To Legalize or to Not Legalize: The Debate Behind Marijuana in Canada The legalization of marijuana is an issue that consistently discussed and debated, not only in North America, but throughout the entire world. Despite being illegal in every country, marijuana remains the most widely used illicit drug in the world. The popularity of this drug is the cause for the continuous legalization debate, resulting in various legislations pertaining to the consumption of the substance. Every country has its own stance on the issue, however, the Netherlands has a unique policy on marijuana use: it is decriminalized, classified as a "soft drug" and possession is limited to 5 grams in public or 30 grams in a private area. There are also Dutch …show more content…
In addition, legalization would create a plethora of new job opportunities in various sectors such as: agriculture, transportation, distribution and retail. These jobs would be created as the government would begin to produce and regulate the sale of marijuana. Legalization could also potentially reduce legal costs associated the persecution of those involved in the purchasing and sale of marijuana. Law enforcement services would no longer be required to heavily persecute marijuana usage, thus resulting in the opportunity for those resources to be used elsewhere. Marijuana would create new avenues for government income and saving, therefore positively contributing to the economic health of the nation. Illegal drug sales/trafficking is one of the greatest sources of income for organized crime, and will continue to be so as long as they remain in control of the drug market. By legalizing and regulating the sale of marijuana, this income stream for organized crime would be heavily impacted. Criminals rely on the massive profits produced by the low supply/high demand trend that is currently seen in the drug black market. Once legalized, there will be plenty of legal producers and suppliers, which would result in the price per unit of marijuana to dip significantly. Since legal suppliers will most likely have the resources to produce better quality product with better prices, the black market producers may not be able to compete.
The Canadian Liberal Government hopes to introduce legislation to legalize marijuana in 2017, but I don’t know if that is the right choice to make. Almost two out of every 10 Canadians reported having consumed marijuana in the past year, but more than 30 per cent of poll respondents said they would do so in the next year if it were legal. There are no benefits of doing this substance, so why do it! There are many side effects that marijuana can have on a person such as dizziness, lack of motivation, lung problems, etc. Hopefully, weed does not become legalized in Canada because there are many negative aspects of doing so.
Marijuana legalization will help reduce illegal activity surrounding the plant too, again, reducing the need to pay for those people to go to jail. This includes, but is not limited to, people who, after its legalization, still want to grow and sell their own marijuana.
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.
Marijuana is currently a hot topic of debate throughout Canada, and has been for the past few years. Marijuana was first banned in 1923 under the Opium and Drug Act, but since 1997 the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act have controlled it. In 2000, over 30,000 Canadians were charged with possession of marijuana. Currently, the marijuana laws are not enforced equally across the country, which has prompted the interest in changing the laws or possibly decriminalizing marijuana. Also, those convicted of marijuana related crimes usually don't go to jail, but they do receive a criminal record.
Should marijuana be sold at corner stores to anyone? Recently, some of Canada¡'s politicians have claimed to introduce the legislation of legalizing marijuana. According to the policy, the possession of marijuana will not be considered as a criminal sanction. Indeed, marijuana will become a legal substance. People who are over 16 can buy it over the counter just as alcohol or tobacco. Although legalizing marijuana may be beneficial to those people with medical purposes, it will create more problems and dangers to the society. The problems that associated with legalizing marijuana are causing negative impacts on public health and increasing marijuana consumption among youths. Also, the misuse of marijuana may cause people to drive under
Ever since marijuana’s introduction to the United States of America in 1611, controversy of the use and legalization of the claimed-to-be Schedule I drug spread around the nation. While few selective states currently allow marijuana’s production and distribution, the remaining states still skepticize the harmlessness and usefulness of this particular drug; therefore, it remains illegal in the majority of the nation. The government officials and citizens of the opposing states believe the drug creates a threat to citizens due to its “overly-harmful” effects mentally and physically and offers no alternate purposes but creating troublesome addicts hazardous to society; however, they are rather misinformed about marijuana’s abilities. While
If pot was made a legal drug it would also greatly affect the crime rates in the U.S. Legal prohibition does not stop consumers from purchasing or using illegal drugs. By instituting a system of regulations on the drug, as with alcohol or prescription drugs, illegal drug prices would fall, leading to lower prices of the drug, therefore related crimes such as theft would be reduced. Illegal drugs are higher in price because of the inherent risk involved in production and distribution of them, which gives them a “black market status”. When people develop drug addictions (although pot has not been shown to be addictive) or habits they will do anything to get money to support their lifestyles. Many times people will resort to robbery or theft to account for money to gain access to the drug. By legalizing pot, it in turn reduces the risks associated with an illegal drug and therefore can lower the prices, which helps cut down on the secondary crimes. Drug dealers are also affected by legalizing pot. Most marijuana dealers would go out of business because of a loss in profits. By making the drug illegal, the
