Marijuana Speech
Kevin Birch
English 101
Research Paper
Dr. Shafer
Positive Outcome of Legal Marijuana The questions about the legalization of marijuana have been floating around for many decades. The idea scares many conservatives, thinking that legal marijuana could bring the United States into a lethargic society. The legalization of marijuana would immediately and drastically reduce crime rate and form a more peaceful and productive society through its positive uses. It would also drastically curb government spending on a failed war. The war on drugs is happening with effects on every level of society. With billions of dollars a year being spent on the war on drugs with little to no success on the front of actually stopping use or limiting supply for the people who would like to continue to use the drug. The only way to remedy this somewhat unnecessary spending is decriminalize the use of marijuana. “Even if one takes every reefer madness allegation of the prohibitionists at face value, marijuana prohibition has done far more harm to far more people than marijuana ever could.” (Buckley C4) A professor of psychology named Ethen Nadelmann is pro legalization of marijuana because current control policies are ineffective and costly. In the book Clashing Views, he states that more money should be spent on addiction treatment and less on marijuana prohibition. In terms of a criminal justice approach to the drug problem, everything we have done in the past, are doing now, and are talking about in the future is inherently limited in its effectiveness against the fundamental problem of drug abuse (Nadelmann 6) Government spending is a major reason to legalize marijuana. The National Clearinghouse on Smoking and Health says, "The federal government spent $1 billion on marijuana enforcement in 1980 and about $5 billion in 1990. State and local spent between $3 and 4 billion in 1980 which means they may now be spending $10 billion presently" (Goldberg 80). In
English 101
Research Paper
Dr. Shafer
Positive Outcome of Legal Marijuana The questions about the legalization of marijuana have been floating around for many decades. The idea scares many conservatives, thinking that legal marijuana could bring the United States into a lethargic society. The legalization of marijuana would immediately and drastically reduce crime rate and form a more peaceful and productive society through its positive uses. It would also drastically curb government spending on a failed war. The war on drugs is happening with effects on every level of society. With billions of dollars a year being spent on the war on drugs with little to no success on the front of actually stopping use or limiting supply for the people who would like to continue to use the drug. The only way to remedy this somewhat unnecessary spending is decriminalize the use of marijuana. “Even if one takes every reefer madness allegation of the prohibitionists at face value, marijuana prohibition has done far more harm to far more people than marijuana ever could.” (Buckley C4) A professor of psychology named Ethen Nadelmann is pro legalization of marijuana because current control policies are ineffective and costly. In the book Clashing Views, he states that more money should be spent on addiction treatment and less on marijuana prohibition. In terms of a criminal justice approach to the drug problem, everything we have done in the past, are doing now, and are talking about in the future is inherently limited in its effectiveness against the fundamental problem of drug abuse (Nadelmann 6) Government spending is a major reason to legalize marijuana. The National Clearinghouse on Smoking and Health says, "The federal government spent $1 billion on marijuana enforcement in 1980 and about $5 billion in 1990. State and local spent between $3 and 4 billion in 1980 which means they may now be spending $10 billion presently" (Goldberg 80). In
Cited: Buckley, William. "End the Pot Penalties." Washington Star News 10 Nov. 1974: C4. Print. Goldberg, Raymond. Taking Sides; Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in Drugs and Society. . New York: The Dushkin Publishing Group, Inc., 1993. Print. United States. Crime in the United States 2009. Washington, DC: US Dept. of Justice, 2010. Web. 6 Oct 2010. Carter, Jimmy. "Drug Abuse Message to the Congress." American Presidency Project. Web. 6 Oct 2010. <http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=7908>. Roffman, Roger. "If Marijuana Is Legal, Will Addiction Rise?." N.Y. Times 19 July 2009: n. pag. Web. 6 Oct 2010.