The Legalization of Marijuana and Alcohol

In our world today, Marijuana has been widely known in our country and also globally. Most European countries sell this drug legally such as Holland, Australia, and Columbia. Former Chief of Police, Joseph McNamara, quoted, “ I want to legalize marijuana use, not only in California but also federally, across the United States”. Many folks would disagree with this statement because it can substantially increase violence and antagonize Americans who are morally against marijuana. They believe marijuana is a stepping- stone drug, which would eventually lead younger adults and teens to heroin, cocaine, or other hardcore drugs.Marijuana has been known as a commonly used illegal substance and also a legally prescribed medicine in some states. Like alcohol, will legalizing marijuana benefit our country financially or will it be just another major issue that our country has to deal with? This paper will therefore look at the effect of marijuana legalization in America

Marijuana is the most commonly used drug in the United States. If marijuana was legalized among adults with 21 years and above, then there would be major concerns amongst the society. Alcohol is legal to those who are 21 years and over but young teens are getting access to liquor regardless of their age. Underage teens usually wait by stores and bother many people to purchase alcohol for them because of an age restriction. It would be in the same case for marijuana; teens would ask adults if they could buy them marijuana in exchange for their money. By not legalizing Marijuana, more complications that result from its use will be alleviated, creating a safer and conducive environment. Excess use of marijuana is associated with hallucination and probability to engage in criminal activities. By not legalizing it, crime rate will not increase, giving police apple time to deal with criminals.

McNamera advocates for control and monitoring of marijuana by the government just like alcohol. He further adds that prisons won’t be full of inmates arrested for a harmless crime. In disagreeing with his point, if alcohol consumers do break the rules governing its consumption, marijuana users may also break the set rules. Since marijuana can be conveniently used without being detected, its users may abuse it and get out of it without being apprehended by police. As for alcohol, a person can’t store bottles in their pocket or try hiding a 24-pack case of beer under the seat.

Our government always advertises on television reminding young adults and teens not to drink and drive because it endangers lives. So what about Marijuana? It comes with lethal side effects more than that of alcohol when abused. Marijuana is medically known to kill brain cells and to also interfere with physical mobility. The question is why do we even have this illegal substance present on our state grounds;it could affect us by distracting us in our family life, friends, and even our careers.  In 2008, our high school announced that we had a special guest speaker coming down to visit our campus. His name was Leo Brown and he told us about how his life drastically changed because of pot. He was expected to play professionally for the New York Mets baseball team, but because of marijuana use – his life changed. He mentioned that his lifestyle in college including sex with girls, smoking weed,drinking a lot of alcohol in parties and lack of parental formed the basis of a ruined life. While he was playing for his college baseball team, the New York Mets recognized his skill and decided to offer him a contract. Leo accepted their offer without hesitation, and decided to celebrate and continued smoking weed heavily. Long story short, He made a statement saying marijuana eventually took over his career and life, ruining it completely. He only ended up playing for 6 months before the New York Mets decided to terminate the rest of his contract due to poor performance. He told us that the effects of the drug slowed down his blood pressure, caused irregular heartbeat, and had no concentration on/off the field. This led to poor performance in the sport and the company found no need to keep him since he couldn’t add value to the team. In agreeing with Browns story, Marijuana should not be legalized since it has been associated with side effects which can affect human resource productivity, thereby lead to economic turmoil of the country.

Op-Ed Columnist, Nicholas D. Kristof, mentions…” legalizing and taxing marijuana would bring-in substantial sums of funds that could be used to pay for schools, libraries or even early childhood education”. Society who is against marijuana would very accordingly disagree with his statement because of the already legalization of Alcohol. Alcohol would be regarded as being treated in the same way. There are millions of parties, clubs, bars, and special events that include and involved in alcohol business. The government still taxes and legalizes alcohol but it hasn’t benefitted our economy either way. The taxes collected are on the other hand used to cater for the high medical bills for effects caused by excessive alcohol consumption. So many accidents and at times death are highly associated with abuse of alcohol, leading to high medication bills.

Our government should stand against marijuana and disregard its legalization. Of course they see a huge financial benefit but they should also see what the outcome of alcohol legalization. Did taxing alcohol help stabilize the economy? No because this country is still $14 trillion in debt and still deals with people driving drunk on roads and young minor consumptions. Legalizing marijuana will not benefit this country in anyway possible and it will physically and psychologically harm the lives of young teens and adults. Drug abuse alters one’s state of mind. If marijuana is legalized and abused, crime rates will increase since consumers may be compelled by the effects of drug to do things they cannot do in their stable state.

In conclusion, legalization of marijuana should be opposed by all means to avoid undesirable situations that will pull back our economy and social harmony in the society.