Why Should Cigarettes Be Illegal

The way that marijuana cigarettes are smoked- by inhaling and holding the smoke in the lungs creates an even greater risk for exposure to these poisonous chemicals. Other cases are quickly developing that show chronic marijuana users also develop mouth or larynx cancer. If such a drug can cause such devastating health problems, then why legalize it?

The legalization of marijuana is a very debatable subject, some people think it is bad and should be illegal, and some people think it is good in some ways if used properly. It should be legal because it has few negative effects, it serves other purposes than getting people stoned, and it is better than other drugs.

Although it is a highly common defense that marijuana is not addictive, it in fact is. Many regular smokers find themselves ridden with very similar withdrawal symptoms of a tobacco addict (Marijuana Addiction Symptoms and Effects). Around 9% of people who use find themselves dependent on marijuana (Is Marijuana Addictive?). That may not seem like much, but that is almost 1 in every 10 people hooked on a drug that is supposedly “non-addictive.” Legalizing a drug that causes disorientation, paranoia, depression, anxiety, dizziness, and a slowed reaction time is not safe, not to mention the fact that it is a gateway drug, often leading users to use even more damaging and dangerous drugs (Is Marijuana Addictive?). With the legalization of a drug like marijuana comes increased use and abuse of the drug. Marijuana is unsafe medically for the individual using and for the people around them when the user is under the influence, it will cost the government money and time and it will cost employers tons. Legalizing marijuana would be a huge mistake by our country.

Marijuana has negative side effects on a consumer that may end up being the reason why the legalization is wrongful. Most drugs have crimes tied along them, and this automatically gives a reason to keep drugs illegal. Along

Growing up everyone is always told “drugs are bad for you” over and over. As children, we have no perspective and do not fully understand the use of drugs. Drugs are always around us, especially marijuana. It is the most commonly used drug in the world. As much as we are told not to use this substance or be around it, many have encountered it in some way before. Marijuana being illegal in most states does not stop people from using the substance. Since this illegal drug is still used no matter the situation why not benefit from it and legalize it throughout the United States? Marijuana could have a positive effect on America in relation to health and the economy.

If a product kills million of consumer would we keep it out in the market? If an industry is costing the federal government 955 billion dollars would we keep subsidizing it? If there is a group of the work force that could be using their skills to aid in the hundreds of other areaas that they could be helping why wouldn’t we take action already? In 1920 the United States Government decided that the consumption, production and transportation of alcohol had enough of a negative effect on the nation as a whole that they banned liquor all together. The same action should be taken with the consumption, faming, distribution and even the possession of tobacco and cigarettes. Cigarettes should be banned because they have a countless amount of health consequences, tobacco farmers cost the federal government billion to bail them out instead of reinvesting that money to aid in really any other are of farming that is struggling, and lastly because of the environmental impact and footprint that the growing of tobacco and manufacturing of cigarettes produces.

Cigarettes and other tobacco products should be made illegal because of the economic effects, addictive properties, secondhand smoke, and can lead to disease and/or death.

In the case of legalization of marijuana in the United States, the answer is obvious. Marijuana is safer to the human body then alcohol, which is legal. Marijuana has positive medical applications, while alcohol has no positive medical applications. Alcohol also kills over 22,000 people a year from alcohol poisoning, while marijuana kills zero people a year because it is not possible to overdose. If marijuana is safer for a person then alcohol then why do they have it as an illegal substance. The legalization of marijuana is the obvious answer to the debate that is occurring across the United States.

While such popular and potent drugs (alcohol and nicotine) are legally available to the public, there is fallacious logic in outlawing a drug less exponentially less dangerous and far less addictive than these two easily accessible drugs. Alcohol and nicotine are infinitely more harmful to the human body than marijuana, cannabis simply not toxic enough to kill (In Pot). Marijuana is demonized by the government and much of the media as a dangerous drug, while the deaths of roughly 50,000 people in The United States per year can be contributed to alcohol and 440,000 to tobacco. All the while, marijuana has never directly caused the death of anybody in the entire history of mankind (Jillette). While some would expect marijuana to be at least as carcinogenic as tobacco, recent medical journals have found no link between smoking marijuana and lung cancer (Boyles). One example given in one study was that two-pack-a-day cigarette smokers saw a 20-fold increase in cancer risk when compared to non-smokers, while no elevation in risk was observed in even the heaviest (22,000+ joints smoked in lifetime) smokers of marijuana (Boyles). Any consistent person that believes marijuana should stay illegal should also believe alcohol and cigarettes should be made illegal, by the same reasoning.

