I wrote this for my persuasion class, this is the first part. Basically I have to write a summary which would persuade my professor to go pro-marijuana. I hate all of the marijuana threads on here but I didn't choose my topic and I'd really appreciate your guys help and opinions. +K
By the way I am not done writing this summary and I'm open to any suggestions on how to end it off.
Legalization of Marijuana
After researching this topic we have found that there are no good or logical arguments as to why marijuana should not be legalized. The amount of facts backing up this topic is astonishing and when you are done reading this we hope that you too ask the question ‘why is marijuana illegal?’
Firstly, something very obvious should be pointed out; this being that cigarettes are the number one cause of death in the world, yet the government allows the tobacco industry to make billions of dollars profit off of killing people. Alcohol comes in at number two. The two main killers of people and the government proceeds to do nothing about it. Marijuana on the other hand has not had one notable death. It is physically impossible to overdose on marijuana unless a person is literally suffocated by marijuana, humans require oxygen to breathe.
It has been said that marijuana causes cancer but actually, a study by the University of California proved that marijuana has no correlation to lung cancer.
"We hypothesized that there would be a positive association between marijuana use and lung cancer, and that the association would be more positive with heavier use," he said. "What we found instead was no association at all, and even a suggestion of some protective effect." – Donald Tashkin, Pulmonologist
It has also been said that marijuana is addictive and is also a gateway drug. A 12 year study done at the University of Pittsburgh proved differently. They found that someone’s personality is really the determining factor if they are to go use other drugs, it has nothing to do with marijuana at all. Out of 104 people who smoked marijuana only 1 went on to do cocaine and 0.1 went on to do heroin. Marijuana is not physically addictive so there are no side effects of stopping use.
According to the National survey on Drug Use and Health 54% of 12 to 17 year olds said it was easy to obtain marijuana. Marijuana is easier to obtain than alcohol and cigarettes for underage kids since it is not regulated. Not only would regulating it make it more difficult to obtain for kids and put many drug dealers out of business but it could also be taxed allowing more money for other things. There were 786,000 marijuana arrests in 2005, the United States spent over twice the amount enforcing marijuana laws than they did on education. Tax payers also pay for the marijuana drug busts so if it were regulated there would be no more need for these ‘busts’ which would save even more money. Hemp can also be used to make over 5,000 textile products and used to be the largest agricultural crop at one point. The use of hemp would also obviously boost the economy.
Not only is it smart economically but it is also smart ecologically. Anyone who is ‘eco-friendly’ should be pro-marijuana and this is why; Marijuana is highly beneficial to the ozone layer. The plant takes in lots of carbon dioxide and releases lots of oxygen. The plant can be grown almost anywhere on the earth and can also be used to make paper. Growing the plant would eliminate a lot of deforestation due to the ‘tree free paper’ and this could help solve a lot of the climate problems the world is having due to our continuous abuse of our natural resources.
So why exactly is marijuana still illegal? There is no good answer. Most politicians understand the whole debate but fear not getting elected if the majority of the general public is not on the same page. If a politician has been anti-marijuana for the last 10 years and then suddenly becomes pro-marijuana it looks very hypocritical and therefore negative on their part. The only way for it to be made legal is for people to become more educated on the subject and start asking more questions.
