Assignment 16- Logan Gehefer

Take the biggest number you can think of. Now divide that by 2. Now multiply that by 0. That’s how many people have ever died from a marijuana overdose. According to the CDC, over 30 people die every day from an alcohol related death. 0 in history compared to 30 a day is a pretty big difference, another major difference is one is legal and one is not, guess which one. That would be the one killing people daily. Money is wasted every day on the war on drugs, which is a complete failure and honestly not worth the money. We have spent 1.3 trillion dollars on the war on drugs according to CNN, which many consider a trillion dollar failure. Essentially, the government is doing this through their actions (rip up dollar bill) In truth, marijuana is already legalized in multiple states, which is the opposite of what the war on drugs sought to achieve. Take a look at prohibition. Prohibition led to the increase in consumption of hard liquor and an increase of organized crime for the production and distribution. Essentially, the illegalization of marijuana causes more problems than it solves. You can view the states it has been legalized in as test states. A 41 percent decrease has occurred in arrest for ALL drugs since legalization. Colorado has brought in over 40 million dollars in taxes in one year. This presents the fact that through heavy taxation, a substance with no real harms can end up boosting our economy. According to drugpolicy.org, over 500,000 people have been arrested in 2015 for nonviolent marijuana possession. One must consider the processing for someone to be arrested as well as all the processes made for finding drugs and all the charges related. The government is paying money for prisons to keep these people in jail who are committing harmless crimes. The money being spent in the war on drugs is just being wasted, as the only things that happen are counterproductive to the goals. We should be helping people with stronger addictions, rather than throwing them in jail, often with mandatory minimums, putting people behind bars for years. Although marijuana has been proven addictive, the effects are significantly less than many prescription drugs and alcohol today. Marijuana is classified by the federal government as a schedule 1 drug. That’s the same level as Heroin, and is classified above cocaine and methamphetamine. The money brought in from taxes is given to the state government, who reapportions the received funds to help better the lives of citizens, such as improvement to roads, schools, and public facilities. As defined by Vox, the purpose of legalizing marijuana is not because it’s good, but because the war on it is bad. Also, addressed in the book “Marijuana Legalization” is the problem that we do not necessarily know how everyone will behave with legalization. It is likely that people over the age will buy for youth or youth will use fake IDs in order to purchase marijuana. People will argue that this is not worth the risk, but it happens with alcohol every day. Many have heard of the “Hey Mister” technique, where kids ask adults to purchase alcohol for them. The fact that this maneuver is so well known, just furthers the fact that underage acquisition of alcohol happens very frequently. I’m not saying it’s a good thing that underage kids will likely acquire marijuana, but I’m saying that this negative is a very minor cost. Violence is another big issue that is caused by the illegalization of marijuana. Since it’s harder to obtain, many people go to robbing and shooting each other for it. Also, take a look at the story of Zachary Hammond of Seneca, SC. He was on a first date with a girl he’d just met, when police had a tip that the girl had possession of marijuana. In the arrest of her, Zachary Hammond was shot and killed by police, when he had done nothing but tried to make her have a good night. The music video to Crooked Smile shows the story of Aiyana Stanley- Jones, a 7 year old girl who was murdered by a police officer in a raid over small amounts of weed. The video campaigns against the war on drugs by showing that small amounts of a common drug can lead to the death of people, especially little girls. These are deaths that had no reason to happen and could have been avoided. Don’t get me wrong here, I’m not saying marijuana is good for you and has no negative effects, as it does. I’m simply presenting the facts marijuana is much less harmless than many prescription drugs and alcohol today, as many of these drugs cause violence and death. Take for example the prescription drug known as Xanax. A week ago, my sister’s goddaughter was shot and killed in a home invasion by two men under the influence of Xanax. They likely do not remember this attack and wouldn’t have done this were they not under the influence. It is commonly abused today and leads to much violence, yet its legal with a prescription and many don’t even want medical marijuana. Alcohol has been proven to cause people to act more reckless and aggressive, according to “How to help an alcoholic”. Marijuana is classified on the same level as heroin and is considered much more harmful than cocaine, methamphetamine, and most notably, alcohol. Through the information given, the question I want to ask the government is “what are you smoking?”