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Anthon J. Money
Criminal Justice
3/3/2015
Marijuana: To Legalize or not?!?
In todays society Marijuana has become a big issue as it is becoming a popular choice
for people who want a less damaging high but also has been found to have health benefits to a lot
of todays health problems like cancers, seizures, and a good source to replace pain killers in
some cases. It will also help clear out our enormous prison populations by removing the
individuals who are in for minor Marijuana offenses this will also take the work load off of
officers who have to deal with minor marijuana infractions and let them get onto more pressing
matters.
Marijuana is the third most popular recreational drug in America (Only behind alcohol
and tobacco) and is used by almost 100 million Americans. "NORML.org - Working to Reform
Marijuana Laws." About Marijuana. 29 June 2013. Web. 12 Mar. 2015.
<http://norml.org/aboutmarijuana>. Norml is an organization trying to get states to reform
marijuana laws and they have found in a survey that 25 million Americans have smoked
marijuana in the past year, more than 14 million do so regularly. It is obvious that Americans
are still going to smoke Marijuana even though there is strict enforcement against it, making it
against the law is only going to encourage it more. Evidence supports that Marijuana is safer
than alcohol or tobacco where according to Norml 50,000 people die each year from alcohol
poisoning and more that 400,000 deaths that were aided by tobacco. This makes this a safer
substitute to alcohol or tobacco consumption as what Norml and New Health Guide no one has
ever died in an overdose of Marijuana and majority of overdoses are due to first time smokers

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and the only side effects are minimal that puts the user at a very lower risk of damage to self and
others vs. Tabaco and alcohol. "New Health Guide." Can You Overdose On Marijuana? Web. 12
Mar. 2015. <http://www.newhealthguide.org/Can-You-Overdose-On-Marijuana.html>.
The other outstanding plus to marijuana is the medical side of it. Currently the doctors are
trying to get the oil from marijuana to use it to combat seizures from epilepsy, Anthony Rivas
reports on a 8 year old boy who suffers from epilepsy and who was having reactions to the FDA
medication and after the family found that it has removed a lot of his violent outburst from the
seizures and is better than when he was taking the old medication. Rivas, Anthony. "Cannabis Oil
Helped Stop 8-Year-Old's Seizures When Other Drugs Couldn't [VIDEO]."Medical Daily. 24
Nov. 2014. Web. 12 Mar. 2015. <http://www.medicaldaily.com/cannabis-oil-helped-stop-8-yearold-forrest-smelsers-seizures-when-other-drugs-311960>. Also former US Surgeon General
stated that the evidence is overwhelming that marijuana can relieve certain types of pain,
nausea, vomiting and other symptoms caused by such illnesses as multiple, cancer and AIDS also
by any other harsh drugs sometimes used to treat them. And she also states that marijuana is less
toxic than many of the drugs that physicians prescribe every day. Elders, Joycelyn. "Top 10
Pros and Cons - Medical Marijuana - ProCon.org." ProConorg Headlines. 26 Mar. 2004. Web.
13 Mar. 2015. <http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000141>.
This proves that Marijuana is preferred even by the medical field to replace a lot to the drugs
they prescribed to patients due to these drugs being dangerous or addictive like pain killers. Due
to the ease of acquiring and drugabuse.org provides that 52 million people in the US over the
age of 12 have used prescription drugs non-medically in their lifetime. "Popping Pills:
Prescription Drug Abuse in America." Popping Pills: Prescription Drug Abuse in America. NIDA, 1
Jan. 2011. Web. 13 Mar. 2015. <http://www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/trendsstatistics/infographics/popping-pills-prescription-drug-abuse-in-america>. This article shows that

