Legalization of Marijuana

Chehayeb1

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacobsullum/2015/09/17/supposedly-neutral-federal-report-stacks-the-deck-against-marijuana-legalization/2/

Jaleel Chehayeb

Dania Adra

English 203

20-10-2015

Legalization of Marijuana

Legalization of recreational marijuana is a big issue that has been taking place in the United States for a while now.  The article I found on "www.forbes.com" was written by Jacob Sullum, a senior editor for Reason magazine and a nationally syndicated columnist.  Jacob is against the legalization of marijuana, as he explains in his article.

Legalizing recreational marijuana has many pros, many of which is why they legalized in Colorado, Washington, Oregon, and Alaska.  Studies have found that it is easier for teenagers and kids to obtain illegal drugs than to get alcohol and tobacco.  So if marijuana were to be legalized it would be sold by legal and known sellers. Unlike some corner street dealers, they wouldn't be able to sell to students or children.

                        In the black market, drug prices are controlled by the illegal suppliers which allows them to put whatever price they want.  This means that if the price was high, addicts would have to find a way to get the money, this may cause them to break the law to fund their addiction.  It is completely legal to smoke cigarettes that are in fact, addictive and cause cancer among other side-effects.  Not only do cigarettes kill you, they kill the people around you as well.  Marijuana is not only a natural herb, it is ten times safer than any other Illegal substance known to man.

                        Jacob Sullum starts off by saying that the vote to legalize marijuana was not very accurate.  The Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (RMHIDTA) claims that the vote was actually 50%, eight points lower than the actual result.  As he also explained in his article, the percentage of marijuana related traffic deaths increased by 32 percent.  Jacob also addresses the fact that the rate of marijuana related hospitalization (emergency room visits) increased by 29 percent.

So judging by the facts that Jacob informed us with, marijuana seems to be a very harmful and dangerous drug.  And this being said the law that states the marijuana is illegal should stay that way and the four states the legalized it should reconsider there decision for the sake of the people.