Marijuana's Influence On The Black Market

Cannabis has been illegal since the Marijuana Tax act of 1934. Yet out of a population of 284 million American citizens, 70 million Americans claim to have smoked cannabis at some point in their lives. Prohibition of cannabis is therefore apparently ineffective at changing the habits of a population, just as prohibition of alcohol was ineffective in 1919-1933. Making otherwise law-abiding citizens fugitives does nothing more than fill the prisons and alienate the populace from their government. In fact the total cost to taxpayers of solely marijuana-related incarceration (in local, state, and federal prisons and jails) of 15,400 people exceeds $1.2 million per year.

The usage of Weed is the most common illicit substance used in the United States. Pot is one of the cheapest illegal drugs on the market and is more accessible to buy it. Marijuana is mainly imported illegally to the United States and cropping this plant or producing it, is not as hard as other illicit substances. Illegal Marijuana plantations have also been found inside houses where they have been produced thousands of pounds without being detected. It is estimated that Marijuana users are between the ages of 18 and 30 years old. It is not common to see people over 35 smoking Weed. Unfortunately, most of these consumers are adolescents that because of the dazed feeling that it produces, creates long-lasting consequences for the body and mind. The use of Weed has been linked to car accidents, health complications, psychiatric symptoms and poor educational outcome (Feeney and Kampman, 2016). Socially speaking, smoking Weed is not well seen, although many people have accepted doing it, especially celebrities. Cannabis is linked to illegal drugs like cocaine and crack. Illicit substances major distributors are drug lords who have made millions and millions of dollars trafficking in the United States and Europe where most of the consumers are. This activity has also brought crime to the cities since it has been a very lucrative business. Many people have died or go to jail for selling, distributing and producing illegal drugs. Making this drug, legal, will increase the number of people addicted to illegal substances and will increase crime too. To differentiate a legal drug from an illegal one would be very difficult so it will be available everywhere. Drugs are an epidemic that is killing our society, especially our young ones. A solution to one problem cannot be a destruction of another one. For decades, the world has been battling against drugs and making it

Because marijuana is illegal in the United States and decades of government sponsored anti-marijuana programs, it’s often associated with crime though there is no association between weed use and crime. Although there are studies that link marijuana and crime, its almost all focused on illegal distribution. People who are high don’t commit violence. Its common knowledge that a person should never take alcohol or weed and drive, but although its true that marijuana affects the ability to drive, it is not as dangerous as drunk or buzz driving. A recent study show that marijuana use increases the odds of a fatal crash by 83 percent while driving with a blood alcohol level of at least .05 increased the chance of being in a crash by 575 percent. It is clear that the roads are threatened more by alcohol than weed but society is also affected by both in very different ways. Colorado is a state where weed is legal to those twenty one and older and offers a look on marijuana’s effects on society such as states with medical marijuana painkiller overdoses deaths have dropped 25 percent due to people substituting their prescriptions for weed (Christensen, Wilson "Is Marijuana as Safe as -- or Safer than -- Alcohol?”). Alcohol does not lower the number of painkiller but because

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.

After many years of trying to make the plant grow, perfectly, indoor, growing marijuana have become lucrative and more desired. Though marijuana growers know that planting the plant is dangerous and can even lose their house or all their property, they are taking the risk because it is a good business. The prohibition made the plant more profitable because growing them indoors takes a great amount of time and money. Growers needs to use high technology to perfectly monitor the new environment that human have created for the plant. As a result, the plant, from being naturally grown outdoors and cheaply and accessibly, became expensive. There is so much money with this business because, one of the reasons, growers don’t even have to pay taxes from selling them. However, in today’s society, California is having a big experiment trying to find a way to legalize marijuana. The growers that made their business out of it could pay taxes that can help them have more money to supports its people. Also, I believe if this happened, human can again reconnect

Marijuana is still considered illegal under the Controlled Substance Act enacted by the federal government, and the state has legalized the medicinally and recreational use of the substance throughout the state’s borders. Because of the supremacy clause of the constitution, Congress has occupied the field and the federal laws governing marijuana use, sale and manufacturing supersedes the state laws. Obviously, this is a point of concern for any person who would want to start a business in Colorado. While the state police will not arrest anyone because of the state laws; it is doubtful that the average business owner would be willing to be at risk at any time of a federal agent’s

The evidence provided for both claims have somewhat of a correlation, so there is mixed information regarding marijuana as it is associated with crime. The researcher's hypothesis of this article states that criminal behavior is due to the illegality of marijuana. However, if marijuana was legalized for medicinal purposes, those problems would no longer exist ( ). This hypothesis ties into whether or not there is a link to crime and marijuana because it seeks to examine the effects of medical marijuana laws.The variables in the study were consistent with the question at hand. According to the findings in the research, the dependent variables were the Part I offenses, homicide, rape, assault, burglary, robbery, auto theft, and larceny accounted for in each state from 1990 to 2006.The Medical Marijuana Law was the independent variable. This included information about when the law was passed in the respective state. Several sociodemographic control variables were set in order to account for other influencing factors. The results based on this research conclude that the states that passed the Medical Marijuana Legislation laws experienced reduced crime rates. This suggest that MML may contribute to a reduction of crime. Therefore, the hypothesis was supported. These

