Marijuana Legalization

Marijuana Legalization

Peter Katel's article, Legalizing Marijuana, discusses the major controversial issues, opinions and beliefs of many citizens such as Bill Piper, national affairs director of the Drug Policy Alliance Network, current President Obama and several others from leading drug organizations. Katel touches base on numerous current debatable issues such as potential tax revenue, the dangers of marijuana, and medical marijuana. He speaks of legalizing marijuana nationwide in a positive way with few faults; however, each state should have their own laws on the subject for example, Michigan's Proposal One Act. Responsible adults who will not abuse their privlages should be able to smoke marijuana occasionally. Consequences shall follow to those who misuse their privileges. Relating Peter's findings to Michigan; I have come to the belief that legalizing marijuana will have a positive effect in Michigan by being aware of the dangers, benefiting from taxation, and helping comfort the terminally ill.

Legalizing marijuana for tax benefits would create an abundance of cash flow in Michigan according to Mary Jane Borden, Editor of Drug War Facts for the Drug Truth Network, 88% of marijuana related arrests or 759 thousand were for simple possession, who knows how many people actually smoke. Although, Peter briefly mentioned it would be hard to get started because the states wouldn't know how much to grow or where. Soon after he wrote of worrying about an increase in consumption, and left it to be lead that "the debate centers on the dangers of chronic use and on whether more people will develop dependence on marijuana if the number of marijuana users booms as a result of legalization." Although many people worry of the effects and dangers of marijuana, most assume that marijuana is not addictive. Long-term marijuana use can be for some people. The chance of becoming addicted is under one percent but state officials are worried the percent will go up with legalization.

"A study done by McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts showed that cognitive impairment among college students who were regular users of marijuana (had used 27 of the last 30 days) had impaired skills related to attention, memory and learning for up to 24 hours after they last used the drug. These students had difficulty in sustaining and shifting attention and in registering, organizing and using information than the control group. A more recent study by this same group showed that the ability of a group of long-term heavy marijuana abusers to recall words from a list remained impaired for a week after quitting, but returned to normal within 4 weeks of quitting" ("Marijuana or cannibis sativa").

Many are concerned about the gateway theory. From my research I've found that studies prove that age has an enormous effect on whether or not an individual will have a later drug abuse or dependency problem. The United