The legalization of #marijuana is not a statistical issue, but a moral one. Addiction is at the peak of the debate surrounding recreational marijuana legalization. People have a tendency to abuse things that make them feel good. During prohibition, as the government made a concerted effort to ban alcohol, the situation only worsened as underground organizations took advantage of people who suffered from alcohol addiction. Many intoxicating and addictive drugs already exist within the law today, such as nicotine and alcohol. Do we need another legal drug in the market? 

Studies show that marijuana tends to function as a gateway drug for harder drugs, such as heroin. We do not need another drug to be legalized only to have to pass laws to limit its use. Eventually we will find ourselves paying for rehabilitation programs to combat new addiction problems. Tobacco and alcohol are problematic in their own right in today’s society. Many fatal vehicular accidents are the result of DUIs. Lung cancers that develop from tobacco use are widespread, with millions of dollars spent in treatments. Marijuana legalization will exponentially contribute to these numbers.

We cannot discount the medical benefits of marijuana, nor can we condemn the implementation of medical research on cannabis. Pharmaceuticals can still develop cannabis experiments even if the government continues to impose a public ban on recreational marijuana. Pharmaceuticals should be allowed to request permission to conduct studies on marijuana so that they can discover benefits within the confines of a lab environment. 

Laws are made to prevent crime and punish crime. Any law that will prevent abuse, especially on addictive substances, is morally and ethically sound. If we allow such ease of access to a dangerous substance in the hands of the public, the self-interested nature of human beings will abuse cannabis excessively.