becomes something you need in your everyday life. It turns into a routine, so

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