Should the U.S. Legalize Marijuana?

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In general, the relaxation of marijuana penalties is not associated with increased marijuana use. This conclusion has been reached by the National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine and others.

As noted in NORML's previous objection, the World Health Organization reports that marijuana use is more prevalent in the United States than in any other country in the world, even though the America imposes some of the most severe criminal restrictions on its use. "Clearly, by itself, a punitive policy towards possession and use accounts for limited variation in nation-level rates of illegal drug use,” the study concluded.

While marijuana use in the Netherlands did rise in the decade following the Dutch government's relaxation of criminal marijuana penalties, this uptick was more likely due to the marketing and commercialization of legal marijuana sales rather than any changes in the legal status of pot possession. Nevertheless, despite the reported spike in Dutch marijuana use during the 1980s, far fewer adults and young people in the Netherlands use pot than in America.

Finally, there is no evidence indicating that US states that have liberalized their marijuana laws have experienced a parallel increase in use compared to states that have maintained strict penalties. According to an analysis published in the Journal of Public Health: "The available evidence indicates that the decriminalization of marijuana possession had little or no impact on rates of use...On the other hand, the so-called 'decriminalization' measures did result in substantial savings in the criminal justice system."

A previous US government review reached a similar conclusion, reporting, "Overall, the preponderance of the evidence which we have gathered and examined points to the conclusion that decriminalization has had virtually no effect either on the marijuana use or on related attitudes and beliefs about marijuana use among American young people."

Most recently, it has been found that states that have legalized the medical use of cannabis have experienced a decline in overall pot use that exceeds the national average.