Pros and Cons of Legalizing Marijuana in the USA - Term Paper Example

Marijuana has been used as a medicine for more than a thousand years in different countries over the country and has been documented back at 2700 BC among the ancient Chinese writings. It is, therefore, not only used by people to get high but sometimes used as medicine to help reduce symptoms of glaucoma, asthma, among other illnesses (Ruschmann, 2003). Although it is illegal, millions of people throughout the United States of America use it. Before the 20th century, marijuana was relatively unregulated in the US and was commonly used in medicine.

Mexican immigrants introduced marijuana in the US.  Some people have argued that marijuana has more therapeutic returns than dangers, while others have argued that it has abiding consequences on the body and the brain. Those people that argue for its legalization have come up with several arguments. One of these arguments significant profits shall be gained from its sale. It has been documented that America spends billions of dollars each year on the fight against drugs (Gerber, 2004). If the government would legalize marijuana, therefore, it could place high taxes on it since people are already used to buying it at reasonably high prices as a result of selling it illegally.

This would yield high profits. Another argument is that the value of Marijuana significantly outweighs its possible abuse, especially because of its significance on the clothing and paper industry, as well as medicine. If legalized, the oils extorted from its seeds could be used as fuels while Its fiber could be used to manufacture clothes, ropes, and paper. Moreover, it has been observed that marijuana is less dangerous than cigarettes, alcohol, and other prescriptions sold over-the-counter.

Some critics have argued that the heaviest marijuana smoker uses much than the normal tobacco smoker (Wood and Weintraub, 2010). In addition, it has been observed that violence and crime in America have drastically increased as a result of illegal buying and selling of marijuana. It is, therefore, arguable that legalizing it would significantly decrease the need for taking part in criminal activities. Moreover, drug-related disputes would end, as drug dealers would lose their significance. In such a situation, police would focus on more severe crimes.

Nevertheless, legalizing marijuana would result in increases in savings from the decrease of judicial and prosecutorial resources through the eradication of drug-related trials, as well as the decrease in correctional resources by drug-related incarcerations (Thibodeaux and Beddow, 2010). The police, too, would reduce unnecessary expenditure through the elimination of drug arrests. However, those people that are against the legalization of marijuana argue that there are already enough problems caused by abuses of pharmaceutical and alcohol abusers.

They argue that it is, therefore, not necessary to cause more problems through marijuana. Moreover, many Americans believe that drug abuse is a morally wrong practice since religious codes forbid the use of stimulating substances (Thibodeaux and Beddow, 2010). They, therefore, argue that legalizing marijuana shall be equivalent to legalizing something considered immoral. In addition to this, other critics have argued that marijuana is a stepping stone to the use of other dangerous and addictive drugs such as cocaine, heroin, among other harder drugs.

Legalizing it would, therefore, result in massive use of other hard drugs among many people. In a further argument, some people have argued that legalizing marijuana shall significantly increase crime cases among people, and especially the youth (Thibodeaux and Beddow, 2010). This would result in insecurity among citizens. According to federal laws, marijuana is considered an illegal drug, which has no valid medicinal use. There are other and better drugs that could be used as medicines other than marijuana.

I am in agreement with the legalization of marijuana. As much as its use may not be ethically up to standard, there are several reasons that have led to my stand. The government has tried hard to ensure that marijuana is not consumed within the country, but there are still thousands of people who sell and use marijuana. It is observable that a lot of money has been spent in the effort o stop importation of marijuana into the country. It has been argued that shrinking the drugs is just since they have resulted in terror among people (Ruschmann, 2003).

However, if the US would legalize marijuana and tax it, the interest groups would lose a reasonable percentage of income. This tax money together with the money saved from the reduced prosecutions of people for drug-related crimes would be used to increase securities among the borders. This money could also be used to pay for rehab for those people who need to get off dangerous and hard drugs.