Marijuana for America

First off, heres the link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,500965,00.html

Glenn Beck brought this to my attention. I have thought long and hard on this subject. Here goes my opinion, and maybe any credibility I had. Legalize it, tax it, regulate it, for America and for the economy. Billions of dollars are being sent to the worst criminals because they meet Americas demand for marijuana. Why shouldn't we the American people get that money. This basically breaks down to a supply and demand issue. Americans smoke marijuana in large enough quantity to make criminal gangs want to sell it. It's happening anyway, why not legalize. I have compared marijuana with alcohol, marijuana is clearly a safer choice. However operating a vehicle under the influence of marijuana should get the same punishment as Drunk Driving. I come from a family with a history of alcoholism, marijuana cannot possibly be any worse. I've seen alcohol destroy lives, all I've ever seen marijuana do is make people laid back and hungry. Now that I've taken a stand and decided to support the legalization of marijuana, let me also include that all the other illicit drugs, especially cocaine, heroin, etcetera, should remain illegal for they are far more dangerous than marijuana. I have also personally witnessed the destruction of a family by cocaine. It is a serious problem, keep these harmful drugs illegal.

On another note, America has a real problem with kids getting their high out of Mommy and Daddys medicine cabinet. In the town I live in, a girl died from trying to get high by overdosing on over the counter drugs, her kidneys shut down, her death was tragic and painful. Maybe if marijuana were legal then these kids wouldn't have to turn to more dangerous drugs, maybe they could experiment and get high and live to tell about it.

Financially speaking marijuana has benefits. Give the right to mass produce it to the tobacco companies, around here hundreds of farms have gone under because it is no longer profitable to grow tobacco. They've already got the equipment, the packaging, and the experience and their used to being made villains for selling harmful substances. Tax it! Regulate it to make sure Americas supply is the safest on earth. Legalize it! Americans don't be afraid of this issue, take a stand one way or the other.