Cannabis sativa, more commonly known as marijuana, grass, Mary Jane, sensemila and ganja, has become a major political issue in North America today. Many governments including Canada's are talking of decriminalizing marijuana. Some have already made it legal for medical use for those with chronic illnesses such as aids, cancer, and migraines. It seems that politicians have begun to realize the benefits of decriminalization. First, there is great amount of money they could save by legalizing pot. Secondly, there is the fact that prohibition is not working and the amount of pot smoker's increase every year. Finally, by making marijuana illegal, it puts an infringement on our rights of freedom and liberty to make our own choices. So the question is, why should marijuana be legal, or should we be asking ourselves, why should marijuana be illegal? Is marijuana really so harmful that it must be illegal or should you have the freedom to choose whether or not you want to smoke marijuana?.
Every year in the United States of America the government spends millions of dollars chasing and prosecuting innocent people who happen to like to get high. If marijuana were legal, all levels of the government could save money and concentrate on more important issue our country is facing today. Instead they choose prohibition, which cost millions of dollars. The government could be tapping into this resource and making millions. Each year crime barons make an estimated 10 to 50 million dollars in the marijuana drug trade (Against drug prohibition. (n.d.). Retrieved from the World Wide Web: www.aclu.org). This is money that the government could be making if they would only realize that marijuana should be legal. But our government chooses to pour billions into locking up these nonviolent offenders. In 1990, the states alone paid 12 billion dollars, or 16,000 dollars per person in prosecuting and jailing these marijuana users (Against drug prohibition.