For years many citizens have been breaking the law and
going behind the governments back to smoke marijuana. Many parents get unwanted
phone calls that their child is in jail for the use of marijuana daily.
Marijuana kills millions every year and is also an addictive gateway drug,
right? Wrong! There has never been a death directly related to smoking cannabis.
Marijuana is already legal in nineteen states in the United States for medical
use. In two of our fifty states, it is
legal for recreational use. Marijuana should be declared legal for an adult 21
or older.
Annual deaths related to prescription drugs: 32,000.
Annual deaths related to alcohol: 85,000. Annual deaths related to marijuana:
ZERO! That’s right, none. So how come alcohol and other harmful drugs are
legal, yet marijuana isn’t? These drugs are addictive, harmful, and kill citizens
in our country daily. We’re going to let those drugs be legal and harm our
fellow citizens rather than legalize a drug that doesn’t harm you.
If marijuana was legalized, our government would be
saving money. They spend billions every year to try to prevent people from smoking.
If we stopped “hunting down” the people who smoked, we wouldn’t have as many
people in jail. The government could also tax the marijuana if they legalized
it. Therefore, legalizing marijuana would have more advantages for our
government than disadvantages.
Prohibition in the United States does not help prevent
kids from smoking cannabis. Marijuana is very popular in American high schools.
Why? Because it’s available. You don’t have to be 21, since it is already
illegal. It is easier for many high school students to obtain marijuana than it
is for them to obtain alcohol. The reasoning behind this is because alcohol is
legal and regulated to keep away from kids under 21. There is also no evidence
that prohibition decreases drug use in the United States.
Politicians only want to keep marijuana illegal because
they can’t make money off of it. Cannabis is a natural plant that people can
plant themselves. Since they can grow it themselves, they don’t buy it because
it would have tax. This makes politicians mad because they can’t tax you.
Politicians don’t care about what is good for someone; they only care about
making money. This is selfish of them because they legalized two of the common
causes of death and will not fully legalize marijuana.
Some people may think that I’m just writing this speech so
I can go around and smoke marijuana all the time without getting arrested. This
however, is extremely false due to the fact I have never in my life, nor do I
ever plan to smoke marijuana. Some people think only crazy teenage potheads
would be the ones to want marijuana to be legal. This statement is also false.
Doctors can use marijuana to stimulate appetite and relieve nausea in cancer
and AIDS patients. Are you going to be the person that ruins someone’s chance
of finally being relieved of pain?
As I’ve previously mentioned, medical marijuana is legal
in some states in the US. This helps many hospital patients. Cannabis,
which is the marijuana plant, has been used in hospitals for many years.
Marijuana has helped patients with the following: AIDS, cancer, anxiety,
depression, epilepsy, and other physical addictions. In America, it is still
illegal for doctors to prescribe medical marijuana to patients, which is in
fact a problem due to the many illnesses in our country dealing with cancer.
In John F. Kennedy’s speech, “Inaugural Address”, he
mentions “a celebration of freedom” (197). This is saying that we have freedom,
but when you say marijuana cannot be legalized, you are saying we don’t have
the freedom to smoke cannabis. This statement contradicts itself to the point
where people are asking about the freedom they do have. So therefore, we do not
have the freedom to smoke marijuana to celebrate. Also, Kennedy states, “In the
long history of the world, only few generations have been granted the role of
defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger” (200). Today I am defending
the right that marijuana should be legal. I am in this generation, and we are
standing up for what is right.
THANK YOU FOR TAKING TIME TO READ MY ESSAY.
PLEASE FOLLOW THIS LINK TO A QUICK SURVEY.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dHZGczM3WWtXbHFrcUFrNlRkaVRUSXc6MQ
Work Cited
"What Is Medical Marijuana." What Is Medical
Marijuana. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2012.
<http://www.uri.edu/personal2/chicken/faq1.htm>.
Kennedy, John F., JFK. "Inaugural Address." Prentice
Hall Literature: The American Experience. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice
Hall, 1991. N. pag. Print.
"Why Marijuana Should Be Legal." Why Marijuana Should
Be Legal: Logical Arguments for Students Writing Essays and Papers about
Marijuana Legalization. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2012.
<http://www.mjlegal.org/essayspeech.html>.
