Self Analysis

When I first heard about this blog project, I decided to pick my topic because I thought that it was something new that people would find interesting. I had no clue that as many people have thought about this idea before as in depth as I had found they did. I had no clue that a bill was just about to be voted on November 2 to decide if it should be legalized. The main reason I thought that my topic was good was because of all of the economic advantages that legalizing marijuana could do. The U.S. National debt is somewhere close to 13 trillion dollars. From all the research that I learned, I concluded that legalizing marijuana could bring in about 10 million  a year from saving on prison and arrest costs and anywhere from 50-100 million dollars on taxes, imports and industries that would produce it. The exact number is unknown because no one knows exactly how much marijuana is smoked in the U.S. With all that said, I quickly learned that marijuana probably wasn't going to be able to bring America out of debt like I thought it might. The main reason I had for thinking marijuana should be legalized, I was able to prove wrong in only a few short minutes. Even the president thinks that marijuana shouldn't be legalized. How was I going to be able to convince people other wise. I began to do more research and I quickly learned that there were more benefits than economic. I had no clue that marijuana was being used in the medical field to help cure people. A drug that is illegal in society was being used to help cure people around the country. I had doubts in the beginning that I would be able to convey a strong point for my topic but I soon learned that there were even more benefits to my topic. Drug cartels all over benefit greatly from illegally importing marijuana into our country. If marijuana was legalized, companies would begin producing in the U.S. and as soon as they did, drug cartels would lose money. The drug would be able to lower crime rates around the country just by being legalized. Debates have gone back in forth over whether the drug should be legalized or not and there are many pros and cons to each side of the argument. I don't know for sure if the drug will ever be legalized, but I can tell you that just by my research over the past few weeks, I have learned great amounts of knowledge that has transformed my opinion on this topic. I truely do think that marijuana should be legalized and I have the knowledge and the information to prove it.

Related Links

Here I have collected an extensive list of 15 websites that have to do with marijuana and facts that could be used to develop an opinion on how to view the use and legalization process of marijuana. The website http://www.greenchange.org/article.php?id=3235is an article that explains the economic benefits that could be gained by legalizing marijuana. It talks about the money that could be brought in and how it would ease the debt problem.  http://www.mytwodollars.com/2007/02/12/9-billion-of-your-tax-dollars-is-spent-dealing-with-marijuana-laws-each-year/ is an entire blog on why it is a good idea to legalize marijuana. David, the writer of the blog explains money benefits that the government could gain and many more good things that could come out of legalizing marijuana. This webpage, http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=37557 is all about the vote that is going to happen in the future in California on legalizing marijuana. Proposition 19 is the bill that is trying to be passed and will be voted on November 2 to see if the drug should be legalized. The drug will be looked at as if it was just like alcohol in that it has an age limit and an amount limit that you can have at one time. It is a very good website that shows the logistics of the bill. This one, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/07/us/07arnold.html?_r=3 talks about how even Arnold Schwarzenegger thinks it would be a good idea to start more in depth research on marijuana. He feels that if more information was gained on the topic and known then it could persuade the public in one way or the other.  This website is about the spiritual, psychological and physical benefits of marijuana http://www.benefitsofmarijuana.com/benefits.php. It talks about the advantages that the body can gain from smoking marijuana. This website is about the medical benefits of marijuana, http://www.godandscience.org/doctrine/medical_marijuana_review.html. It explains what THC is and it shows how it affects the body. It goes through a whole list of things on how marijuana changes people. This website, http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=11850 is like the last website, but it shows how smoking the drug not only for recreational use is good for the body. This website is about the advantages that could be gained in California if Proposition 19 was passed. It discusses the economic and social benefits that could be gained if the drug was made legal.  http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=37557  is about the Mexican drug cartels. It is about how they are illegally trafficking drugs to the U.S. It talks about the problems that are occurring and why these are a bad things for our country. Another website that also has good information on drug trafficking is http://www.policyalmanac.org/crime/archive/drug_trafficking.shtml. This website is a huge analysis of legalizing marijuana. http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/lsd/mcvay.htm goes over things like the benefits of the drug and why it is illegal now. It talks about the taxes that could be brought in and how it affects our prisons in the U.S.  This is another short website about benefits of legalizing marijuana http://www.suite101.com/content/the-benefits-of-legalizing-marijuana-a209552. It is a quick read that shows the benefits and how it would affect our economic status in the future.  This website is on the effects of the cardiovascular system from using marijuana, http://jcp.sagepub.com/content/42/11_suppl/58S.abstract. It is a good website to inform someone on how this drug works and what it does when you smoke it. It is very short but it shows medical terms on how this drug does what it does. This website is about how different drugs affect the brain in different ways including marijuana, http://www.brainsource.com/brain_on_drugs.htm. It is a more in depth analysis on the affects but it doesn’t only cover marijuana. It allows you to compare the drug with other drugs like heroin and cocaine that are also illegal.  This is an article about facts dealing with marijuana and how it’s used, http://atlantarecoverycenter.com/drugs-of-abuse/marijuana/. It may seem like common knowledge to some people but this website explains how the drug can be put in the body and it just lays down some of the basics on how people use it to get high.  This is an article on why people think marijuana should not be legalized, http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/13115/why_marijuana_should_not_be_legalized.html. It shows the opposite opinion on why it is a bad thing and how it would negatively affect people. Along with this website http://www.cnbc.com/id/36267223/Why_We_Should_Not_Legalize_Marijuana, these cover most of the reasons why people feel that the drug should stay illegal. This last website is a website that shows ten reasons why parents should not support legalizing marijuana. http://www.radicalparenting.com/2008/12/18/10-reasons-parents-should-not-support-legalizing-marijuana/. It is another website against marijuana legalization that explains to parents why it is bad. It targets parents so that they can understand and tell their kids that it is not a good idea to smoke marijuana.