Marijuana is said to be healthier than alcohol and I believe that if alcohol is legal then marijuana should be as well. “In 2007, a team of experts was formed to conduct an analysis on the relative harms of marijuana, alcohol, and other drugs for the esteemed British medical journal the Lancet. It concluded that marijuana posed far fewer health and safety risks than alcohol.” I don’t see the justice of allowing a drug that poisons people and not legalizing a safer alternative. Alcohol destroys your body and has no proof of medically helping you while marijuana is the opposite.

Cigarettes and alcohol are much more dangerous to humans than marijuana, yet they are legal to purchase and consume (at a certain age). “The effects are generally less severe than those of tobacco and alcohol, which together cause more than 560,000 American deaths annually. Unlike booze, marijuana isn't a neurotoxin, and unlike cigarettes, it has an uncertain connection to lung cancer.” (Barcott, Bruce, and Michael Scherer. "The Great Pot Experiment. (Cover Story)." Time 185.19 (2015): 38-45. Academic Search Complete. Web. 25 Apr. 2016.). This shows that substances that are already legal and available to Americans are much more dangerous than marijuana. This shows that there is no reason for the government to be concerned about it in a health risk point of a view. Marijuana has no reported deaths from overdosing on the drug, because you need to smoke 1,500 pounds in 15 minutes to do that, which is a physically impossible task. Top scientists know that there are no reported deaths from marijuana alone, unlike other substances, but due to their extensive research they were able to find it is technically possible to overdose, but highly unlikely. This shows that the health risks of consuming marijuana are little to non-existent when compared to other legal substances, therefore it should be legal in the United States of America. The fact that marijuana is less harmful than other legal substances proves that is should be

Why should marijuana be illegal when people just use it to help themselves enjoy their lives more? Tobacco and alcohol are both used, and abused for the same reasons, but with many more negative side effects than pot. "Government's surveys indicate more than 70 million Americans have smoked

If marijuana is so “awful” to be illegal in some states, why would alcohol or cigarettes be any better, Should alcohol and cigarettes be illegal too? Excessive alcohol use led to approximately 88,000 deaths and 2.5 million years of potential life lost. Cigarettes have some of the same negative effects and some that are far worse. Marijuana should be legal throughout the country for both medical and recreational use. Marijuana has many medical benefits, it can be used as a food source. So if cannabis has these benefits, why would it be illegal?

Some medical reasons that marijuana shouldn’t be decriminalized are that it has long and short terms effects. Examples of the short term outcomes include memory loss, difficulty with thinking, loss of motor skills and increased heart rate. According to the National Institutes of Health show that someone smoking about five joints per week is taking in as many cancer causing chemicals as someone smoking a pack of cigarettes every day. There is no science proof that smoked marijuana can be used for medication. Since cannabis plants are polluted with a range of fungal spores, smoking marijuana may increase the risk of infectious organisms. Taradiff, J. "Marijuana and the War on Drugs. “Marijuana. Farmington Hills, Michigan: Thomas Gale, 2008. 157. Print.

Many people claim that there is no known case of people dying due to marijuana. This is a half truth since it’s not the marijuana itself that kills; it’s its side effects. Marijuana causes lung and throat cancer much like cigarettes. As a matter of fact, marijuana is worse for the lungs, since it contains three times as much tar as cigarettes and it’s usually smoked without a filter. They also claim there is not nearly as much crime due to marijuana use compared alcohol. This is also true but for one simple reason. Alcohol is legal and more easily accessible than marijuana. It’s the fact that marijuana is illegal that is keeping these numbers so low. Legalizing marijuana would be like adding fuel to a fire. If marijuana were to be legalized these number are sure to increase.