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Marijuana prohibition has been a major flop.

Marijuana prohibition has been a major flop.

Many people frown upon the idea of marijuana legalization. The criminalization of marijuana did not prevent marijuana from becoming the most widely used illegal substance in the U.S. and many other countries. But it did result in extensive costs and negative consequences. Enforcing marijuana laws costs an estimated $10-15 billion a year in direct costs alone.

Many of the opposing views against legalization come from marijuana myths. Majority of the opposition believe marijuana is highly addictive like other legal and illegal drugs, but most marijuana users never become dependent. Other myths include one can die from usage, it causes lung cancer, and people turn violent from usage. It has been documented that no one has ever died from a marijuana overdose. Next, lung cancers involving only marijuana are extremely rare. Finally, it does not directly cause violent behavior. The biggest effects are that it can cause people to become tired and hungry. Alcohol and tobacco are both legal, but marijuana (the illegal one) may well be the least addictive and least damaging of all commonly used psychoactive drugs.

Regulating and taxing marijuana would simultaneously save taxpayers billions of dollars in enforcement and incarceration costs, while providing many billions of dollars in revenue annually. Should we continue to incarcerate pot smokers? If you answered yes, you would send Al Gore, Bill Bradley, John Kerry, George W. Bush, and many other elected officials to jail for admitted marijuana use.

Americans have lost their jobs, their property, and their freedom for just possessing marijuana. Is it truly worth it? Is it worth ruining people’s lives for a drug that is safer than legal tobacco and alcohol?

In my opinion, it should be controlled, regulated, taxed, and only made illegal for children. 

(Essays published in The Pony Express Online are solely the opinion of the writer and do not reflect the opinion of Pony Express Online staffers, faculty or students.)