Marijuana Legalization Pros And Cons

The truths about marijuana are slowly starting to resurface, the government keeps ignoring that cannabis could one day be as powerful for the U.S. Unfortunately, these truths about marijuana are under a lot of criticism because of the stereotype of what people see as a "marijuana or cannabis smoker." There is a great difficulty in this law because marijuana is still recognized as a harmful and dangerous substance in some states. This can cause problems because each state has their different views and opinions on the matter, and have their own rules and how the rules apply towards it. The twenty-six states and the District of Columbia currently have laws legalizing marijuana in some form, but California, Massachusetts, and Nevada just passed the law for recreational use. The states that have medical marijuana and recreational legalization are Washington, Oregon, California, Colorado, Nevada, and Alaska. The states that only have medical marijuana legal are Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas, New Mexico, Arizona, Hawaii (Ingraham). However, legalizing marijuana could have some benefits instead of being a drug with some bad reputations. Marijuana should be legalized because of medical reasons, safety reasons, and have some benefits to society.

This paper will look at the benefits and drawbacks to legalizing marijuana by looking in at Colorado.The state made forty million dollars by taxed marijuana in 2014 alone, also Colorado saved countless millions because of the extremely lower amounts of marijuana arrest and court cases. It is not clear how having new recreational marijuana stores opening will affect the cannabis market, or businesses expanding around them. Gov. John Hickenlooper says that the economy is thriving with record setting numbers of tourists (73.1 million). 49 percent of those tourist said that legal marijuana influenced their decisions to vacation in Colorado. The ER’s in Colorado have also seen a rise in numbers of marijuana related cases and those cases in non-residents have almost doubled. An unexpected situation that arose from legal cannabis was the amount of electricity that is being use to grow the drug. Some cannabusinesses have to go green with solar or wind power. There are many varying views on the effects of legal marijuana have developed in Colorado since marijuana became legal in 2014.

A controversial topic often being advocated for by sitting governors is whether the legalization of marijuana is more beneficial or harmful to the economy. Marijuana, also known as weed, is a mixture of the dried and shredded leaves, stems, seeds, and flowers of the cannabis sativa plant. It’s the most widely used illegal drug in the United States, even though studies have shown results that the benefits of using marijuana for medicinal or recreational reasons far outweigh the negative matters that may be associated with its use. While marijuana is still a controlled substance under federal law, thirteen U.S. states currently have compassionate use laws in place, which allow for regulated medical marijuana use. By legalizing marijuana, the government is helping the economy by reaping medical and financial benefits, not only at the state level, but also at the federal level. Taking into account the numerous studies done with marijuana on whether it is for recreational use or medical purposes, the government cannot go wrong in legalizing marijuana because of such an impact it will have. Marijuana should be legalized for recreational purposes because it will help society economically and socially.

The topic of legalizing recreational marijuana in the United States has been a very controversial one. States such as Colorado and Washington have gone on the offensive and have legalized recreational marijuana and have enjoyed the high revenues brought in from cannabis sale. On the other hand other states have kept low profiles because they are wary of the possible negative outcomes of legalizing recreational marijuana and are using the states of Colorado and Washington as guinea pigs to see what their next course of action on this controversial topic should be. This is not only a highly debated topic among politicians, but also by the people. According to a poll conducted by the Pew Research Center 52% of Americans

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.

How has the legalization of marijuana affected Colorado? The state has seen some pretty significant changes since the legalization of recreational marijuana. There have been major changes in the economy, job market, and traffic related injuries, but not all of these changes have been negative. There is a split in the public opinion about recreational marijuana use and if the state has benefited since its legalization. Some people think that the state is suffering and have been fighting to repeal the law since it was voted into place. Others have devoted all their money and time into the flourishing business and would be devastated if the law was repealed.

Recreational Marijuana use is something very beneficiary for the economy. Amendment 64 is a prime example. Being passed in 2012, Amendment 64 has had an outstanding influence in the economy of Colorado. The Amendment has increased the state’s tax revenue, created numerous careers for people, and has made Colorado a must see tourist location for many.

There has been major news forming around the legalization of marijuana in Colorado. Medical marijuana has been effective in Colorado since 2000. Now marijuana is legal for recreational use for people 21 and up. Many rules and regulations follow the legalization of marijuana. Many people of Colorado fear this legalization, where others are totally for it and think it will help boost Colorado’s economy. I have found many

In the preceding years, when ferocious battles were waged over the wisdom of legalization, both in direct conversations and of course, on the internet, marijuana proponents made boasts about what a major positive impact on government budgets making pot legal would have. To people familiar with economics, basic math and tax policy, these arguments seemed very weak, and that is exactly what they have been proven to be in the first years of Colorado’s new drug era.

