Marijuana should be legalized

While it may be true that marijuana is less dangerous than cigarettes and alcohol, that does not make marijuana the no-risk factor drug. That just makes the United State's legalization of cigarettes and alcohol illogical. While there is no recorded death from marijuana overdose, that does not mean there is not a risk. A user may not die from the plant itself, but they could die from what else is in the drug. Drug dealers line their weed with all sorts of other things to make it seem like the user is buying more weed, some of them that may be lethal to the user. Sometimes the dealer lines it with something like cat litter, or sometimes it is line with a drug like crack cocaine [1]. It is known that as many as 15,000 deaths were caused by cocaine use [3]. Also, many marijuana plant growers grow the drug using plant hormones and steroids to "push" the plant to produce the most potent marijuana possible [1]. The logical argument to this information is, of course, that the legalization of marijuana would stop drug growers from having to grow it this way because it would be regulated like tobacco cigarettes and alcohol. This is not true. Why would drug growers want to stop making more money out of their marijuana by adding cat litter and crack to the drug? Why would people want to stop buying more potent drugs? All legalization would do is make it so the growers and users would not have to do it in hiding. Legalization would not stop the dangerous ways of growing and selling marijuana, it would increase it. You claim that marijuana does not damage the brain. It does. According to [2], "Some studies show that when people have smoked large amounts of marijuana for years, the drug takes its toll on mental function...Marijuana affects memory, judgment and perception...If you use marijuana a lot, you could start to lose interest in how you look and how you"re getting along at school or work." The choice to use marijuana despite its affects is all on the user, but kids and teens are pressured into using it all the time. If marijuana was legalized, kids would think it was okay, and they would be smoking it like cigarettes and binging on it like alcohol. If an adult wants to mess up his life, then fine, but a kid would not really know what the consequences could be if he started smoking weed. The illigalization of the drug at least warns kids that they should not smoke weed. Legalizing the drug would throw concern for child drug abuse to the wind. You claim that marijuana use is not linked to cancer. It is. According to [1], "Marijuana contains known toxins and cancer-inducing chemicals, which are stored in fat cells for long periods of time." "Scientific research relates marijuana use to damaged brain cells and respiratory systems, decreased hormone production in both sexes, acute memory loss, lowered immune systems and impaired motor skills. THC and marijuana smoke have been directly linked to miscarriage, in-utero fetal death, stillbirth and infant death just after birth, along with behavioral and biological abnormalities of offspring," [1]. You say that alcohol is more addictive than marijuana. This may be true, but that does not make marijuana non-addictive. According to [1], "Long-term marijuana use can lead to addiction in some people. That is, they cannot control their urges to seek out and use marijuana, even though it negatively affects their family relationships, school performance, and recreational activities." Marijuana users can also develop tolerance, according to the same source. This means the user need larger and larger amounts of marijuana to get the same desired effects as they used to get from smaller amounts in the past. Marijuana can, in fact, be an addictive drug. People have been known to be violent or use violent measures if it means getting their weed. The drug war IS costing taxpayers billions of dollars just to have weed smokers imprisoned. Legalizing marijuana would not help that problem! Many drug users would still end up in jail, not merely just for smoking weed, but for what they do because they are high on the drug. Legalizing marijuana would not solve that problem. Yes, people do have their rights. I suppose people do have the right to smoke pot if they so desire, but people also have the right to be safe as well. Someone who is high on marijuana and in need of more could and would do a lot to get it, and that could involve injuring an innocent victim, or worse. Parents also want their kids safe from pressure to do drugs and from having the availability of a drug like marijuana in the first place. The legalization of it would get rid of what little barriers we have and make it so much easier for someone to get a hold of it, and everyone would, because there would be no consequences. 1.http://www.nytimes.com... 2.http://uodos.uoregon.edu... 3.http://www.egoastra.com...