What are people saying about...
Sun, 05-2-10 - 9:20pm by CarleneK
The grand debate on the legalization of marijuana
The topic of debate this week: Resolved that there should be no criminal penalties involving the use and possession of marijuana.
The Debate Society at Wagner College researches controversial topics, and then proposes both sides of the issue. The information available on this particular issue listed above was overwhelmingly slanted toward one way. All members agreed that the research available clearly supported the affirmative side.
I wanted to share some interesting facts I had discovered in this process of researching. First of all, in a report by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Bureau of Mortality Statistics, it was found that 400,000 annual American deaths were caused by tobacco, and that coming in as a close second, 100,000 American deaths were caused by alcohol. How many deaths were caused by marijuana? The answer is 0. How is it that alcohol is a legal substance, while marijuana remains illegal? The answer seems to date back to the competition between hemp and paper-manufacturing companies. Marijuana is theorized to have been made illegal because of commercial reasons, and it may become legal for monetary reasons as well as states like California are interested in the positive economical affects that the sales tax revenue would have on the state's overall debt.
Another interesting statistic I stumbled upon was that the total number of marijuana arrests in the year 2000 far exceeded the combined number of arrests for violent crimes. This includes murder, manslaughter, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Are these arrests necessary considering that alcohol which is proven to have far more dangerous consequences is legal? Could we not be using the money spent on arresting and jailing users on other, more important things that would make environments safer?
The Debate Society at Wagner College researches controversial topics, and then proposes both sides of the issue. The information available on this particular issue listed above was overwhelmingly slanted toward one way. All members agreed that the research available clearly supported the affirmative side.
I wanted to share some interesting facts I had discovered in this process of researching. First of all, in a report by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Bureau of Mortality Statistics, it was found that 400,000 annual American deaths were caused by tobacco, and that coming in as a close second, 100,000 American deaths were caused by alcohol. How many deaths were caused by marijuana? The answer is 0. How is it that alcohol is a legal substance, while marijuana remains illegal? The answer seems to date back to the competition between hemp and paper-manufacturing companies. Marijuana is theorized to have been made illegal because of commercial reasons, and it may become legal for monetary reasons as well as states like California are interested in the positive economical affects that the sales tax revenue would have on the state's overall debt.
Another interesting statistic I stumbled upon was that the total number of marijuana arrests in the year 2000 far exceeded the combined number of arrests for violent crimes. This includes murder, manslaughter, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Are these arrests necessary considering that alcohol which is proven to have far more dangerous consequences is legal? Could we not be using the money spent on arresting and jailing users on other, more important things that would make environments safer?
Say it!
You read it, now let others know what you think...
|
|
a
Share it.
Know someone else who should read this?
a
Rate it.
Don't be shy, they won't know it was you.
a
Read it.Scroll through more bloids.
|
a
2 ways to invite new friends to canisaysomething.com!
- Send 'em an email invitation
(click here) - Connect to any of your favorite Social Networking sites and your friends!
Step 1: Connect
Step 2: Select your Friends
Select the friends you would like to send a notification to, and click 'ok'
Step 3: Publish this Bloid
Select the friends you would like to publish this bloid, and click 'ok'