These negative effects of marijuana being illegal at the recreational level can be fixed. There are solutions and benefits to these problems. The first and most important thing the state will have to do in order to legalize recreational cannabis is decriminalize the drug. If marijuana was decriminalized in the state of Minnesota, crime rates and arrest would decrease. According to Christopher Ingraham, a writer for the Washington Post said, “In Colorado, marijuana arrests fell by nearly half from 2012 to 2014. Marijuana possession charges in Washington state fell by a more dramatic 98 percent between 2012 and 2013. Alaska, Oregon, and D.C. show similar declines.” Colorado, Alaska, Oregon, and D.C. saw major benefits when they decided to make marijuana legal for recreational use. If Minnesota decriminalized marijuana, not as many people would be in jail, which would help with the over crowdedness in prisons in the state. Colorado alone has compiled several research studies demonstrating that legalization has not promoted an increase in violent crimes. According to research conducted by the Drug Policy Alliance “During the first year of the implementation of Amendment 64, Denver experienced a 2.2 percent decrease in violent crime rates and an 8.9 percent reduction in property crime offenses” (Heuberger). Decriminalizing cannabis will help our police department focus on more violent and heavy drug-related crimes. This evidence provides proof that legalizing recreational

According to Sherry Robinson, a syndicated columnist with the Daily times, Colorado approved medical marijuana in 2000, and it 's now a $200 million industry that pays more than $5 million a year in state sales taxes. The state and cities are now salivating over potential revenues from recreational marijuana sales but must find the equilibrium between a "good tax" and one that drives cannabis sales underground. Now that Colorado has legalized marijuana for recreational use, it will boost the economy even more. A huge percentage of what is made will be going to the school system in Colorado. This will make a huge difference in the education system. This is a huge benefit that many parents and teachers are looking forward to. The legalization of marijuana will help create many jobs for Colorado residents also. People will be needed to grow and distribute marijuana.

In this essay I will explore the positive and negative effects of legalizing Cannabis in California. I support the legalization of Cannabis, these are my reasons why; If California does legalize Cannabis then it would decrease the money spent on drug enforcement and criminal persecution. Legalizing Cannabis would also reduce the value of the black market product. It would also generate revenue for the California economy because it would be a taxable item that is in high demand.

Are drugs always bad for people? The first impressions of drugs are probably that drugs make people lazy, make people sick, and make people uncontrollably addicted to drugs. Cannabis, which has several names such as marijuana, weed, pot, dope, hemp and so on is listed as Schedule I, referred by the Drug Enforcement Administration which means marijuana is highly addictive and dangerous material. However, Marijuana should not be in that category because marijuana has useful functions. Marijuana is different from other drugs such as Methamphetamine, Cocaine, and Heroin because marijuana does not contain hazardous chemicals as much as Methamphetamine, Cocaine, and Heroin have. Legalizing marijuana provides several benefits to people and the government. Legalizing marijuana educes crime, it has positive effects on serious physical symptoms, and it can bring massive amount of economic benefits

If we use the current model of Colorado for the nation, recreational and medicinal will be taxed at different rates. Medical marijuana will be taxed at 2.9 percent, while recreational will be taxed at 15 percent. This led to 16 million from medicinal use and 53 million from recreational use in tax revenue for the state of Colorado in 2014. These numbers are lower than the expected revenue; this is due to the fact that because of taxes it is still cheaper to buy black market marijuana. As production of legal marijuana continues to grow, the prices will drop. There will be more growers trying to sell their wares to dispensaries. This will lead to a higher quality of marijuana which the street dealers will have trouble keeping up with. With the legalization of marijuana a new industry has opened, the pot tourist. Colorado is now home to many recreational pot tours. This not only increases the tax revenue for the state, but also benefits other tourism related businesses. This is all dependent on a well regulated system.

Colorado alone raised about 100 million in tax revenue. This is much more than it was expected. The marijuana industry helps create new jobs, this means the economy is better. All the money that is collected from the sale of the plant creates new schools, makes roads safer, and overall it makes the state better. Bob Marley once said “herb is the healing of the nation, alcohol is the destruction” This makes sense because cannabis makes a person feel relaxed and have more appreciation of ones surroundings unlike alcohol which makes a person very