When comparing tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana, there is strong evidence that marijuana has the least addictive power (www.peretto.com). However, this does not hide the fact that all three can have a strong impact on an individual. As with all drugs, they are capable of disrupting home life, affecting job performance, and causing withdrawal from society. In my opinion, all drugs share this power on

It appears that the current attitude toward marijuana prohibition is based on the belief that relaxed policies lead to greater use. Statistics argue otherwise: nationwide, marijuana use in 1984 was measured at 26.3%, and in the eleven states that decriminalized marijuana, it was 27.3%. In 1988, the percentages were 15.4 and 16.1, respectively. In those eleven states, decriminalization meant that individuals were no longer arrested for simple possession. In ten of those states there is a $0-100 fine for possession-the result of a threat by the federal government to withhold highway money for states that did not have minimum punishment standards (Thies and Register, 1993, p.387). Going outside the country for another example of how legalization does not lead to greater use, Holland has witnessed a 40% decrease in marijuana use since the Dutch government legalized it in 1976 (Grinspoon, L. 1971, p.94). During the same time period, marijuana use has decreased in the United States, so it cannot be definitively argued that either stronger penalties or decriminalization is better at affecting the number of people who use marijuana. It seems clear that social policy, and not legal policy, had the greater effect in Holland.

The first of three strategies used to fight marijuana was silence. It was believed that if youth did not hear about marijuana, they would not become curious and experiment with it. Therefore, in the 1930’s, discussion about marijuana was forbidden in all public schools, and from 1934 to 1956, the Motion Picture Association of America banned all films showing the use of narcotics (www.legalize.com). The strategy did not work as well as hoped, so anti-marijuana groups adopted the next strategy: exaggeration.

Using marijuana to relieve the symptoms of chemotherapy and AIDS, and to reduce glaucoma are the most common uses of marijuana, but they may not be the only ones. If marijuana is legalized for medical purposes, it would be taken much more seriously as a beneficial drug, and therefore more research would be done to discover new purposes for marijuana. Classifying marijuana as a Schedule II drug would allow patients to use marijuana for medical purposes only, while it would remain illegal for recreational use. Many seriously ill patien

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