Why Marijuana should be legalized for Recreational Purposes

Decriminalization is Stabilization

Decriminalization is Stabilization Page 1

There are hundreds of thousands of people in prison due to the nonviolent possession of marijuana . This costs government hundreds of millions of dollars due to the cost of the imprisonment and court charges . This harsh criminalization also does nothing to reduce the use of marijuana in a given society . It is neither economical nor effective to continue to criminalize the recreational use of marijuana

It is common for people to support the criminalization of marijuana because of their belief that this policy

reduces the use of marijuana They assume if marijuana is legalized it will be used more frequently and , thus , abused more frequently . They belief what governments and the media tell them without doing their own independent research . They simply believe that criminalization of marijuana is an effective way to reduce its use in a society

It is often argued that the cost of imprisoning users of marijuana is worth it for it helps control the use of this drug . Most people are aware of the high cost of imprisonment though they feel this is a necessary component of the war on drugs . They accept this cost without argument for they believe governments know best . Many people allow the high societal cost of imprisonment to continue for they believe it is worth the results that are achieved from the imprisonment

There have been government-supported studies around the world that have proven the criminalization of marijuana is not effective in reducing its use and abuse in a given society . According to a government survey in the United States twenty million citizens smoke marijuana in the year of the survey (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws 2006 . This is true even with the knowledge of the harsh penalties they face . In fact their use may be in spite of the harsh penalties exaggerating their use to prove the government cannot control their lives . It is estimated that some seventy million U .S . citizens have smoked marijuana at some time

Decriminalization is Stabilization Page 2

There are two important points to take into consideration in regards to the criminalization of marijuana and how it affects the person caught with the drug and the society as a whole . The criminalization of marijuana does not reduce the amount of marijuana a society or individual smokes , and the harm caused by criminalization to an individual is far greater than the drug itself . This has been found by numerous governments around the world . Perhaps the findings of the Australian Government 's Department of Health and Aged Care state this in the most succinct manner

Australia experiences more harm , we conclude , from maintaining the cannabis prohibition policy than it experiences from use of the drug . We conclude that cannabis law reform is required in this country

This report was titled Legislative Options for Cannabis in Australia Report commissioned for the Commonwealth /State Ministerial Council on Drug Safety and was published by the Australian Government Publishing Service...