The debate about marijuana has been a hot topic for some time now. Ever since Colorado was the first state to legalize recreational usage of this plant debate has sparked in this country about the legality and the deadliness of the drug.

As this country ponders the prospect of legalizing this plant, the Washington Post has some interesting statistics and storyline for everyone. Marijana raids are more deadly than the drug itself.

Since 2010, At least 20 SWAT raids involving suspected marijuana dealers have turned deadly, according to data compiled by the New York Times.

The list of fatalities includes small-time dealers and people who sold the occasional joint to a friend, as well as people suspected of dealing in more serious drugs like crack or meth, but who were found to be in possession of only marijuana after the fact. It also includes four police officers who were killed during the raids, intentionally or otherwise.

The deadly raids are a reminder that an activity that’s legal and celebrated in some states — selling weed — can get you killed in others.

• 29-year-old Jason Westcott of Tampa, who was shot and killed by police who stormed his home and observed him with a firearm. Westcott never fired his gun. The police uncovered a total of .2 grams of marijuana at Westcott’s residence, not enough to fill a typical joint.
• Trevon Cole of Las Vegas, who was targeted for a raid after undercover officers purchased 1.8 ounces of the drug from him. Cole was unarmed, and was shot and killed by an officer as he was trying to flush marijuana down a toilet. His family eventually received a $1.7 million settlement from police.
• Levonia Riggins, also of Tampa, who became the subject of a raid after undercover agents purchased marijuana from him on three occasions. Riggins was in bed at the time of the raid. He didn’t respond to officers’ demands, and when the officers moved toward him Riggins made a quick movement. He was shot and killed. The raid turned out no firearms and a small amount of marijuana.

Marijuana itself is not a deadly substance. “No death from overdose of marijuana has been reported,” according to the DEA. But the deadly raids on suspected marijuana dealers underscore how drug enforcement can become a greater threat to life and safety than drug use itself.

For a plant that has not killed anyone unlike alcohol and other hard drugs, there have been a lot of deaths at the hand of the state. What right does the government have to restrict our access to something that has no real lasting effect on us or anyone else?

Instead, our government is killing people and putting them in prison for having a plant on their property or smoking that plant. Shame!