You may be faced with a person who opposes marijuana and it is up to you to defend the movement. Here is why we should legalize marijuana
But smoking is bad for your health
Okay, first start with the admission that smoking anything is bad. Inhaling smoke into your lungs is never that great for the body. If you are faced with this argument, always begin with this for it preemptively halts this tactic for the opposition. The counter argument is that you could vape marijuana or partake in one of the myriad of edibles available.
But people are going to drive high!
The opposition also like to use the argument, “What if someone smokes weed and gets behind the wheel?” Extremely valid point. What if someone has too many drinks at a restaurant and decides to drive? There are laws in play to punish ones who drive intoxicated. If you are endangering the lives around you, then yes, you should face the consequences. No one serious about legalizing marijuana thinks there should be no regulations on the substance.
But marijuana is dangerous!
Actually, no. There have never been a single death or overdose due to smoking too much marijuana. Draw a comparison with alcohol and tobacco. Alcohol kills 88,000 people PER YEAR. Cigarettes kill 480,000 PER YEAR. These are not, ‘They drank and did something stupid/cigarette burned house down” deaths. Every year, the simple consumption of these products kill humans due to the plethora of long-term negative effects.
But the government says that marijuana has no known medical benefits!
The government is lying to you. Face the truth. There are clear health benefits to smoking marijuana. Glaucoma, seizures, cancer, and anxiety are just a few ailments that marijuana helps. The list goes on and on. Millions would continue to needlessly suffer if hardline anti-marijuana people, like Jeff Sessions, had power to criminalize the plant. Or be beholden to pharmaceutical companies whose drugs can be extremely addicting and give you side effects as bad as the symptoms of the ailment you are suffering from.
But anyone who smokes weed is a criminal!
You really need some help at this point. Listen. Marijuana is a harmless plant that will leave you locked up in your house on a Saturday night enjoying your favorite show on Neflix. America has the highest incarceration rate IN THE WORLD. 22% of all prisoners on the planet are in the American prison system. Nearly half of those prisoners are locked up for drug related arrests and nearly half of of those were for marijuana. Legalizing cannabis would go a LONG way to reducing this depressingly high number and not ruining innocent people’s lives.
Okay, maybe you are right. But how does legalizing marijuana benefit me?
That’s very selfish of you. If you really need to know.. tax money. Legalizing marijuana in Colorado and Washington has brought in tens of millions in tax revenue. States are struggling with their finances and are desperately in need for another source of revenue. It’s foolish to pass this by.
I often struggle to remember all the nuances of the political debate when defending my position of legalization. Loading your gun with these six bullets will go a long way to winning the argument. Will you win them over? Honestly, it’s doubtful. Changing hearts and minds is hard and will take repeated logical arguments to win them over. It is not a matter of IF we can win, it is a matter of WHEN.
