Dear Next President,

When the founding fathers created the Bill of Rights they added the Tenth Amendment so in the future states and presidents could add new laws as they saw fit. States like Washington and Colorado have taken advantage of this and legalized marijuana for medical and recreational use. I believe that you could encourage this to happen in all of the states.

I believe that marijuana should be legalized in all states for medical and recreational use. Marijuana is not as bad or as addictive a drug as cocaine or heroin. The Huffington Post says “Marijuana is less addictive than coffee”. Obama has also said “pot is no more dangerous than alcohol”, but alcohol is legal. According to a recent study by the Huffington Post not a single person has ever died from a marijuana overdose and they would need to get about 20,000 to 40,000 times the amount of THC in a joint to even have a risk of dying. In that same study by the Huffington Post “25,592 people died from alcohol related causes”.

I understand the other side of this argument as well, that marijuana should stay illegal in most states. Many people believe that marijuana is very addictive, however this is not true according to the Huffington Post “Cocaine hooks about 20 percent of its users, and heroin gets 25 percent of its users addicted. The worst culprit is tobacco, with 30 percent of its users becoming addicted.” Also marijuana is “very bad for your mental and physical health”. This is true seeing as you are putting smoke directly into your lungs and this affects your lungs’ ability to work hard. According to medical daily “A new study finds that it doesn't take long for secondhand marijuana smoke to negatively affect the cardiovascular system.”

The benefits of marijuana outweigh the risks. Studies show that “Marijuana use can prevent epileptic seizures”. A family with a little girl who has Dravet Syndrome started to give her medical marijuana and that has made the seizures starting “from 300 a week to just one every seven days”. If it can do that much for one kid and one family imagine what that could do for America.

So, Mr / Mrs. President don’t you think it is time to do something about this? All it takes is a few more states like Washington and Colorado to make it legal then the floodgates will open. I think it has been time for this to happen for many years and many people will be happy when it finally becomes legal for recreational and medical use.

Thank you,

Nathan Whitcomb

Grade 10

Mendota Heights, Minnesota