Blog #9

Marijuana should be legal for medical purposes, because it has proven benefits. Marijuana has been proven effective for battling the pain that many people suffer due to illness. To deny these people this option in treating their pain is completely unreasonable. In reality, marijuana is far less dangerous than strong prescription pain killers anyway. Furthermore, not allowing marijuana to be legalized for medicinal purposes will have little to no effect on peoples' recreational use of the drug. Not only do I think Marijuana should be made legal for medical reasons, but for recreation. There is no rational explanation as for why marijuana is not illegal. Marijuana is not nearly as destructive or dangerous as psychotropic drugs dealt to us by the pharmaceutical industry. According to psychological studied Marijuana has a very low addiction rate, and statistics show that it is very rarely associated with injury or death other than the issue of its illegal distribution. Tobacco and Alcohol has been linked to many more deaths and these are both legal, the later because prohibition, what we are now doing with Marijuana, did not stop the sale and use of the product. Making this legal would decrease the number of illegal operations and associated violence and the taboo element which attracts youth to engage in the use of it.