Currently, drugs remain high on the lists of concerns of Americans and are considered one of the major problems facing our country today. We see stories on the news about people being killed on the street every day over drugs. To many people drugs are only an inner-city problem, but in reality they affect all of us; users and non-users. I believe that the negative affects we associate with drugs would be greatly reduced if the United States adopted a policy towards the total decriminalization of marijuana. However society today is set very much against the legalization of pot. The question is why?. After being legal and socially acceptable, why in only the last century have people decided to make it illegal? With all of the evidence that now shows that marijuana has medicinal benefits, why are people still hesitant to make it legal? (Guideline #1)The problem is that the current drug policy of our government is obviously failing. Drug laws have created corruption, violence, increased street crime, and disrespect for the criminal justice system. Current drug legislation has failed to reduce demand. It's just too hard to monitor illegal substances when a significant portion of the population is committed to using drugs. (Guideline #2)Marijuana comes from the cannabis plant, which can readily be grown on fields across the nation and was cultivated heavily in the colonial period. After 130 years of being legal, marijuanas potential problems were brought into the public eye by Harry J. Anslingler, the commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and the author of Marijuana: Assassin of Youth. In his book, Anslinger portrayed images of Mexican and Negro criminals, as well as young boys, who became killers while under the influence of marijuana. With the added public pressure, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed into law the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937. This law made the use and sale of marijuana federal offenses. At this p...
