Argumentative Essay: The Legalization Of Marijuana

The United States has, in some states, legalized the use of marijuana. Studies done have shown that it helps the state economies grow, and has given the states millions of dollars in tax revenue. So imagine the money that would be saved if marijuana were legalized in the whole country. The United States would benefit from a stronger economy, increased jobs, reduced prison costs, lower medicinal marijuana prices, and the availability of medical marijuana to the people who need it.

Marijuana these days is causing indefinite amount of problems because it is not legal. Since it is not legal in the U.S., Drug Cartels are taking advantage of that and illegally importing their products across the border by the use of “Drug Mules” or underground tunnels. That hurts us tremendously, since we invest millions of dollars every year to strengthen our border security to, but they always find a way to get it into the country because of high demand and price for illegal marijuana. Drug Cartels are also taking millions to billions of dollars illegally out of our economy, which is not helping our National Debt. If we legalize marijuana we can prevent the Drug Cartels from making money because people will have an easier way to buy it and we can also regulate how

The legalization of marijuana will lead to a boost to the economy. With the United States being trillions in debt, an increase in tax money would be a big help to lower the national debt. Colorado, one of the first states to legalize marijuana for recreational and medicinal uses, is showing valuable data of an increase in tax money, “In 2015, Colorado collected more than $135 million in taxes and fees on medicinal and recreational marijuana. Sales totaled over $996 million” (Krishna, Mrinalini). Now, Colorado is joined by seven other states, Washington, Oregon, California, Alaska, Maine, Massachusetts, and Nevada, in the full legalization of marijuana. With these states joining with Colorado, the United States is seeing sales “[grow] by 30%, to 6.1 billion, in 2016 and a projected 20.1 billion in 2021” (Krishna, Mrinalini). With that in mind, these sales are shared among only eight states, add another forty-two states and the rates could surpass the trillions. Considering the evidence, the act of not legalizing marijuana would be foolish.

Growing up everyone is always told “drugs are bad for you” over and over. As children, we have no perspective and do not fully understand the use of drugs. Drugs are always around us, especially marijuana. It is the most commonly used drug in the world. As much as we are told not to use this substance or be around it, many have encountered it in some way before. Marijuana being illegal in most states does not stop people from using the substance. Since this illegal drug is still used no matter the situation why not benefit from it and legalize it throughout the United States? Marijuana could have a positive effect on America in relation to health and the economy.

Marijuana is a naturally grown plant that has beneficial properties and the ability to create textiles, paper products, and other goods. Marijuana is currently illegal in many states in the United States. The legalization of Marijuana will produce enormous tax revenue, reduce crime, give us a renewable resource, and give sick and suffering patients a new effective medicine. The legalization of Marijuana in the United States would both benefit the well-being of its citizens as well the economy.

Need a quick fix to the current economic crisis? How about opening thousands of marijuana dispensaries, supplying tens of thousands of Americans with jobs, and bringing in billions of tax dollars to the government. Is marijuana a threat to our society and our youth? Or is it a plant, capable of easing the pain of the sick, inhibit the growth of cancer cells, rejuvenating the weary, and bringing ease to our stressful lives. The war on drugs has been a failure and it affects us all! The current cost of the war on drugs is 51 billion dollars annually and not only has marijuana use risen but it has become cheaper and easier to get. A recent survey conducted by the Pew Research Center stated that 48% of adults in America have tried marijuana and 40% had done so in the past three years. Legalizing marijuana would benefit the country in many ways.

Marijuana is a drug that is spreading all around the world and is now proven to be the most beneficial drug out there. More than 25 million Americans annually use it each year. If the country legalized it then everyone would have more jobs available to go around such as harvesters, dispensary clerks, distributors, or croppers. Thus, the unemployment rate is lowered and America could make more money if they taxed it (Jack). Not only could they tax it but also save more money because they would not have to lock up those people getting arrested every year. That way America could lower the country’s debt and then there is a lot less people in prisons. It would save the country billions of dollars each

To explore the economic benefits of marijuana legalization we must first look at the amount of marijuana that is purchased by users. The White House Office of National Drug Policy reported that between 1988 and 1995, Americans spent about 7 billion dollars on the illegal substance, averaging about a billion dollars a year (Prislac, 2009). This means that annually there is a billion dollars out there that is subject to no sales tax. The national average for sales tax is 5%, so if you calculate the billion dollars being spent on marijuana, this means there is approximately 50 million dollars in sales tax that our government never gets

Only last month the Encyclopedia of Astrobiology reported that 6.6% of the general public claimed to have consumed marihuana. There are many reasons floating around on why marijuana should not be a legal substance and it has become a very controversial topic. Marijuana alters the crime rates in the U.S since it is illegal to own or consume. Therefore, enforcing the law on marihuana gets expensive for the state due to the fact that there are many people incarcerated creating a cost of over 44 billion dollars a year (mic.com). So with the legalization of marijuana those costs would disappear and the tax imposed on to the drug would drive the economy up. Society would be ecstatic that the economy would begin to recover but there is still speculation that the drug would be abused. Since the drug would be such widely available that the prices for the drug would decrease there forth making it prone to abuse. Yet, all the benefits it will provide for our society would outweigh the few negative impacts weed legalization would provide.

The economic impact of a legalized marijuana industry is often overstated by casual advocates. Some even make a ludicrous suggestion that it would pay off the national debt. Legal marijuana, just like any other solution alone, can’t fix our national debt. It was $16.4 trillion when it reached the debt ceiling on December 31, 2012. Nevertheless, there clearly are no perfect forecasts for determining the potential economic impact from the legal marijuana industry in the future. However, according to the available data, approximately 1 in every 10 Americans smokes marijuana at least once a year. Among them, about 24 million Americans smoke marijuana on a regular basis. CNBC offered a moderate estimate that a fully legal marijuana industry would generate $16-20 billion a year in taxes and $40 billion a year in sales. Clearly legal marijuana wouldn’t be the economic miracle as some people expect it to be, but it still represents a massive economic impact. As the former Senator Everett Dirksen reportedly once said, “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money.”

Everyday, business owners are closing their doors, employees are being laid off and homeowners are being evicted from their houses due to the current state of our economy. Not only would legalizing marijuana generate tax revenues, it would also eliminate the costs of enforcing this ban. People who are opposed to legalizing marijuana believe using it is morally wrong and do not think we should profit from its sale. They also believe marijuana is a gateway drug that leads to harder drug use and criminal behavior. I believe marijuana should be legalized because it is not a chemically addictive or gateway drug; it can be used for medicinal purposes and the manufacturing and selling would boost our economy.

The United States has been involved in a failing battle versus marijuana since the execution of the Uniform Narcotic Act in the 1930's. Americans are not only squandering almost eight billion a year, Americans are losing probable income. Americans could be in a position to gain a profit of a significant amount of revenues if marijuana were to be legal and structured by the Department of Agriculture (Norml, 2014). Revenue from the tax system of marijuana purchases would extend from about two and a half billion for each year if marijuana were taxed like conventional inventory products to six billion if it were taxed like tobacco or alcohol.

Since the drug war began, over one trillion dollars in public money has been spent, and it now costs $78.95 per day just to keep one prisoner behind bars (Drug War Today). If drugs such as marijuana were legalized, on the other hand, taxes on the drugs could actually bring a tremendous amount of money into the government instead of out of it. Colorado, which recently legalized marijuana for personal use, brought in $40.9 million from marijuana taxes in just the first ten months of 2014 (Marijuana Legalization in Colorado). According to a study by the Yale Economic Review, legalization of marijuana across the country would result in the government acquisition of as much as $8.9 billion; this is a significant amount of money in a nation with seemingly bottomless economic deficits. Again this is another prime example of why you don’t have to be a user to support this, you just have to be someone who is fiscally smart and doesn’t like to see the government waste

If marijuana were legal, it would also bring a significant source of revenue to the United States. A lot of money currently is spent on drugs, and most of it goes to illegal operators outside of the country. If legalized, the pot revenue would go to Americans. In the current economic climate, this would definitely be welcome. A tax could also be put on the drug, and the companies that grew and possessed the plants would have to pay income taxes to the government. It is possible for marijuana to become one of the number one cash crops in though whole country. And with all the people who would smoke it, or use it in other ways, it could quickly become one of the main stimulators in our economy.

I think we can all agree on one thing, our economy is not in the best shape it could possibly be in. Legalizing marijuana will definitely help our economy. If you don’t believe me lets ask Colorado, one of fifty states to actually legalize marijuana. According to (drugpolicy.org) The Dept Of Revenue showed that Marijuana sales totaled up to 40.9 million between Jan and Oct 2014. This doesn’t even include revenue from medical marijuana. Colorado also has the fastest growing economy…. I Wonder how that happened. Two dispensaries in Colorado produced 280 jobs, and $30 million in total economic output, that’s 10 times the tax revenue of what a normal restaurant or retail store can