The Collegian

California has been, and still is, in an overwhelming budget crisis, and the outlook is quite cloudy, as proven with with the upcoming special election in the week ahead.

Legalizing marijuana for tax profi t has been suggested for improving the state budget. While this idea has been raised before, it's currently causing a much bigger stir than previous years due to the fi nancial situation our state is in.

We believe marijuana should be legalized. For many years, marijuana has been grouped together with serious drugs and alcohol, yet there is still little proof of its harmful effects.

In fact, recent studies have shown that marijuana can help slow numerous diseases such as Alzheimer's and breast cancer.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's website states that over 440,000 deaths are attributed to cigarettes each year.

According to the Drug Abuse Warning Network, no deaths have been attributed solely to marijuana use.

It's true that marijuana has some short-term effects such as memory loss, coordination loss, distorted perception, and increased heart rate. It's also true that your risk of a heart attack is greatly increased for an hour after smoking marijuana.

At the same time, marijuana isn't as bad as the media would like you to believe. First of all, marijuana is not addictive. Unlike cigarettes, marijuana contains no nicotine, which removes the need for constant smoking.

Though marijuana has many short-term effects, they all wear off fast and, in turn, don't cause life-altering effects or psychological damage.

More people are risking their lives by selling marijuana illegally on the streets than are risking their lives by smoking it. Why throw people in jail when our prison system is overpopulated? Much more money could be made from the sale of the product.

Marijuana certainly isn't perfect, but nothing is. If we've legalized alcohol and cigarettes, it's contradictory not to legalize marijuana. If we legalize marijuana, a huge profi t would be made by the state. Many economists believe taxing marijuana could get our state budget out of the red zone if sold with the proper restrictions.

While we don't condone smoking, marijuana has been shown to be safer than most drugs and could easily make an enormous profit.

Congress needs to jump into the 21st century and learn that marijuana isn't the worst thing that could be legalized.

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