Slowly, the old man inhales the sweet smelling smoke and instantly relaxes. Time goes by slowly, stress melts like an ice cube, and the man feels a great sense of fatigue. Finally the man can go to sleep and rest in peace. These are just a few of the reasons people smoke marijuana. By making marijuana illegal, the government is deciding for the people what is healthy for them. Decriminalizing marijuana causes more harm than good. The war on drugs seems to be failing to achieve what it is meant for. Illegalizing marijuana violates civil liberties, causes social disorder, and increases crime and violence. The best solution to reduce these problems is to legalize marijuana for medicinal and recreational use.
             Marijuana's effects are nearly harmless. In fact, lethal overdose of marijuana is virtually impossible (Lowry 36). No one can say the same about alcohol. President Nixon once said, "There is little proven danger of physical or psychological harm from the experimental or intermittent use of natural preparations of cannabis..." (qtd. in Glasser). The author, Richard Lowry, of "Weed Whackers" agreed in his article by stating, "...it makes little sense to send people to jail for using a drug that, in terms of its harmfulness, should be categorized somewhere between alcohol and tobacco on one hand and caffeine on the other" (36).
             Not only is this drug practically harmless, but people enjoy this drug for many personal reasons. They smoke it to relieve stress, mellow out, or just have fun (Kalet 82). The British medical journal Lancet could not have said it better by saying, "When used in a social setting, it may produce infectious laughter and talkativeness" (qtd. in Lowry). The effects of marijuana do not affect anybody else except for the user. If the effects of marijuana feel good to the user and no one else is harmed, why should it be illegal to use the drug?
             Drug warrio...