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Americans like pain killers and are easily found or bought a way to limit this is by replacing
painkillers with Marijuana and remove some painkillers from the market and make it harder to
acquire the drugs in the first place. This will also prevent people who are prescribed pain killers
getting addicted to them.
Lastly legalization will take a workload off our cops, lower our jail and prison populations in
the masses, and we can tax it to make our state a lot of money fast. In Utah we are one of the
highest states when it comes to arrest of people who use Marijuana and that clogs our court systems
and our Jails/Prisons for people who really need to be taken off the streets for their more serious
crimes. This will also help our police force in Utah as instead of them being dragged into court and
wasting his or her time trying to get this person in jail/prison they can put their focus onto the more
serious drugs or other crimes. Another point I'm going to make is that the state can make some
serious revenue from the tax of marijuana. Author Matt Connolly shows the statistics that states like
Colorado have had it legal for a year and have made over $30 million in taxes and all of it is going to
public schools and construction of the state. Connolly, Matt. "One Year After Legalizing Weed, Here's
the Lawless Hellscape Colorado Has Become." Mic. 3 Jan. 2015. Web. 13 Mar. 2015.
<http://mic.com/articles/107618/one-year-after-legalizing-weed-here-s-the-lawless-hellscapecolorado-has-become>. This has been one of their best years economically and people are happy
with it according to the article that people opinion of marijuana in Colorado has gone up since it has
been legalized and the US as a whole in a survey are very accepting of it being legalized. Colorado
has actually seen its crime rate drop 15% since its legalization says author from Higher Perspective
"Colorado Sells $34 Million of Cannabis: $3.4 Million Goes To Schools, Crime Down 15%." Higher
Perspective. 28 Dec. 2014. Web. 13 Mar. 2015.
<http://higherperspective.com/2014/12/colorado.html?utm_source=CNT>. This is good for the state
and this could be a plus for Utah as well.
As from this paper I have written I have stated why Marijuana should be made legal for
Medical and Recreational use as their hasnt been and health problems found and doctors say its
safer than alcohol and smoking, It has medical benefits and it is a good substitute for pain killers,

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and lastly it will take the work load off our officers and will make our state a lot of money in tax
revenue as our state needs to fix our roads and build more schools. Hopefully our Utah government
will look at these statistics and realize the benefits of legalization of Marijuana.

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WORK CITED:
"NORML.org - Working to Reform Marijuana Laws." About Marijuana. 29 June 2013. Web. 12 Mar.
2015. <http://norml.org/aboutmarijuana>.
"New Health Guide." Can You Overdose On Marijuana? Web. 12 Mar. 2015.
<http://www.newhealthguide.org/Can-You-Overdose-On-Marijuana.html>.
Elders, Joycelyn. "Top 10 Pros and Cons - Medical Marijuana - ProCon.org." ProConorg Headlines.
26 Mar. 2004. Web. 13 Mar. 2015. <http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/view.resource.php?
resourceID=000141>.
Rivas, Anthony. "Cannabis Oil Helped Stop 8-Year-Old's Seizures When Other Drugs Couldn't
[VIDEO]."Medical Daily. 24 Nov. 2014. Web. 12 Mar. 2015. <http://www.medicaldaily.com/cannabisoil-helped-stop-8-year-old-forrest-smelsers-seizures-when-other-drugs-311960>.
"Popping Pills: Prescription Drug Abuse in America." Popping Pills: Prescription Drug Abuse in
America. NIDA, 1 Jan. 2011. Web. 13 Mar. 2015. <http://www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/trendsstatistics/infographics/popping-pills-prescription-drug-abuse-in-america>.
Connolly, Matt. "One Year After Legalizing Weed, Here's the Lawless Hellscape Colorado Has
Become." Mic. 3 Jan. 2015. Web. 13 Mar. 2015. <http://mic.com/articles/107618/one-year-afterlegalizing-weed-here-s-the-lawless-hellscape-colorado-has-become>.
"Colorado Sells $34 Million Of Cannabis: $3.4 Million Goes To Schools, Crime Down 15%." Higher
Perspective. 28 Dec. 2014. Web. 13 Mar. 2015.
<http://higherperspective.com/2014/12/colorado.html?utm_source=CNT>.