Pubdate: Mon, 19 Apr 2010
Source: Dixie Sun (UT Edu)
Copyright: 2010sDixie Sun, Dixie State College of Utah
Contact:  http://sun.dixie.edu/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4127
Author: Curtis Banks
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n276/a08.html

LEGALIZING MARIJUANA OPPOSED

Richard Bracken has brought forth a very controversial
topic.

He has brought forth his ideas formally, but his argument is fairly
weak. The author states that "marijuana being more harmful than
alcohol or cigarettes have no basis in fact." This is a double-edged
sword because he is making an appeal to the masses by saying that
everyone knows that alcohol or cigarettes are worse than marijuana,
when it actually depends upon the person on whether or not it is more
deadly.

The author hasn't covered all the arguments against legalizing
marijuana. For example, when he is talking about the medical problems
that happen from cigarettes, he doesn't give ground by saying that
using marijuana will rapidly increase your heart rate, and within the
first hour of using it you could suffer a severe heart attack.

Bracken is committing a logical fallacy when he states that by
legalizing marijuana the prison containment levels will go down. How
does he know? Yes, those in prison who are there because of drugs
would be released, but other criminals who aren't in prison would
start to fill those empty slots.

We should not legalize marijuana because the abuse of marijuana would
be wide spread and although it isn't as "deadly" as alcohol or
cigarettes, it is still addictive and would not solve the problems
stated in this article. Just say no to legalizing marijuana.

Curtis Banks
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake