Student Opinion | Should Marijuana Be Legal? - NYTimes.com

Eighteen states have legalized marijuana for medical use. Should it be legal for medical use all over the United States? Should it also be legal for recreational use for consumers who are 21 and over, as Washington and Colorado have allowed? In general, do you think the current federal prohibition on marijuana is good public policy or not? Why?

In ?Americas Coalition Puts Marijuana Legalization Up for Discussion,? Randal C. Archibold writes about the Organization of American States?s suggestion that countries consider making marijuana legal as a possible way to ?reassess how the drug war is carried out.?

A comprehensive report on drug policy in the Americas released Friday by a consortium of nations suggests that the legalization of marijuana, but not other illicit drugs, be considered among a range of ideas to reassess how the drug war is carried out.

The report, released by the Organization of American States, walked a careful line in not recommending any single approach to the drug problem and encouraging ?flexibility.?

Prompted by President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia at the Summit of the Americas last year to answer growing dissatisfaction and calls for new strategies in the drug war, the report?s 400 pages mainly summarize and distill previous research and debate on the subject.

But the fact that it gave weight to exploring legalizing or de-penalizing marijuana was seized on by advocates of more liberal drug use laws as a landmark and a potential catalyst for less restrictive laws in a number of countries.

?This takes the debate to a whole other level,? said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, which advocates more liberal drug use laws. ?It effectively breaks the taboo on considering alternatives to the current prohibitionist approach.?

Students: Tell us ?

• Do you think the current federal prohibition on marijuana is good public policy? Why?
• Should marijuana be legalized for medical use, as 18 states have done already? Should it be made legal for recreational use for consumers 21 and over, as Washington and Colorado have done?
• What do you think might be the dangers of legalization? Do you think it will increase the number of people abusing drugs? Will it lead to more traffic accidents or unproductive workers? Will it lower educational achievement or deepen family problems? Will it lead to more teenagers using drugs?
• What do you think might be the benefits of legalization? Do you think it will reduce drug violence, or keep more nonviolent people out of prison? Will it expand individuals? rights and allow the government to regulate marijuana, as it does alcohol and tobacco? Will it increase tax revenue?
• What do you think a legal marketplace for marijuana might look like? Would marijuana be sold everywhere cigarettes are, or would there be special stores? Would marijuana be advertised as tobacco is?

Students 13 and older are invited to comment below. Please use only your first name. For privacy policy reasons, we will not publish student comments that include a last name.

NOTE: We ask that adults respect the intent of the Student Opinion question and refrain from posting here. There are many other places on NYTimes.com for adults to post, while this is the only place that explicitly invites the voices of young people.

Source: http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/21/should-marijuana-be-legal/

edgar vs henderson berkshire hathaway ufc 144 james jones james jones aladdin black forest