The Legalization of Marijuana essays

The Legalization of Marijuana essays With the increase in the number of middle-class users of marijuana in the 1960s and 1970s, there came a somewhat greater acceptance of the view that marijuana should not be considered in the same class as narcotics and that U.S. marijuana laws should be relaxed. The Drug Abuse Prevention Act of 1970 eased federal penalties somewhat, and 11 states decriminalized possession. However, in the late 1980s most states rewrote their drug laws and imposed stricter penalties. People who would choose to keep marijuana illegal are saying that it is an intoxicant less controllable than alcohol, and that our drug-using society does not need another widely used intoxicant. They fight against this despite the efforts worldwide of people studying the medical uses of marijuana. The first and most basic reason that marijuana should be legal is that there is no good reason for it not to be legal. Some people ask 'why should marijuana be legalized?" but they should be asking "Why should marijuana be illegal?" From a philosophical point of view, individuals deserve the right to make choices for themselves. The government only has a right to limit those choices if the individual's actions endanger someone else. This should not apply to marijuana, because the individual who choose to use marijuana do so according to his or her own free will. The government also may have a right to limit individual actions if the actions pose a significant threat to the individual. But this argument does not apply to marijuana because marijuana is far less dangerous than some drugs which are legal, such as alcohol and tobacco. How many times have you heard of a high driver killing somebody and how many times have you heard of a drunk driver killing somebody? Guess which of the two substances are legal. Marijuana can be used as a medicine. There is an abundance of anecdotal evidence, as well as scientific research, which supports the belief that marijuana can be effect ...