Legalize Marijuana

The question of whether to legalize drugs or not is very controversial. Drugs affect so many areas of society. For several decades drugs have been one of the major problems of society. There are two views on the legalization of drugs: some people think that they should be legalized, the other group of people think that they must not be legalized. I support those who refuse legalization of hard drugs. Well, and what about marijuana?

Whether you call it hemp, Mary Jane, hash, pot, juane, giggle-smoke, kef, weed, grass, ganja, shit, marijuana, it is still Cannabis Sativa, or Cannabis for a short form (www.encyclopedia.com). It is classified as a soft drug and it is still illegal in our country. Marijuana has been used throughout the world for centuries by almost every culture. The active ingredient in marijuana is called THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol. It is smoked in a pipe or rolled in a cigarette or it is eaten (www.nida.nih.gov). I don't have a straight opinion whether marijuana should be legalized or not. However, although legalization of this drug has many disadvantages, I think that marijuana should be legalized for several reasons: it would cause the fall of the black market, the government might control it and the most important reason to legalize marijuana is because of its medical effects.

Some people feel that legalizing of marijuana would increase the number of users due to its availability. Marijuana would become cheaper and more available to people who previously had not tried it because of the legal risk. Some of them also assert, that the temptation to use marijuana would increase when advertisements for it would displayed on television. I disagree with these opinions, because I think that people, who want to smoke marijuana, smoke it - if it is legal or illegal. I know plenty of people who have never smoked cigarettes, although smoking tobacco is legal and there exist plenty of advertisements for many kinds of cigarettes. By a large, these people don't want to smoke and I think that anything would not persuade them. I think that it would be great to sell marijuana at apothecary's, because the black market would disappear and thousands of dealers would be put out of business. Another argument for legalization of marijuana and selling it at apothecary's is, that the government could regulate its use and could receive the profits of the drug business. Legalization of marijuana would benefit the federal budget. The federal revenues would increase, because marijuana cigarettes (shortly joints) would be taxed at the point of sale. In return, the companies that make the cigarettes would also pay income taxes.

Another reason why some people think that all drugs, including marijuana, shouldn't be legalized, is the fact, that drug abuse leads to all sorts of crimes They feel that most dangerous is driving a car under the influence of marijuana etc. I agree, driving a car under the influence of marijuana is very dangerous, but it's as dangerous as under the thumb of alcohol is. I'm persuaded that marijuana is not more dangerous than legal drugs such as alcohol or cigarettes. My opinion is, that if alcohol and cigarettes were legalized, marijuana could be too. I must admit, that marijuana has many negative effects on a human's body and this is the reason why so many people, mostly elderly, refuse marijuana. However, what about alcohol and tobacco? Alcohol is generally thought as socially acceptable and relatively harmless, but it can harm the user very easily. Both cigarettes and alcohol are very addictive, whereas it is impossible to become physically addicted to marijuana. Alcohol makes people aggressive and we never know what people, who are influenced by alcohol, will do. Marijuana is indeed ten times worse for the lungs when it is mixed with tobacco, but alone, it doesn't cause any negative effects such as those of cigarettes. Cigarettes don't contain only tobacco, but they contain plenty of other chemicals, such as tar and nicotine, which effect the body in negative ways (www.marijuana.com). If I compare marijuana with some hard drugs, which I refuse to be legalized, because they are very dangerous for people, it is impossible to overdose on marijuana and die. According to experiments, forty thousands times strong dose of THC than one marijuana cigarette (or one joint) includes, would killed a mouse. (ChebskÐ"Ð... denÐ"­k)

As I have mentioned, marijuana is still illegal in our country and it means that marijuana's smokers are punished. And what good does imprisonment do to those, mostly very young people? Two years ago, I read about