Marijuana Should Not Be Legalized Essay Example

Legalizing marijuana would lead to the emergence of illegal uses across the board.

It is a harmful drug, and its legalization would have adverse side effects on the users. Its legalization could be compared to that of the legalized gambling in America. It has not reduced in any way the number of illegal gambling in the country. Legal gambling had been setting the stage for illegal gambling and therefore legalizing marijuana would also open the scene for the unlawful use of the drug.

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Legalization would instead reduce the price, and hence many users would be directed to use the drug.

In this case, it would increase harm to the people more than even the amount of revenue that it can yield in America. When the drug is illegal, the price would be set higher so that not everyone would be able to afford it. Legalizing it would speed up the rate of young people who would abuse it and later they would turn to ignore the laws set to guide them due to hazards of the drug.

An increase in crimes caused by legalizing marijuana would burden the criminal justice system.

The system would have to struggle to deal with crime a case more than they currently exist. Legalizing the drug would mean more entry of criminals into the market. It would instead lead to other issues such as human trafficking and drug distribution and therefore more destruction to the familiar people.

Introduction

The United States policies had been strict on the legalization of marijuana. The lawmakers have tried to balance the pros and cons of the drug, and they found out that it is more harmful to be legalized. Marijuana should not be legalized because it would increase crime rates and reduce the prices of the drug resulting into high crimes that would also burden the criminal justice system and lead to other issues such as human trafficking and high distribution across the country.

Legalization of the drug would affect the criminal system negatively by increasing the rates of crimes every day. A few people have been imprisoned due to possession of marijuana according to the national bureau of statistics survey (Cerda et al., 2012). This implies that legalization would increase free criminals who would harm themselves and the general public due to the effects of the drug. In this case, the aspect of drug violence would not be curbed by legalizing the drug. It would instead lead to other issues such as human trafficking and drug distribution and therefore more destruction to the ordinary people (Joffe, A., & Yancy, W. S. (2014). This is the reason why the United States had reduced it from 1979 to 2018 by fifty-four percent to protect the lives of the people and lower crime rates.

Accepting the use of the drug would also reduce the prices hence increasing the number of users in the system. Legalization would instead reduce the price, and therefore many users would be directed to use the drug. In this case, it would increase harm to the people more than even the amount of revenue that it can yield in America. When the drug is illegal, the price would be set higher so that not everyone would be able to afford it (Belenko, 2016). Legalizing it would speed up the rate of young people who would abuse it and later they would turn to ignore the laws set to guide them due to hazards of the drug. Just like tobacco and alcohol which are legal and taxed, their side effects have overshadowed the importance of their taxes to the government. Legalizing marijuana would mean that it would affect many people lives negatively while and the government would not consider correcting the situation as long as it produces revenue (Hall, W., & Weier, M. 2015).

Finally, legalizing the drug would lead to the emergence of illegal uses across the board among users. It is a harmful drug, and its legalization would have adverse side effects on the users. Its legalization could be compared to that of the legalized gambling in America (Kleiman, M. 2018). It has not reduced in any way the number of illegal gambling in the country. Legal gambling had been setting the stage for illegal gambling and therefore legalizing marijuana would also open the scene for the illicit use of the drug. Various individuals would, therefore, work to sell illegal marijuana products outside the desires regions (Kleiman, 2017). The government would be taking the medication and therefore would not care about the effects it would have to the population if to would be legalized. Majority of the people in America under substance abuse are the addicts of marijuana that is approximately five million young people. Those suffering from substance use disorder would increase if the drug were legalized.

Conclusion

Marijuana should not be legalized because of its risks of increasing crime rates and reduce the prices of the drug resulting into high crimes that would also burden the criminal justice system and lead to other issues such as human trafficking and high distribution across the country. The drug causes mental and psychological problems that would affect the youth and the nation after legalizing. There will raise issues such as impaired driving and substance abuse disorders. Smart policies should be developed to reduce any legalization of illegal drugs to lower crime rates and ensure safety to the young generation. Reducing the use of the drug would promote health education, productivity, health, and education.

References

Kleiman, M. (2017). Against excess: Drug policy for results (p. 360). New York, NY: BasicBooks.

Belenko, S. R. (Ed.). (2016). Drugs and drug policy in America: A documentary history. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Joffe, A., & Yancy, W. S. (2014). Legalization of marijuana: potential impact on youth. Pediatrics, 113(6), e632-e638.Kleiman, M. (2018). Marijuana: Costs of abuse, costs of control (p. 26). New York: Greenwood Press.

Hall, W., & Weier, M. (2015). Assessing the public health impacts of legalizing recreational cannabis use in the USA. Clinical pharmacology & therapeutics, 97(6), 607-615.

Cerda, M., Wall, M., Keyes, K. M., Galea, S., & Hasin, D. (2012). Medical marijuana laws in 50 states: investigating the relationship between state legalization of medical marijuana and marijuana use, abuse and dependence. Drug and alcohol dependence, 120(1), 22-27.