Despite being illegal, marijuana is being used by over twenty-five million people

annually and about seven hundred fifty thousand of those are arrested for possession of

illegal drugs. Marijuana has been smoked since 3rd millennium BC; however, it was only

until the early 20th century that it was considered illegal. Today, there are a lot of people

that are fighting for the legalization of marijuana since it is not a lethal drug and that it

will be able to bring in more money to the country.

Contrary to the popular belief, marijuana is actually not a lethal drug. Smoking

marijuana, according to recent studies, is actually much safer than drinking alcohol or

smoking tobacco because both alcohol and tobacco are more addictive. Furthermore,

marijuana overdoses are almost impossible therefore marijuana can be considered as

harmless. With that, it not reasonable that marijuana should be illegal while alcohol and

tobacco are legal.

The legalization of marijuana will also bring in more money to the country by

taxing it. Marijuana is brought in to the country mostly because of smuggling therefore

all the money goes to the syndicates. However, if marijuana became legal, then that

money would flow to the government instead. Furthermore, the implementation of the

prohibition of marijuana costs a lot of money. The courts have more important cases to

attend to than dealing with cases involving marijuana possession. Moreover, the jails are

being congested because of this. This law therefore slows down the progress of the

country because both human and cash resources are being used up just to implement the

law.

The government, however, strongly believes that legalizing marijuana will yield

more negative effects than positive effects. It is true than marijuana is not a harmful drug,
however, people who find it as safe would often opt to try more powerful drugs, like

heroin. Heroin is a drug that unquestionably bad for the human person and if the

legalization of marijuana would lead for the use of heroin, then it would be best to make

marijuana illegal.

For my opinion, it is better to legalize marijuana due to the fact that it is safe and

will make the state more efficient. The claim that people will try other drugs after the

knowledge that marijuana is not bad for them is not always true. In addition, people who

go for stronger drugs are able to do that since they are offered by the drug dealer which

sold them the marijuana. This will not happen if marijuana is legal since there would now

be stores which sell marijuana but not heroin. Lastly, if marijuana will be legalized then

there would be more resources to enforce the prohibition of heroin and other dangerous

drugs.