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Marijuana: Cause and Effect

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Stephen Tracey Professor Curran English 101 10 November 2011 Marijuana: Cause and Effect Today in America, millions of American citizens are both confused and outraged by the fact that there are still laws that are preventing people from using one of the most popular and controversial, illegal substances in the world: marijuana. According to recent polls, fifty percent of Americans want marijuana to be completely legal and decriminalized (Blodget), and a whopping eighty percent of Americans want it to be at least legalized for medical use (RangelMD). So why do so many Americans want marijuana to be legalized? To some this question can be easily answered, but to others, it’s not so simple. There are way too many reasons to count why …show more content…

Also, street violence would fall as a result of decriminalizing marijuana. The problem with marijuana being illegal is it causes people to resolve their disputes themselves instead of through law enforcement (Nick). This means that street gangs would have significantly less power than what they have now. A good analogy is how much power prohibition gave to Al Capone and other mob related persons. Americans who want marijuana legal don’t like giving street thugs power and money. Marijuana legalization makes us all safer, especially the kids. This is because of one simple fact, drug dealers don’t ask to see ID. Many teens have an easier time getting marijuana than they do getting alcohol or cigarettes. It may sound counter-intuitive, but legalizing marijuana would put street dealers out of business who don’t care about the people they are selling to. Finally, the main reason millions of Americans want marijuana decriminalized is the positive effects it could have on our despicable economy. First off, decriminalizing marijuana will prevent users from going to prison which will save all us tax payers a whole lot of money. In California alone, the cost of marijuana enforcement can be estimated at over $200 million per year (Gieringer). The money is being spent on state prison, jail costs, court and probation, felony arrests, misdemeanor

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