Legalize Marijuana

To start off, I would like to say that I am not a stoner in the slightest, in fact, I’m not a big fan of marijuana in general. However, I do disagree with the article “Marijuana Should Not Be Legalized - Drug Education Is No Solution” by Li Qiu. I’m somewhere between a Republican and a Libertarian, and I put personal freedoms above everything. Moreover, I sternly believe that more government interventions lead to worse results.

As I said earlier, I am not a stoner by any means, but I believe that people should be able to consume what they want if they choose to, and let them deal with the consequences.

In the 1920s, the US passed the 18th Amendment, which prohibited alcohol and liquor within the states. While Congress hoped that it would “clean up” America, it ultimately led to higher crime rates, as people still got ahold of their substances and led to the emergence of organized crime, such as the Mafia and Al Capone. Ultimately, this amendment was repealed and was a win for personal freedoms.

The war on drugs within the United States has been going on forever, and there really doesn’t seem to be an end. I believe that we should just legalize marijuana (and in my libertarian fantasies, legalize most drugs), and allow people to choose what they want to do. If we legalize weed, the US will have an even heightened economy, due to legal sales and the ability to tax the transactions, and crime rates will fall, as drug-dealers and drug-consumers won’t be punished anymore. Frankly, even if the substance isn’t legalized, it won’t stop anyone from buying or selling it, so the only way for this issue to be progressed is to create proper legislation in order to decriminalize it.