Joel Florko
Composition 1
11/23/14
Mrs. Garza
Keep pot in America What do you think of when you hear someone’s a “pot smoker”, let me guess you probably don’t think to highly of them. Our society has such a skewed perception of an individual that smokes marijuana. Thought to be lazy, less intelligent, unmotivated and an all-around bum. Well if that was really the case why have some of our most important American figures, such as George Washington, smoked pot? The answer is simple pot is not a drug, it’s a plant, and as surprising as some may believe it to be its also harmless. The advantages of legalizing pot are far greater than the disadvantages we are having keeping it illegal. There are many reasons I believe pot should be legal in America from the obvious economic standpoint, to the health and recreation side of it. Pot will all around raise the moral of Americans, strengthen the economy, and help the sick who need it as a medical prescription. Marijuana has been a taboo topic since the day it became illegal, but as time goes on it’s become more of a relevant conversation in which many people recognize the benefits of legalization. When it comes down to it, and the government can disagree with it as much as they want, but if marijuana is legal people will use it and if it’s illegal people will use it. When you realistically look at it you’re not going to catch every person, so why are we still trying. It’s time for us to realize that throwing ourselves farther into debt to restrict a harmless plant isn’t the right decision. “Colorado, the first state to legalize the recreational use of marijuana is expected to take in 60 to 70 million in taxed pot sales since legalization (Divya Raghavan)”, yet the government spends 41 billion trying to keep this “drug” out. It has been proven now by multiple states that when marijuana is taxed, just like cigarettes and booze, the revenue that comes from it is substantial. For example let’s say every state legalized and taxed marijuana today, within the first year alone they are guaranteed at least one million in sales, that’s 50 million all together. Instead of swallowing our pride we keep it illegal because we don’t want to admit we failed trying to restrain this illegal substance. The truth is though the quicker we legalize the quicker we fix our national debt problem. With 47.5% of all drug cases being marijuana related I feel very reassured that my tax paying dollars are going to locking up these “criminals.” That’s almost half of the 218 billion we spend on corrections, courts, policing for this drug war. It would just make sense to legalize marijuana and save millions of dollars each year processing these minor offenders. May 31, 2011 father Mike Hyde finds out his two year old boy was diagnosed with a stage 4 brain tumor and was to undergo chemotherapy. After watching his son for 40 days not eat, vomiting, and shivering Mike felt helpless. He was told by doctors that there was nothing that could be done, two year old Clyde would just have to endure the pain. Mike could not stand on the sidelines as his son endures this pain, he turns to pot. Mike inserted cannabis oil through his sons feeding tube and amazed doctors with the boy’s recovery. Hyde quotes “the only way for medical patients to benefit from cannabis is to have it fully legalized (Mike Hyde).” Mikes story is a perfect example of why legalizing marijuana will help medical patients across the states. We, as the citizens of the United States, are letting the government dictate which medicines are legal an illegal. Say you were in Mike’s position watching your son endure days of agonizing pain and one plant could cure his symptoms. If it was my son I don’t care if that “drug” is legal or illegal if it helps my son I’m willing to take that chance. The fact is that millions of American patients could benefit from legalization and restore their lives, but without full legalization not ever patient will have access to
