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Nester Hurtado

English 1010

Legalizing marijuana, should we or shouldnt we?
Should we or shouldnt we legalize marijuana? Thats the question everyone is asking,
even more so with Colorado and Washington having just legalizing it. This is the question that
will affect everyone, do we treat marijuana just like we do alcohol and tobacco or do we keep it
illegal and crack down on the war on drugs even more. There is a lot of controversy surrounding
whether or not we legalize marijuana, those who argue that it should stay illegal base their
arguments on how it will affect our youth, and the negative effects it has on the health and well
being of people. While there are a lot of people who wish for it to stay illegal, 57 percent of
Americans think it should be legalized, their argument for legalization is the amount of income
made from taxing it, as well as all of the medical benefits that I might have. There is no doubt
that right now the question of legalization is the most discussed topic, and will continue to grow
as each state choose to whether or not they are going to legalize it.
The following is a compilation of articles I found that cover the topics of whether or not
we should legalize marijuana, which is followed by an analysis of the topic and then how they
correspond with the rest of my article. Each article supports either an argument for legalizing or
an argument against legalization.

Richardson, John h.The best reasons to legalize marijuana. esquire (2014): Hearst
digital media.web. 2014
The Article The Best Reasons to Legalize Marijuana is written by John h. Richardson,
who is a web writer for Esquire. Richardson focuses his argument on his opinion of the war on
drugs being a waste of money and is something of a victimless crime that is met with the same
standards as that with heroin or cocaine, but Richardson also give examples as to how legalizing
marijuana might help save money as well as lives.
Richardson lets his opinions known from the start stating the drug war is actually
insane from here he goes on to compare the rates of kills per year between alcohol, prescription
pills, and marijuana; with pills coming in first with 100,000 deaths per year, alcohol with 75,000
a year, and marijuana having zero deaths. His main focus on the failure of the war on drugs is
that we are spending billions to fight the war; drugs are still just as easy to come by. Richardson
does have some statistics to add to his argument quoting Jeffery Miron (a Harvard economist)
"Legalizing drugs would save roughly $41.3 billion per year in government expenditure
on enforcement of prohibition. Of these savings, $25.7 billion would accrue to state and
local governments, while $15.6 billion would accrue to the federal government.
Approximately $8.7 billion of the savings would result from legalization of marijuana and
$32.6 billion from legalization of other drugs." As well as that of the 1.64 million who are
arrested every year for drug violation half of them were likely to have little amounts of
marijuana. While Richardson does point out that the revenue from legalization would be
substancal, he notes that farming, stores and the manufacturing facilities as well as hemp are
possible ways to increase jobs and income from legalization.
While Richardson simply argues that legalizing marijuana would save the government
billions of dollars in their failed attempts to stop the drug flow in The United States, he is able to
bring in facts and statistic to make his point on this argument, but apart from this one argument
he has no other determining factors that have a real effect on if we should or should we not
legalize. While Richardson does use credible information quoting a Harvard economist for his
finical fact and statistics, I believe he tries to make himself credible by his way of stating fact in
a way reads might relate to.
If you think of the billions of dollars and the lives we have lost in the war on drugs, this
article might make you rethink about where you stand on the topic of legalizing marijuana. The
reason for including Richardsons article is to use as an opposing factor for reasons other than
the tax revenue for why you would want to legalize marijuana.

Emily Miller, THE WASHINGTON TIMES. "The Dire Consequences of Legalizing
Marijuana." Washington Times, The (DC) (2014): 3. Newspaper Source. Web. 11 Apr. 2014.

