Revised Draft Page

The basic premise for opposing the decriminalization and legalization of marijuana is that drug use is a crime because it is immoral. Before we even attempt to discuss the morality of drug use, considerable thought should be given as to what actually constitutes a punishable crime. To provide a proper frame of reference, marijuana consumption should be compared to other crimes that unarguably merit punishment. Douglas Husak, professor at Rutgers University, points to robbers, rapists and murderers as excellent examples of people that should be punished. The reason for this, Husak asserts, is that they "deserve to be punished because they have violated the rights of their victims and harmed them severely," (30). A marijuana user, however, does not encroach on the rights of other citizens in the same way that other criminals do.

However, prohibitionists insist that marijuana users do indeed harm society. Proponents of prohibition often justify their actions by asserting that they want to protect our children and reduce crime. Prohibitionists often like to paint a propagandist picture that children are the innocent victims of drug leakage. However, their argument actually applies to adolescents, not children (which are highly unlikely to be drug consumers). Furthermore, their professed commitment to protect "our children" disappears when they catch juvenile users of marijuana or other drugs. They are actually quick to throw them in jail and turn a cold shoulder to them. As for their other popular argument, criminalizing drugs actually increases the crime rate. This is due to systemic problems that arise as a result of forbidding the market for drugs. For example, if a buyer or seller cheats the other party, the victim does not have the option of settling this case in a courthouse . Thus, both parties often attempt to settle disputes through violence, which consequently increases the risks that innocent bystanders will be caught in between the quarrel.

Many conservatives are adverse to the idea of legalizing marijuana because they also believe that greater availability of the drug will result in an increase in its consumption and thus lead into an overall corruption of society. This fear is actually very similar to what early 20^th century religious Americans of the temperance movement felt when they pressured the Senate into proposing the 18^th Amendment. Almost immediately, problems sprang up as a result of this national decree. The National Prohibition Act or the “Volstead Act” prohibited the sale of alcohol which in turn prompted consumers of alcohol to illegally purchase bootlegged versions of the substance. Not only did these temperance reformers fail in achieving their goal of eradicating alcohol consumption but they inadvertently created a black market. The government did not have the means, let alone the desire to enforce the short lived18th amendment. As a result, the money that was being spent on alcohol was no longer circulating throughout the entire economy or being taxed despite the fact that the substance was still being consumed.

Such is the case with the marijuana market: the prohibition law hurts the economy in the same way it hurt America in the past. Forbidding the possession of marijuana in Texas, has an adverse effect on the states' economy. The criminal status of marijuana consumption demands that the government be able to finance the act of punishing. Inevitable, every time the state government actually attempts to enforce the prohibition law, tax payers lose money.This is due to the fact that taxpayers actually bear the burden of providing the government with the means of enforcing the prohibition of marijuana. This entails providing adequate food and supplies for imprisoned marijuana consumers as well as paying for the salaries of their prison guards. If prohibition were not in effect, however, the state government would be able to invest this money in causes that are noble, beneficial and that also bear fruit. Rather than wastefully imprisoning individuals that are not even harming other citizens, the state government could focus their attention and these funds on forming policies that would yield greater benefits such as the improvement of schools throughout the state of Texas and rebuilding freeways to prevent traffic congestion. Clearly then, the prohibition of marijuana hurts the economy and actually prevents the improvement Texas.