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Legalization Of Marijuana

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Legalization of Marijuana: The Blunt Truth On December 5, 1933, after thirteen years of a costly, ineffective, and harsh law, the inevitable happened: the 18th Amendment was finally repealed and alcohol was legal once again. The 18th Amendment was responsible for the rise of organized crime in America, it was responsible for nationwide corruption in all levels of the government, and because the law was a sinkhole of unnecessary government and tax funds, it exacerbated the pace of the Great Depression. Al Capone and Bugsy Siegel are prime examples of ambitious gangsters that took advantage of prohibition. They monopolized the lucrative illegal business of selling alcohol, and with their tremendous profits they managed to bribe and control …show more content…

Marijuana has caused upheaval across the world, but the turbulence is not because of the drug itself, but rather how governments have reacted and created an unnecessary war, a war against marijuana. Although marijuana is classified as an illegal drug by the government of the United States, the drug war against marijuana has led to more grave ramifications than the actual consumption of the drug itself has imposed on society as a whole and the solution is simple: legalize marijuana. History repeats itself, and just like alcohol, marijuana is bound to be regulated. The only question is: How much more time needs to …show more content…

It has. In 2012, Colorado became the first state to legalize marijuana for recreational use for people 21 years of age and over. Since then, Washington, Alaska, Oregon, and just recently in February, Washington D.C. have followed the visionary state of Colorado and legalized the recreational use of marijuana (Ferner, 2015). The results are astonishing. As Morton (2014) states that in Colorado alone, the legalization of marijuana will generate $1.9 billion in the first five years due to purchase tax of the substance, and it will end between 9,000 to 10,000 arrests in the state for simple marijuana possession a year. But wait, theres more. According to the Colorado Center of Law and Fiscal Policy, the state could potentially save up to $40 million from no longer prosecuting minor marijuana possession cases, and the legalization of marijuana has facilitated the employment of 10,000 people in the state as well (Rucke, 2014). Even with all of the apparent benefits of the legalization of marijuana, there will still be critics. One prevalent argument critics fabricate is: “legalization will only conjure crime and marijuana can now be sold to underage citizens.” False. Rucker (2014) proves this argument as being a fallacy by utilizing the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting data, that concludes that the

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