The Dire Consequences of legalizing marijuana is an online article written by Emily
Miller, which was posted online April 11 2014. Miller starts the article of by mentioning that
after five years of president Obamas libertinism you can now in Colorado go to a store and buy
marijuana for kicks. She then shifts her focus on the loosey-goosey states that are watching
Colorado, insisting that the Colorado social experiment will end badly. Which she backs up with
the opinions of those who argue against legalizing marijuana and states that the activists urging
legalization are uneducated about the consequences of smoking marijuana. Miller then focuses
her argument against legalization by explaining the negative health effective it has using the
National Institutes of Health as a source of her information (Joints- causing respitory problems,
lung infections, diminished immunity. THC- effecting brain functions.)
Miller then explains that the states pushing for legalizing marijuana because of the tax
revenue and state that the benefits of legalization out way the risk of youth dependency are
woefully negligent. She then insists that marijuana potency is ten times more potent than in
1980, and that legalizing marijuana would lead to hard drugs. But when Miller state that in a
recent Rasmussen Report on whether marijuana lead to harder drugs, she insist only 39 percent
responded correctly by say yes it seem with this sentence that if some of the information does
not match to how she feels she might consider the 61 percent to be lying. . While Miller had
some good facts for why we should not legalize, there were moments in her article she attacks
those who wish for legalization with unsupporting facts.
The importance of Emily Millers article for the Washington Times is to bring in some
opposing factors to whether or not we should legalize marijuana and provide point opposed them
in the other articles I will be referencing. The way this article has effect my outlook at the
question is that while some people may argue for or against legalization not everyone has done
the research.
Burden, Wes Opinion: Legalization of Marijuana has Financial, Health Benefits.
TheLantern.com. Web. January 2014.
Opinion: legalization of marijuana has financial, health benefits is an online article by
Wes Burden which appeared online at thelanteren.com January 21, 2014. Burden starts the
article off by dismissing the image of pothead coming together to celebrate nationwide
legalization of marijuana, he then insist that I think our nation is on a path to nationwide
legalization and I believe this occurrence will happen for all the right reasons. Throughout the
article he explains that marijuana is no different than any legal drug such as alcohol or
prescription pills, the only difference he insist is that with marijuana there has been no fatal
surround the drug, he supports this claim thru information gathered by the center for disease
control and prevention (CDCP). Burden then turns his attention on the benefits of legalization,
mainly on the health benefits. While he only sites nameless researchers on the positive medical
effects and possible aid against ailments such as seizures, cancer, and AIDS/HIV, he gives clear
examples of how they positively affect the ailments.
Burden comes across a credible with his use of fact and statistics. The argument he
addresses he use pathos to sound reasonable in the way he compares marijuana being a drug to
that with alcohol and prescription pill, then uses information from the CDCP to explain that
while alcohol and pills are legal they both are a large percent in fatality a year, while there are
no credible deaths surrounding marijuana. What adds to the credibility to his article is he even
has apart in the article to help with misconception.
Wes Burdens article Opinion: legalization of Marijuana has Financial, Health Benefits,
is more likely to put legalizing marijuana in a better light, because with this subject Ive noticed
that most people are argue or urging their point in something of a rash manner, but with this
article Burden ease you into the argument and show that if marijuana was legalized the benefits
we could receive from it. The reason for including this article into my paper is to show the health
benefits for legalizing marijuana.
Frum, David. Dont Go to Pot.. Commentarymagazine.com. Masterfile. Web. 2014.
The article Dont Go to Pot is written by David Frum, Who is an author and a commenter
for CNN and the Daily Beast. The article appeared april1 2014, online at
Commentarymagazine.com. Frum focuses on the effect that legalization might have on youth,
and the ease that underage smoker might get marijuana. He also states how law enforcements
would have a hard time cracking down on illegal sales of marijuana.
Frum emphasizes that legalizing marijuana will not stop underage consumption; he
supports this idea by stating that those able to legally purchase marijuana could resell it to
minors. While on the topic of underage consumption he believes that marijuana sellers would
target youth for sales, in the hopes of start them young, keep them longer. This is due to a
statistic that states that most people stop smoking marijuana by the age of 30, but he sites no
reference for this statistic. The other part of frum's argument against legalizing marijuana is the
psychical harm it may have on a teen. While he does give an example of an underachieving kid
turn to marijuana and how it could lead to more underachieving and isolation, he also states that
there is no clear cut way to know for sure if marijuana was the cause or the kids circumstances
that would lead to the isolation.
Frum comes off credible due to his background as a commentator on CNN as well as
being an author. In the mean time only half of the information and statistic that he states does he
name a source for. Frum comes of reasonable in his article because when he makes an opinion
about something he is able to give a reasonable example to go with it.
While I agree with some of Frums theory about card holders reselling to underage
minors, I disagree that law enforcement will not be able to upholder marijuana restrictions on
underage consumers. David Frums article Dont Go to Pot plays an importance because it
argues why we should not legalize marijuana because of the effect it might have against the
youth, and I will use this article to oppose another source I have on the topic.
Dershowitz, Hanna LeibmanWhy Parent Should Support Legalizing Pot.Alternet.org.
web. September 13, 2010.
The article Why Parents Should Support Legalizing Pot is written by Hanna leibman
Dershowitz, the article appeared on Alternet.org in September 2010, 2 years after marijuana was
legalized in Colorado and Washington. Dershowitz gives her opinion on why we should legalize
marijuana through the perspective of a parent; she claims that with legalizing marijuana it would
cut down the amount of underage consumption. In addition to why we should legalize marijuana
she goes on to explain that with legalizing it parents can teach their children marijuana safety
much like how we do with alcohol. However in her article she goes on to state the negative
effects of not legalizing marijuana, such as being charged with the smallest amount of marijuana
can exclude them from federal student loans, as well as job prospects. While I agree with
Dershowitzs theory of teaching marijuana safety if it is legalized, Im not sure if the money
made form marijuana taxes will be spent on marijuana awareness.
This article I believe is persuasive due to Dershowitz agree that marijuana should be
legalized, even with her being a parent of two. Her opinion through the article is that of a mother
who wants teach the child to be responsible and aware of thing such as alcohol and marijuana. If
there were parent on the fence about legalizing marijuana this could be a factor on how they look
at it, Dershowitz explains with money made from legalization could be used to inform child at a
young age about drug education, as well as helping with public education.
With this article I will be able to show why some parents are for legalizing marijuana,
and I will use this article to oppose why some parents are against legalization. This article is a
good source of what we can do with some of the income, if marijuana is legalized.
I have concluded after reading these articles that legalizing marijuana still has away to
go, but things are moving for legalization state to state. After reading these articles I have found
that there are a lot of arguments against legalization, but I feel that the positive affects out weight
the negative; so long as we treat marijuana in the same view as tobacco and alcohol. There is
also the 57 percent of Americans that also agree that marijuana should be legalized. Personally I
think there are already people doing it illegally why not make it legal and help bring some
income from it instead of losing billions of dollars used against a failing war on drugs.
Regardless of where you stand on the topic of legalizing marijuana, it is a proven fact that things
are going to be moving state to state.

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