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Recreational Marijuana Case Study

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In Weed They Trust
The Legalization of Recreational Marijuana in California As the sun began to rise, on the morning of November 9, 2016, most Californians, awoke with a new profound sense of freedom to get high. For the simple reason that, the day before, most citizens throughout California voted yes on Proposition 64, which legalized recreational marijuana for adults over 21 years of age. However, I voted no to legalize recreational marijuana, this was due to my values and faith, but most importantly, for the simple reason that, it will negatively impact law enforcement agencies, as well as, communities. Secondly, studies have indicated that using marijuana on a regular basis can affect a person both mentally and physically. Nevertheless, …show more content…

Per the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment, since the legalization of marijuana, in 2014 a published report revealed that there has been increase in poison center calls, emergency room visits and the hospitalization of patients, in addition, the rates of ER visits have increased among children due to the exposer and accessibility of marijuana. Furthermore, Colorado hospitals have reported an increase in babies born with THC in their system. By the same token, research over the years has proven that marijuana use affects a person’s cognitive function, and memory, as well as, producing mental health issues, such as anxiety, depression and psychotic symptoms. With regards to this, the website for the National Institute on Drug Abuse states that “a person who carries a specific variant of the AKT1 gene, which codes for an enzyme that affects dopamine signaling in the striatum, are at an increased risk of developing psychosis (schizophrenia)”. As a matter of fact, I’m sad to say, that my best friend of forty years, began using marijuana at the age of 13, along with the combination of harder illicit drugs, and by the time she was thirty, she was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Moreover, marijuana has increased respiratory complications among its users, due to the same cacogenics found in tobacco. With all this in mind, the health care …show more content…

64. They believe that legalizing marijuana will monetary help California and enhance regulations throughout the state. Be that as it may, the state has delegated the Bureau of Marijuana Control to regulate and issue licenses to businesses; more importantly, counties and municipalities will have the power to limit the number of businesses and enforce strict guidelines as to the location in which they can sell recreational marijuana. For Example, a business shall not be within 600 feet, of a school, youth recreation center, including parks and little league baseball fields or near any type of daycare facility. Then again, local government ultimately has the control, to prohibit any businesses from selling marijuana in any part of their jurisdiction. Nevertheless, businesses allowed to capitalize on the sale of marijuana, will gravely be taxed. Per Ballotpedia’s website, there will be two different categories of taxes that will take effect. The first is the cultivation tax of $9.25 per ounce for flowers and $2.75 per ounce or leaves. The second is a 15 % tax on all retail sales. The combination of the two tax revenues will go directly to the California Marijuana Tax Fund, which in turn, will cover costs for enforcing Prop 64 and allocated, to drug research and treatment programs, as well as, to the Department of the California Highway Patrol,

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