Marijuana Essay, Research Paper

Issues

The issue I would like to bring up is the legalization of medical and/or recreational marijuana. I feel this would be beneficial to most everyone, both users and non-users. Marijuana has been proven to help a great deal for glaucoma sufferers as stated in the Hallucinogenic Encyclopedia. It is also been proven to have far less, to almost no anger outbursts in people as the commonly abused drug alcohol as stated in High Times Magazine. A few ways that the government would benefeit from legalizing the drug would be by the less crime that would come about, and also by taxing. There would be less crime because there wouldn’t be as much risk involved. If a shipment of it didn’t make it to its destination the person responsible wouldn’t be killed as the case now, but instead insurance would cover the lost merchandise. The government would also benefit from the legalization from taxes. They are already making millions off of tobacco taxes, so why couldn’t they do the same with marijuana?

The government has a few legit reasons for not legalizing the substance, but one might ask why they don’t react the same way for other things, like pharmaceuticals that get into the wrong hands. A good reason the government has of why they’re not legalizing the substance is because too many peoples jobs depend on it illegal. And as a result of them making it legal thousands of people would lose their jobs. But I feel the people in congress have to be somewhat intelligent to have there jobs in the first place, so why couldn’t the devise a plan to make sure everyone employed in this area would still have a job. Another reason the government doesn’t want the drug legal is because they’re afraid (or claim to be) of people abusing the substance by labeling it a highly abuseable drug, as stated at the Internet site Parents With Teens. Since when does the government care about us? If they did care so much then why wont they listen to our voices and thoughts?

The Philosopher I chose was John Locke. I think is he was controlling our government right now marijuana would be legal. I feel this way because Locke believed people hold the same powers towards others. This would come into play now when you hear stories of police or other people that are supposed to be setting the standards getting caught using the drug or others like it. I think Locke would be able to have it be legal because he ran a controlling government that would be able to keep the substance under control.