Critical Thinking Final Paper

Legalization Marihuana

Alonso Contreras

        Upper Iowa University        

ID 301 Critical Thinking

October 18th, 2015

Legalization Marihuana

Marijuana prohibition has had disastrous consequences similar to that suffered alcohol in the twenties in the United States. However, instead of recognizing the failure of this policy, most governments around the world have committed to spend more resources and more attack against the liberties of its citizens in a futile effort to stop the illegal trade of marijuana. Legalizing marijuana would eliminate or significantly lessen the terrible consequences we face under the current prohibitionist approach. Legalization would end the lucrative part of the business of drug trafficking, to eliminate the existing black market. The current marijuana prohibition does not stop the market simply has submerged under the mantle of illegality, and when a business is a crime, criminals will take part in it. Drug trafficking has spread in policy countries. Maybe here is the reason why the drug war intensifies every year. The drug lords are most benefit from the current ban, anti-drug and practiced operating serve to eliminate them faced competition from small and medium distributors. Legalization would end this unholy alliance of drug trafficking and political power. Legalize Marijuana up an important source of corruption, which increases at all levels of government because a large number of police, customs officers, judges and all authorities have been bought, bribed or blackmailed by traffickers, creating a great atmosphere of distrust of the population towards the public sector in general. Governments would stop wasting billions of dollars in the fight against marijuana, resources would be used to fight the real criminals: those who violate the rights of others murderers, swindlers, rapists, thieves, terrorist groups. The legalization is going to make less killing inside prisons, which today are inundated by people whose only crime was the consumption of substances that are prohibited by law. All these efforts to combat trafficking in drugs like marijuana have been unsuccessful.

With the marihuana becoming legal the state pretext to limit our freedom in order to carry out this war on marijuana is over. Wiretapping, searches, log files and censure are acts against our freedom and autonomy as individuals. If today's marijuana is accessible even in prisons, not even turning our country into prisons we will achieve keeping drugs out of reach of those who want to consume. Legalizing Marijuana avoid governments in our countries become de facto prisons. Legalize Marijuana deactivate the time bomb that has become Latin America, especially countries like Ecuador, Bolivia and Colombia. In the latter, the drug-financed guerrillas handle billions of dollars in military equipment front, and threaten to spread their struggle to countries like Panama, Brazil and Venezuela. A couple of years making a submarine in Colombia to transport weapons and drugs were found, demonstrating the strength of these guerrilla groups. All this has led to increasing intervention by the United States, who for a couple of years ago have been strengthening its military presence in the region in a way not seen since the end of the Cold War. In a society where self-cultivation and consumption of marijuana is legal, the number of innocent victims would be substantially reduced. The current policy directly affects both marijuana users and third parties. This is how many people who have never used this plant or that are not related to the activity are impaired or even lose their lives due to the "externalities" of the war on marijuana: urban violence, police abuse, confiscation of properties, mistaken raids, among many others. Legalization will lead to that society learn to live with marijuana, as it has done with other substances such as alcohol and snuff. The social learning process is extremely valuable to reduce the negative effects arising from the use and abuse of substances. However, policies such as the prohibition to turn consumers into criminals discourage the emergence of social behaviors and attitudes necessary to deal with the problems of addiction and early consumption of these substances.