Refuting “Six powerful reasons to legalize marijuana” by Owen Poindexter from NY Times
The use, sale and possession of cannabis (marijuana) in the United States are considered as a schedule I control substances and illegal under federal law. However, five states have legalized marijuana for recreational use and thirty one states for medical use only. While proponents say there are legitimate reasons for cannabis legalization, concerns remain about the marijuana’s effect on users and their communities and so the controversy over marijuana legalization continues. This argument refutes one of these claims that tries to support the legalization of Marijuana by highlighting some of details and evidences that look helpful in convincing the readers…show more content… figures,” the Times notes, “compared with 256,000 for cocaine, heroin and their derivatives.” The Times say: “These arrests take officers away from more urgent issues, and can have dire consequences for the arrested. Each year, enforcing laws on possession cost more than $3.6 billion, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.”
The lack of information on the cost of marijuana use should not be interpreted as evidence that there are no costs associated with marijuana use. Legalization would probably increase the already high costs of marijuana use in society. “For example the $8 billion in tax revenue generated from alcohol does little to offset the nearly $200 billion attributed to its use”. (Drugged Driving Research, Whitehouse.gov). By legalization of cannabis, accidents would increase, healthcare costs would rise and productivity would suffer. “In 2011, marijuana was involved in 455,668 emergency room visits nationwide and due to 2001 National Statistics on Marijuana, Alcohol, Heroin and Cocaine Discharges from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's (AHRQ) the mean charge of marijuana discharge from hospital demonstrates twice more than the cost of other substances in this…show more content… The argument for medical marijuana usually is just a way of opening the door to the recreational use of marijuana. When a state legalizes smoking marijuana for pain, it is expectable the next push to be for legalizing recreational marijuana. In alignment with this opinion, heroin which is derived from opium and cocaine as they produce some painkillers and anesthetic in medical industry need to be legalized too! Over the past 30 years, marijuana has been intensively studied. Millions of dollars have been spent on research and hundreds of scientific articles on marijuana have been published in medical literature. In February 1997, there were hearings in Washington with 30 experts testifying. The verdict: The legitimate medical uses for marijuana do not constitute grounds for its legalization and it is a major health hazard. Smoked marijuana has not been approved for any condition or disease by the FDA. Marijuana has been found to damage the immune system, which is important in fighting cancer, AIDS, infections and similar ailments. Smoking cannabis harms the lungs at 10 times the rate cause by cigarette smoking. Marijuana users show increases in sexually transmitted diseases. Males have lower sperm counts