If Marijuana Were Legalized Essays - Drug Policy, Law, Free Essays

If Marijuana Were Legalized Essays - Drug Policy, Law, Free Essays If Marijuana Were Legalized Drugs are a major influential force in our country today. The problem has gotten so out of hand that many options are being considered to control it or even solve it. Ending the drug war seems to be a bit impossible. The war on drugs seems to be accomplishing a lot but this is not true. Different options need to be considered. Legalization is an option that hasn't gotten a chance but should be given one. Although many people feel that legalizing marijuana would increase the amount of use, marijuana should be legalized because it will reduce the great amounts of money spent on enforcement and it will increase our country?s revenue. There are also many benefits that can be uncovered to help people if legalization of marijuana is given a chance. Legalizing marijuana would increase our economy's revenue. During Prohibition alcohol use was still sold and used, but people were doing it illegally. The 21st amendment repealed prohibition and alcohol taxes were increased. The same thing should happen with drugs. Marijuana should be taxed heavily to increase our revenue. Marijuana and other drugs would be made by the same people who make aspirin so the quality would be assured, containing no poisons or adulterants. Sterile hypodermic needles will be readily available at corner drug stores. These could be taxed heavily because the users will be assured of "clean drugs." Making drugs legal will reduce the great amounts of money spent on enforcement every year. Drug dealers and users are one step ahead on the enforcement process. If one drug lord is caught, another one will show up somewhere else. We cannot win. ?In 1987, 10 billion dollars were spent alone just on enforcing drug laws. Drugs accounted for about 40 percent of all felony indictments in the New York City courts in 1989. This figure is quadruple what it was in 1985. . Forty percent of the people in federal prison are drug law violators? (Long 114). One can only imagine what this figure would be like today. Too much money is wasted on a cause that seems to be no end to. ?In 1989, a Republican county executive of Mercer County N.J. estimated that it would cost him as much as 1 billion dollars to build the jail space needed to house all the hard-core drug users in Trenton alone? (Long 128). All of this money could be used on better things. By lifting the ban on marijuana use and treating it like other drugs such as tobacco and alcohol, the nation would gain immediate and long-term benefits. This change in the law would greatly improve the quality of life for many people. Victims of glaucoma and those needing antinausea treatment, for example, would find marijuana easily available. Also, the cloud of suspicion would disappear, and doctors could get on with investigating marijuana?s medical uses without fear of controversy. In the essay, ?Drugs?, Vidal states, ? Nevertheless many drugs are bad for certain people to take and they should be told why in a sensible way? (321-322). It might become possible to discuss the dangers of marijuana use without getting caught up in a policy debate.. Meanwhile, the black market would disappear overnight. Some arrangement would be made to license the production of marijuana cigarettes. Thousands of dealers would be put out of business, and a secret part of the economy would come into the open. It is difficult to say whether this change would reduce crime because criminals would probably continue to sell other drugs. But it would have an impact on the amount of money flowing through criminal channels, and this might weaken organized crime. The legalization of marijuana would benefit the federal budget in two ways, the federal revenues would increase, because marijuana cigarettes would be taxed at the point of sale. In return, the companies that make the cigarettes would also pay income taxes.. Second, there would be a reduction on the amount spent on law enforcement efforts to apprehend and prosecute users and sellers of marijuana. The drug enforcement authorities might reduce their budget requests, or, more likely, focus more intensely on hard drugs and violent crimes. The courts would

How to Take Notes in Law School

How to Take Notes in Law School No matter how much material you think you can retain just by memory, note taking will be one of the most important skills to develop and perfect as you make your way through law school. Good notes will help you keep up during class discussions and will also become crucial when its time to outline and study for final exams. How to Take Notes in Law School: 5 Dos DO choose a method of note taking and stick with it. There are now lots of options for law school note taking from software programs to the good old paper and pen method. Try some out early on in the semester, but decide quickly which one suits your learning style best and then keep going with it. The link section below has some reviews of note taking software if you need a starting point.DO consider preparing your own notes before class. Whether you do the classic case brief or something more free-flowing and whether youre using computer software or handwritten notes, use a different color or entirely different pages to separate class notes from your personal notes. As the semester wears on, you should see the two increasingly converging; if not, youre probably not picking up important concepts and what your professors want  you to focus on, so get thee to office hours!DO write down important concepts, rules of law, and lines of reasoning. These things may be difficult to pinpoint at first, but youll get better at this as your law school years go on. DO take note of recurring themes in your professors lectures. Does he bring public policy into every discussion? Does he painstakingly parse words of statutes? When you find these themes, pay special attention and take particularly copious notes as to how the professors reasoning is flowing; this way you know what questions to prepare for both for lectures and exams.DO review your notes after class to make sure you understand what youve recorded. If something is unclear either conceptually or factually, now is the time to clear it up either with your classmates in a study group or with the professor. Dont Do This When Taking Law School Notes DONT write down everything the professor says verbatim. This holds especially true if youre using a laptop. It can be tempting to transcribe lectures if you have the typing ability, but youll be losing valuable time in which you should be engaging with the material and group discussion. This, after all, is where learning takes place in law school, not simply from memorizing and regurgitating rules and laws. DONT write down what your fellow law students say. Yes, theyre smart and some may even be right, but unless your professor puts her explicit seal of approval on a students contribution to the discussion, its most likely not worth a spot in your notes. You will not be tested on your fellow law students opinions, so theres no sense in recording them for posterity.DONT waste time writing down facts of the case. All the facts you need to discuss a case will be in your casebook. If particular facts are important, highlight, underline, or circle them in your textbook with a note in the margins to remind you why theyre important. DONT be afraid to go back through several days of notes at the same time to try to make connections and fill in gaps. This review process will help you at the time with class discussions and later when youre outlining and studying for exams.DONT forego taking notes because you can get the notes of a classmate. Everyone processes information differently, so you are always going to be the best person to record notes for your future study sessions. Its great to compare notes, but your own notes should always be your primary source for studying. This is why commercial outlines and those prepared by previous law students arent always the most helpful either. Throughout the semester, your professor gives you a map of what the exam will be like throughout the course; it is your job to record it and study it.