With constant marijuana debate in many countries around the world, and many countries going alternate routes on their policies towards marijuana. In this essay I will explore two different countries with opposite ended marijuanan policies. The Netherelands (Dutch) will be the first country that I will explore. It has a very light policy on marijuana use. Simple possesion of marijuana is decriminalized and ver rarely to never enforeced. More emphasis is put on hard drugs and illegal trafficking of soft and hard drugs. The second country that I researched was the United States. They have a very hard policy on the use of marijuana. Harsh penalties are put upon to first time trafficking offenders and also simple possesion. They spend millions of dollars a year on the "War On Drugs". .
I personally support the removal of all penalties for the private possession and responsible use of marijuana by adults, including cultivation for personal use, and casual nonprofit transfers of small amounts. This policy, known as decriminalization, removes the consumer -- the marijuana smoker -- from the criminal justice system, while maintaining criminal penalties against those who sell or traffic large quantities of the drug.
Marijuana is far less dangerous than alcohol or tobacco. Around 50,000 people die each year from alcohol poisoning. Similarly, more than 400,000 deaths each year are attributed to tobacco smoking. By comparison, marijuana is nontoxic and cannot cause death by overdose. According to the prestigious European medical journal, The Lancet "The smoking of cannabis, even long-term, is not harmful to health. . It would be reasonable to judge cannabis as less of a threat . than alcohol or tobacco.".
As with alcohol consumption, marijuana smoking can never be an excuse for misconduct or other improper behavior. For example, driving or operating heavy equipment while impaired from marijuana should be prohibited.