As shops for recreational and medical Marijuana open, more purchases of the product will be made which impacts the tax revenue. An example would be Colorado (a state that legalizes Marijuana) where “In 2015, Colorado collected more than $135 million in taxes and fee on medical and recreational marijuana” (Krishna, 2017). Arcview Market Research also predicts that “Sales in North America grew 30%, to $6.7 billion, in 2016, and is projected to increase to $20.1 billion by 2021”. The legalization of Marijuana will also provide many job opportunities since a variety of different jobs will be needed that relate to Marijuana. Investopedia.Com states “A RCG Economics and Marijuana Policy Group study on Nevada says that legalizing recreational marijuana in the state could support over 41,000 jobs till 2024 and generate over $1.7 billion in labor income. The ICF study estimates at least 81,000 additional direct, indirect, and induced jobs in California as a result of legalized marijuana sales. It also projects an increase in total labor income by at least $3.5 billion”. Another way legalizing Marijuana would impact the economy positively is that the government can save money spent on enforcing the law of Marijuana being illegal. Huffington post states “Inmates incarcerated on marijuana-related charges cost U.S. prisons $1 billion annually, according to a 2007 study, AlterNet reports.” and “The government would save an estimated $13.7 billion on prohibition enforcement costs and tax revenue by legalizing marijuana”.This low risk substance saves the economy a lot of money and support it
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
organized crime even more so cannot be stop and feels no risk because of the profit the can be made from selling marijuana illegally, if legal the common market value would go down lessening or even losing money for those that work in organized crime. It is estimated that cartels produce about one fifth of their profits from the sale of marijuana, in this world money is power and every dollar lost hurts organized crime and decreases their power over areas and people. If legal people will buy where it is safe and cheap rather than where it is expensive and full of dangers, the eradication of organized crime is very important to the safety of those that it effect and legal medicinal marijuana would strike a strong blow to the people who exploited the
has no problem distributing harmful substances such as tobacco and alcohol, which have little to none positive health benefits is astonishing. There is no record in the history of the entire world, where a person has overdosed and died from marijuana alone. One could even say marijuana heals more people than it actually kills. This is why marijuana should have never been placed within a category of heroin which has ruin a countless number of lives. Keeping marijuana illegal only will make things worse not any better. Children in low income families and rundown neighborhoods look up to people dealing drugs more than hard working citizens. They would rather follow the actions of the dealers than work a nine to five because of the glitz and glamor that drug dealers possess. By legalizing and taking control over the marijuana industry the black market for marijuana will begin to shrink. Violence and arrests for marijuana would also begin to decline since there’d no longer be a strong incentive to rob or kill over something that could be purchased at the store. Most of the stigma of violence related to marijuana comes from the lifestyle that comes with illegal drug dealing. Having an illegal market for marijuana only makes the gangs and black market dealers better off. This is probably the reason gangsters were originally for prohibition and even help enforce it against their competition. In a legal system, tax revenue and other money produced from sales
The plant is believed to haveoriginated from the mountainous region of India. It is also believed that 80% of cannabis entering the UK comes from Morocco, and the herbal form comes from Jamaica. Cannabis contains more than 400 chemicals. The main psycholoactive ingerdient id delta-9-tetahydrocannabinol, or ‘THC’.
The use of marijuana for medical purposes and personal use can be recorded as far as 12,000 years ago. Marijuana is classified as a schedule 1 drug. Schedule 1 drugs are drugs are drugs that have the potential for abuse (Drug Scheduling,2016). The government contains the high-level drugs, this is the reason we have pharmacies. Pharmacies are regulated so that people can not get medicine that can be easily abused. Pharmacies require a medical prescription from a certified doctor for any drug that could be used improperly. Marijuana should be in the same category as prescription drugs because, like any medicine/drug it can be easily abused. Decriminalizing marijuana is not helping millions of people that could benefit from its medical benefits from legalizing it. Even though legalized marijuana may result in an increase in black-market drug trade, marijuana should be legalized because its sale could benefit the economy and can also be used for medical purposes.
When people invest in this business, there are high chances of earning great profits as this business is expected to grow in the future. Demand for marijuana would never decline as it has many medical benefits. Legalizing the production and sale of Marijuana can be beneficial for the U.S economy. In the nations where the production and sale of marijuana is illegal, people would import marijuana from the United States. This would help expand the business and at the same time, there would be increase in imports. This would help increase the GDP and improve the living standards of
Should marijuana be legalized for recreational or medical use? This is a debate that has been happening for quite some time and this is not just a debate that is happening among people. There are many that have taken sides including medical personal and government officials. Currently in the United States there are two states in which recreational use of marijuana is legal; Colorado and Washington. There are three states currently that have pending legislation to legalize recreational use; California, Maine, and Oregon. On the other hand there are 21 states in which medical use of marijuana is legal; Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, DC, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New