The concept of legalizing marijuana has been a tough subject for decades. Legalizing marijuana for more than just medical purposes could and would be tolerated in this country if given reasonable and strict chance. Marijuana should be legalized for recreational use. I will be open with my personal experiences, and I am not ashamed that I do smoke marijuana.
First off, marijuana is no more harmful or possibly less harmful than alcohol or tobacco. "[Alcohol] Another highly addictive substance, upwards of 50,000 people die each year from alcohol poisoning (this doesn't count drunk driving, other accidents, liver disease or kidney failure). To make matters worse, alcohol is implicated in over half of all domestic violence and rape cases, up to 2/3 of all assaults and a quarter of all suicides." (1). Where do you see marijuana doing that? Marijuana does not make people violent. At least from my own personal experiences I am far, far from violent. Also I do drink alcohol, but I would much rather smoke a little bit and hang out for and hour or two and go home, but you can't do that with alcohol. If you have two drinks (one shot each) within a one hour time period your blood alcohol level is above .08 and your getting a ticket or taken to jail. "Marijuana, a drug with no physical dependency and one of the lowest overall addictiveness ratings, seems rather tame (1)" Now, tobacco is another very addictive substance in which our country allows us to use. In fact "the nicotine found in cigarettes has been tested as being the most addictive drug that's widely used, up to five times more addictive than cocaine" (1). How can this be legal? Because the big cigarette companies have already been established, and the smokers are paying a huge sin tax on cigarettes in which the government gets. You can also compare this to the prohibition of alcohol in the earlier years that showed the government that they should only use restrictions but not completely take alcohol away.
