Reasons to Support Legalizing Marijuana

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses six reasons to support marijuana use: federal expenditures, additional tourism benefits, free will, prohibition, politics and the criminal justice system. The author stresses that, just like the right to own guns, marijuana should be legalized because it should be a right as a citizen of the United States to make choices as long as those choices do not harm other people. The paper concludes that even the administrative law judge of the Drug Enforcement Administration believes that marijuana in its natural form is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man.

From the Paper:

"Federal law continues to prohibit marijuana, but every state ballot initiative to legalize medial marijuana has been approved, including in California, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Colorado, Nevada, Maine, and Washington, DC. State legislatures in Vermont, Hawaii and Maryland have also followed suit and many others are considering their own medical marijuana bills including New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Illinois. Current support is often bipartisan, with Republican governors like Gary Johnson taking the lead."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Armstrong A. Drug courts and the de facto legalization of drug use for participants in residential treatment facilities. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 94(Fall): 133-167, 2003.
• Booth RE; Kennedy J; Brewster T; Semerik O. Drug injectors and dealers in Odessa, Ukraine. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs 35(4): 419-426, 2003. (14 refs.)
• Brady TC. Argument for the legalization of industrial hemp. San Joaquin Agricultural Law Review 1: 85-108, 2003.
• Baum, Dan. Smoke and Mirrors: The War on Drugs and the Politics of Failure. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1996.
• Bennett, William. Body Count: Moral Poverty--and How to Win America's War Against Crime and Drugs. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996.

More papers on Reasons to Support Legalizing Marijuana:

• Persuasive Essay # 2611 : "The Legalization of Marijuana"
• Argumentative Essay # 99979 : "Legalization of Marijuana"
• Persuasive Essay # 50202 : "Legalization of Marijuana"

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