Well, my
thoughts go as follows:
Marijuana should be legalized. Why? because prohibition doesn't work. Just as alcohol prohibition didn't work, marijuana prohibition doesn't work. Take, for example, the most recent data released by the prohibitionist National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA). The study concluded that it's easier for teens to obtain marijuana than alcohol. CASA is against legalization, by the way, on the grounds that they want to keep marijuana out of the hands of children. Their own study demonstrates that regulation of drugs is more effective than prohibition. Source:
http://www.casacolumbia.org/absolutenm/articlefiles/380-2009%20Teen%20Survey%20Report.pdfMarijuana is also safer than cigarettes or alcohol. It isn't really a matter of debate anymore, reputable studies have shown this for quite a while. For instance, marijuana is a clear winner over cigarettes. While Above the Influence ads quote marijuana's high tar and chemical content (which can be avoided by using a vaporizor, by the way) multiple studies have shown that marijuana does not only NOT cause cancer, but in some cases can prevent and/or treat it. One of the more recent studies on this subject was conducted by a UCLA medical school professor with extensive history in marijuana research. Not pro-marijuana though. The professor, Donald Tashkin, was the man that the National Institute for Drug Abuse (very anti-drug) worked with to get a lot of their data about the harmful chemicals in marijuana. Tashkin's last study though, showed that components in marijuana smoke can prevent tumors from becoming malignant. Tashkin's study showed that with increased use of Tobacco, cancer rates rose, but with marijuana, the rates of cancer were the same of non-smokers. The same is true for his study about COPD. An article on Tashkin's study can be found here:
http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/142271/smoking_marijuana_does_not_cause_lung_cancer/?page=1.
There's way (way) more information about the anti-cancer effects of marijuana out there, studies published in scientific journals and such, that easily counter the less than straightforward data provided to the public about marijuana's health effects by anti-marijuana officials.