Legalize it.
1. Criminals benefit greatly from it being illegal. Drug dealers don't want it legalized.
2. If we regulate it, we can make the decision when we should be able to smoke, rather than drug dealers selling to teens way too early in life.
3. It's actually easier for a teenager to get marijuana then it is an adult. It's also easier to get marijuana than it is alcohol as a teenager. Regulating it means we can keep it away from teens who should not be smoking it until a certain age moreso than not regulating it.
4. Out of tobacco, marijuana, and alcohol, marijuana is the least harmful. At a marijuana celebration day in Canada every year, only one violent crime was commited at the festival, and it was by someone under the influence of alcohol.
5. 1 out of 104 people who smoke weed ever try cocaine. Weed is more of a wall than it is a gateway drug. If weed didn't exist more people would be doing heavier drugs.
6. One of the core reasons marijuana is outlawed is because of "the network". This consists of all the people that benefit from weed being illegal. Yacht salesmen selling to people making 300k+ a year off drug growing/smuggling. Companies designing pills and painkillers that would tank in sales if weed was legal. Tax payer money going to drug busting forces, most of which target marijuana. Judges getting payed thousands of dollars for a few minutes in court to send teenagers to tax payer funded drug clinics. The danger of weed is stretched to the limit to protect the interest of people profiting off a natural substance being banned.
7. Most people who are so adament that marijuana is evil do not know enough about it. They grow up with all the after school specials and see the effects of harder drugs and instantly think that marijuana is bad. If you would have asked me when I was fourteen why marijuana was bad I couldn't give you a decent answer. It's the "Drugs are bad, m'kay" mentality.
I love Mary Jane. It makes everything better. Some friends on Xbox live love it when I get high and play games. You think Castle Crashers is hilarious in a juvenile way? Play that game baked. It's magical.
On a personal level, I find marijuana MUCH SAFER than alcohol. Alcoholism runs in my family. Aunt was killed by a drunk driver. I've seen the neighbor lady at my old house come up to our door staggering drunk trying to tell us that her husband was friends of us or something. I have driven high before. Surprisenly, I retained my motor skills. There's a reason you hear about drunk drivers more often than stoned drivers. I won't drive drunk in any situation, but driving after a couple hits can be safe, and fun. I don't wanna go out and do bad things when I'm high, just wanna have fun. I get depressed when I drink.
Compare it to tobacco.How many reports do we get of people geting lung cancer from smoking pot? How many people do you know have died from marijuana use? I've heard rumors of people dieing due to panic attacks or overconsumption, but that's nothing compared to the amount of people that die from ovr the counter asprin. Think about it: most of the stuff you can get at your local pharmacy is more likely to end your life than the illegal substance known as weed.
I know a very conservative man, to the point even mentioning something like gay marriage or abortion will start up an argument, and even he thinks weed is harmless and should be legal/regulated. In my mind, you are either dangerously conservative, or dangerously uneducated, or both, to think that marijuana being illegal makes the world a better place.
Well, it's 4:30 am. I'm off to the gym for two hours of working out and basketball. Then I'll come back and get ready for college. Gotta make some chili for a cookoff, clean out my car, flirt with the barista at my favorite Starbucks. That doesn't sound like the life of a stoner, but I assure you I love my weed.