Observing the states in which the drug has already become legal provides one with numerous examples of the negative side effects associated with legalization, just a few of which Coleman points out. One of the most disturbing of these negative side effects I believe, is the obvious explosion of black market drug trade. While legalization laws in Colorado and Washington have only been in full implementation for two short years, it has become widely known that the black market trade of marijuana has begun to flourish in these states. Little effort is needed to link the source of this growth to the recently implemented marijuana laws. Taxes and regulations that accompany the now legal purchase of marijuana have served to propel prices for legal marijuana to a point where users now much prefer the riskier option of illicit black market obtainment, catapulting illegal drug sales to heights previously unseen. Simple assessment of these facts, I believe, should be enough to align anyone against legalization. The negative implications that are associated with black market drug trade are well documented and widely known, and its growth not only supports the determent of individuals, but also society as a whole. However, many people simply overlook these

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

Christopher Ingraham looks into marijuana’s first year as a business industry in “Colorado’s Legal Weed Market”. In Colorado’s first year of legalization, their recreational dispensaries brought in an estimated $700 million in sales and $63 million in tax revenue (Ingraham). Katie Rucke reports that nearly 10,000 new job opportunities have arisen in “Six Months In, How Has Marijuana Legalization Treated Colorado?” The state’s unemployment rate has dropped down to 6%, one of the lowest rates in the nation, and the lowest it has been in the state since the recession (Rucke). Many jobs created by the

The launching of the 1960’s brought with it a public health issue concerning the use and abuse of illegal drugs. Responding to the crisis, the US department of Justice established the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous drugs, which was designed to control illegal drugs, specifically marijuana. Building on the prohibition, in 1971 President Richard Nixon officially declared a “war on drugs”, which resulted in an increased federal role in the warfare by providing the federal government with power to institute new mandatory sentencing laws. New policies, including the passing of the Controlled Substances act, which, “superseded earlier legislation and classified cannabis as having a high potential for abuse, having zero medical use, and being unsafe for use without medical supervision,” (Barry, 2014) produced a dramatic rise in national incarceration rates, disproportionally representing those people of color. In fact, according to the FBI, in 2011 there were 750,000 marijuana arrests (the vast for majority) alone.

Experts say sales could reach $35 billion by 2020 if all 50 states and the District of Columbia legalize the drug...The ArcView Group, a network of cannabis-industry investors that includes venture capitalists and entrepreneurs, estimated the industry 's combined 2014 retail and wholesale sales (including medical marijuana) at $2.7 billion, a 74 percent increase over 2013, making marijuana the “fastest-growing industry in America,” according to the group”(Wanlund). This is one reason why marijuana should once again be legalized, it is one of the fastests growing industries in the nation. Why wouldn’t somebody want to legalize the plant. Marijuana doesn’t just affect the economy it affects the person using it.

Within the last couple of years, the statewide governments of Colorado and Washington have made strides in changing decade old policies that have place many men and women into federal prisons over petty marijuana charges. In 2014, retail stores opened in both Washington and Colorado, allowing anyone over the age of 21 could purchase marijuana in a vast amount of forms varying from buds, seeds, drinks, and even edibles amongst many more options. This change in the previous policy has shown many benefits, not only to the medical aspect of the dilemma, but also improvements to the economy in creating different opportunities for different retailers and also growers of the plant.

After so many years, America still finds itself fighting a well-known and highly demonized "enemy". The enemy is not terrorism. It's an "enemy" that many Americans have dealt with face to face. This enemy is illegal drugs, marijuana in particular. Marijuana is the most widely used and criminalized drug in the United States. This highly sought after resource yields a black market price tag that creates a street economy all its' own. This is Marijuana by itself, it and all the other illegal drugs together combine to form the third largest economy in the world. This is because the demand for illegal drugs is so high. There can be benefits to a legalized drug trade that is certain. The following paper will defend that some uses of

Legalize, control, and discourage is a way to fix the problem. Evident by Colorado and Washington, “the legalization of marijuana can stop most of these possession arrests” (Levine). After the first opening of the first retail marijuana stores on January 1, 2014, Colorado had decreased crime rates, decreased traffic fatalities and increase in economic output (DPA). Since 2010, the marijuana possession arrest have went down 84% since its legalization. The tactic of legalizing, controlling, and discouraging has been proposed by the Economist, a weekly news magazine, in the late 80’s.