Five Reasons Marijuana Should Remain Illegal – Ryan O’Bryan’s List

As the saying goes, "there's two sides to every story". In this world of 24-hour news channels, those with the loudest voices and most polarizing positions seem to get the most recognition regardless of whether or not they have their facts straight. And like sheep following the shepherd, people buy into the opinion because they're too lazy to read up on the issue themselves. In the interest of fairness, and to educate myself on the issue, I did some research on why weed should stay illegal.

This whole debate started on whether it should or shouldn't be legal stemmed from a conversation here at the station. As I said in my five reasons marijuana should be legal list, 17 states have passed legislation (most recently, Rhode Island) that focuses mainly on allowing the use of medical marijuana, but also lowers the penalties for those busted for possession of the drug. Indiana is not one of those states. We actually have one of the more severe punishments in the country. However, hearings were conducted to examine the possibility of reforming state law earlier this year although it was determined a vote on the matter would not take place during the current legislative session.

As I said repeatedly in the reasons weed should be legalized, I've never taken a single puff off a joint, pipe, bong, bowl, or any other contraption, so I have no dog in this fight. I also can't say that if the day comes where marijuana is treated the same way alcohol is that it will sway me to give it a shot. My goal with both of these lists is to provide both sides of the argument so that you may be able to make an informed judgement for yourself and maybe learn something about the opposite side of the story if you happen to lean one way or the other. Let's get started...