Should Marijuana Be Legalized

Should Marijuana Be Legalized? Legalizing marijuana has been such a large debate for so many years. There are reasons on both sides of the argument that have kept it illegal for such a long time but recently that has changed. “Initiative 502, passed last month by Washington [and Colorado] voters, legalized recreational marijuana use starting December 6” (Duke). These were just the first two states to push for marijuana to be legal for recreational reasons. Are there going to be more states legalizing weed and is it a good idea? To determine this we will look at both sides of legalizing marijuana by examining the laws involved, health issues and economic incentives. A good amount of people usually make the assumption that weed has always been illegal but that is actually not true. Our “found fathers” were known to have grown weed “in the form of hemp” (Ludlum and Ford). Not only was it smoked but it was also “often in liquid form” (Ludlum and Ford). But apparently it became too much of a problem because “the drug was outlawed in 1937” (Vlahos) all acrossed America. There weren’t too many huge dilemmas with smoking weed until the era of the Hippies in the 1970’s and it became very popular. And did you know that over 25.8 million smoked weed just in the last year (Gettman)? Many people are still quite against legalizing weed in any more states. Even though there are many states that are trying or considering legalizing weed for medical or recreational reasons, there are still some states against it. According to ProCon.org, there are still 32 states holding out for legalizing weed in any way (Medical Marijuana). Authorities are trying to keep the matter under control by staying reasonable. Obama said in last December, “recreational users of marijuana in states that have legalized the substance should not be a "top priority" of federal law enforcement officials prosecuting the war on drugs” (Dwyer). They believe that overall it would just be more trouble to