Jonathan Ong's Blog

I’m voting for legalizing marijuana in California, but I don’t smoke weed. In fact, I find it a waste of time, unproductive and haven’t smoked in years. Still, it’s a waste of money, but that doesn’t mean it should be illegal.

Marijuana itself is risk free. Marijuana itself does not kill. Tobacco and alcohol kill way more people than marijuana, but they’re still legal. If the world smoked marijuana, there would be world peace because people would enjoy being high. The health affects of marijuana are still very debated, but there seems to be both positive and negative side effects, but marijuana shouldn’t be illegal just because it’ll risk brain loss in people. One fact is true though: cannabinoid receptors are the most abundant G protein-coupled receptor in the brain. The human brain was made or has evolved for marijuana.

Legalizing marijuana doesn’t mean that the government is condoning marijuana. Legalizing means that it will no longer criminalize you for doing so. A person is not a criminal until you brand him a criminal, and I personally don’t believe a person is a criminal when he or she just wants to smoke a joint and share some weed with his friends. If marijuana is a crime; it’s a victimless crime. In a free society, there’s a gap between whats encouraged and supported and things that are discouraged and banned. This gap is called tolerance and allows people to make their own mistakes without having cops come around to make things become worse.

However, criminalizing marijuana does kill. A large portion of Mexican Drug Cartels‘ profit is from marijuana, and these men are willing to kill cops and innocent people for money. By legalizing marijuana, you are taking away a large portion of the Mexican Drug Cartels’ profit and, consequently, power. There will be less to fight over, and thus less violence in Mexico, on the border, and in the U.S. due to the drug trade.

But the savings do not start there. This will lead to decreased expenses on law enforcement which are only hired because we make laws that requires enforcing. In fact, when marijuana is legalized, there will be companies that will begin selling them. Think of Marlboro selling their own marijuana cigarettes. The best part is that now that large companies are producing them, regulations and taxation will be easier. Instead of spending money on drug enforcement, we can gain tax revenue from selling marijuana.

But overall, my decision lies upon America’s idea of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. The government shouldn’t tell its citizens what it can and cannot do as long as no one gets hurt. In fact, it’s the citizens that should be telling the government what it can and cannot do. By legalizing marijuana, I am upholding the foundations of America and our freedom of choice.