Legalization of Marijuana

My classmate BLindsey wrote an article titled The Money Plant which is basically about how marijuana should be legalized in order to help with the deficit of Texas. “Aside from its agricultural uses, marijuana also serves as a medical aid, helping people with conditions like anorexia, asthma, nausea, pain, alcoholism, glaucoma, epilepsy, depression, hypertension, and cancer. Imagine being able to replace expensive, lab-made chemicals with a cheaply grown natural plant?” Now, although my classmate does point out some possible positives with the legalization of marijuana, I believe there are a lot more negatives associated with this.

I believe that the greatest costs of marijuana come from the actual use of it rather than the prohibition of it. Marijuana is already one of the leading causes of substance abuse and by legalizing it; it would only further increase the amount of addiction. Some people do not use it for the simple fact that it is illegal and they do not want to suffer the consequences associated with getting caught. This would also be opening more doors for our youth to become addicted early and begin using. Rapid accumulating research shows that marijuana is associated with serious mental and physical problems. Marijuana is also seen as a gateway drug leading to harder drugs such as cocaine and heroin.

As far as closing some of the deficit gap, I am not actually sure how much it would actually close. It has shown that even the legalization of alcohol and tobacco is a disastrous trade off financially already. "Alcohol related costs total over $185 billion while federal and states collected an estimated $14.5 billion in tax revenue; similarly, tobacco use costs over $200 billion but only $25 billion is collected in taxes."

Drug impaired driving would also increase. Marijuana is already a significant casual factor in highway crashes, injuries, and deaths. “In a recent national roadside survey of weekend nighttime drivers, 8.6 percent tested positive for marijuana or its metabolites, nearly four times the percentage of drivers with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 g/dL (2.2 percent)."

When looking at the negative things associated with the legalization of marijuana, it only further makes me believe that only more harm than good can come from it. If we are trying to improve the nation’s education, health, and productivity then legalization is definitely not the way to go. No money is worth destroying more lives both in the youth and adult community.