Through the legalization of marijuana, the Canadian society can benefit through positive effects, including; a control of the marijuana substance; a decrease of usage of both legal and illegal drugs; and an increase in tax revenues, along with a decrease in government spending on drug enforcement and crime. ... By allowing drug users a legal way of stimulating and achieving a similar high, many drug addicts would decrease or all together, stop the practice of using harder drugs, such as cocaine or heroin. ... However, through the legalization of "soft drugs" like marijuana in The Netherlands...

• Word Count: 1122
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

People all over this country have argued over the safety and effects the drug would have on society. ... Sales taxes ($0.2 - $1.3 billion), enforcement savings ($6 - $9 billion), and the hemp industry ($6 - $10 billion). ... The next point that is usually brought up in a debate over the legalization of marijuana would be if this drug was legalized more people would try harder drugs because after all marijuana is a "gateway drug". To argue this, first of all there is no scientific proof that marijuana is a gateway drug. ... Legalizing marijuana will lessen the chance of children getting the...

• Word Count: 898
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

When compared to currently available legal substances and drugs such as cigarettes and alcohol, marijuana seems less of a threat then pictured. ... Currently laws enforcing marijuana prohibition further overcrowd our jails and divert scarce public safety resources away from issues and problems that really need attention. Stiffer sentencing on drug offenders has overcrowded jails in the United States so much that violent criminals including murderers have been given earlier releases to make room for guys who've been handed mandatory life terms without the possibility of parole for their "t...

• Word Count: 888
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Marijuana is probably the most popular drug used by people across the country. ... There is also nothing in marijuana that would cause people to use other drugs. ... The deaths in which have been caused by marijuana were not from the drug itself, but from police officers trying to enforce the marijuana laws. ... (Rosenthal, pg.74) Years of researching marijuana prove it is just as safe, if not safer than prescription drugs, and less dangerous than alcohol. ... Not only does the marijuana prohibition make buying pot more dangerous, it exposes people to more dangerous drugs, and violence...

• Word Count: 1223
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

Against, and For, Legalization There is, as would be expected, the age-old outcry against drugs being legal, no matter what the drug. ... Some may argue that we already have alcohol as a legal drug, and that we do not need another. ... The idea is to make the drug available to those in great pain. ... This is arguably due to the fact that "present classification failed to differentiate between hard drugs and cannabis, leading young people to believe that hard drugs are not dangerous and making it difficult to give convincing anti-drug advice" (Anonymous More calls for legalized cannabis 5). ...

• Word Count: 1141
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

What's changed today is that our attitudes towards illegal drugs are becoming more sophisticated and discriminating. ... We know that it is plain nonsense to regard cannabis as a performance-enhancing drug, just as it is a myth to think the substance rots the brain or is a gateway drug. ... One major contributor to the spread of anti-legalization information is the Drug Enforcement Agency. ... The DEA is clearly opposed to the legalization of illicit drugs. ... Suddenly they are arrested, jailed and treated like criminals solely because of their recreational drug of choice. ...

• Word Count: 1201
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

To enforce marijuana prohibition, taxpayers shell out an estimated $10 billion annually, with only 734,000 arrests. ... Substance abuse rises wherever the public is tolerant of drug laws. ... They hold charity events annually to raise enough money for drug education. Each year the CNOA tracks bills that would benefit the public on the war on drugs. ... They believe that innocent people die in pain because the drug is illegal. ...

• Word Count: 1235
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate