Economic Implication Of Legalizing Marijuana Essay

b. Joe Messerli of Balancedpolitics.org, states, “There are a number of medical benefits of marijuana, most notably in the treatment of patients undergoing chemotherapy. Others believe it helps in the treatment of depression unlike alcohol.”

     Marijuana is used for other things than getting someone stoned. Many advocates say “Marijuana is used for hemp making for fabrics and necklaces.”(William J.) Many advocates say, “If marijuana is so bad then why do doctors prescribe it to patients to help cure cancer, AIDS, headaches, migraines, glaucoma, and many other diseases.”(Sandra) Marijuana is used to calm people down and relieve stress.

Legalizing marijuana is a concept that can potentially benefit the public as well as the local economies. There has been a nationwide debate on whether marijuana should be legalized or not. The major consensus is that marijuana is not only bad for one’s health, but it is also dangerous to the community. These allegations are not true. Marijuana actually has health benefits that most people overlook. The following essay will address these health benefits in an attempt to present this concept in a way that the audience can better understand how legalizing marijuana can beneficial to an individual health, how it can give an increase to the economy.

The legalization of recreational marijuana is an important debate, one that could really cause drastic changes in societies. Marijuana has entered a dark stage in the pathway of legalization, and it is correlating with the prohibition stage that alcohol rested in. The debate can often reach a nasty level between individuals taking sides with the topic. Legalization of marijuana can be very beneficial under regulated circumstances, therefore making all of the negative views less important.

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.

With the amount of products that could be created through the legalization of marijuana this could only create more jobs to fuel the production of these goods. In addition, private companies or the government are going to need more people to help grow and cultivate marijuana for public sales. President Obama held an online town hall meeting and one of the questions asked was:

Legalizing and regulation marijuana can bring cash crop under the criminal justice law, bring in jobs, medical use, and overall create economic opportunities to The United States of America.

The legalization of marijuana has been a topic of debate for many years. This may be because of the cultural diversity that the United States of America is known for. Recently, bills were passed in Colorado and Washington to implement the legalization and regulation of recreational marijuana use. These events along with the ever growing popularity of the drug in society, media, and entertainment are proving to be more than anti-marijuana advocates can handle. In this paper, I explore the financial, social, medical, and political benefits of legalizing marijuana.

Americans nationwide have been using marijuana for decades due to a variety of reasons. Talks of marijuana legalization and marijuana use across the country has rapidly grown and America is getting one step closer to becoming a “weed nation”. Many Americans disagree with the legalization of marijuana, but a majority of voters believe recreational marijuana should be legal nationwide. Last year alone, nearly twenty tons of marijuana was sold to recreational and medical users, which resulted in $63 million in tax revenue and an additional $13 million in licenses and fees. Legalizing and regulating marijuana will bring the nation's largest cash crop under the rule of law, creating jobs and economic opportunities in the formal

Abraham Lincoln once said "Prohibition goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man 's appetite by legislation, and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes.” The prohibition of marijuana has proven to be a failure and a waste of resources. In addition, prohibition has hurt society more than it has helped. Also, marijuana can be used as a medicine to treat many life threatening illnesses. The legalization of marijuana will generate enormous tax revenue, reduce crime, and give sick patients a new effective medicine.

Legalizing recreational marijuana will help the United Sates economy by combating the war on drugs. Regulation of the drug will bring money into the state and to the nation as well. Moreover, Clare Howard in his article, Why legalize recreational marijuana states, “America has lost the war on marijuana. The cost to taxpayers has been $1 trillion and has resulted in 40 million arrests. The war on marijuana needs to end like Prohibition ended in 1933 with the country recognizing failed public policy and formulating another plan with reasonable regulations and restrictions… perhaps regulating marijuana like alcohol and keeping it illegal for

Marijuana is the cause of much commotion and debating, as the question of legalization becomes more of an issue. Drugs are a major influential force in countries all over the world today. Legalization is an option that has not had a chance, but really should be given one. Although many people feel that legalizing marijuana would increase the amount of drug use, legalization would benefit for the following reasons: 1)reduction of money spent on law enforcement 2)increase in the countries revenue 3)lessen crime 4)useful in treating certain medical conditions.

Legalizing marijuana has helped increase the USA income. Since the legalization there has been an "increase in total labor income by at least $3.5 billion," (The Economic Benefits of Legalizing Weed By Mrinalini Krishna). After the drug became legal Colorado collected over $135 million in fees and taxes on marijuana, both medical and recreational. 30% is how much sales grew, $6.7 billion, in 2016. "Sales in [Colorado] totaled over $996 million." (The Economic Benefits of Legalizing Weed By Mrinalini Krishna). Not only has income benefited the USA economy but it has also helped the workforce.

      There are many ways that marijuana would benefit the economy if legalized. An economy benefits when there is a healthy flow of monies within. This means internal spending by citizens on items of their choice. Citizen spending is what keeps the economy going. The use of citizen?s tax money would also be greatly affected. Tax money would be allocated more properly and used in more strategic ways. The taxation of items such as legalized marijuana brings a flow of money into the economy that would otherwise not be there. This increase of government funds would allocate more money to federal programs that are in financial need. Federal programs include public education, health education, treatment programs, etc. When the public?s way of

Many diseases cannot be cured but most doctors can prescribe pain killers that can cause serious internal damage. Marijuana is also used to help ease chronic pain, nausea, muscle spasms, and loss of appetite (Anderson 334). With this knowledge further medical research and testing should be done to help those in need. Marijuana has been used medicinally since the 1800s. Marijuana was recognized as a medicinal drug and was listed in the United States Pharmacopeia from 1850 to 1942.