The Legalization Of Marijuana Affected Colorado

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

Colorado is one of the first two states in the U.S. to legalize marijuana. The legalization indicated a momentous shift in drug policy in the state, and nationally as well, since the federal government has yet to seek to override Colorado’s violation of federal drug policy. Beforehand, there were many predictions made on the economic and social impacts of the legalization if it occurred, and to date, many have not come true. Of course, with such a small data set to work with, and only a couple years of information so far, it is unwise to make broad generalizations about the effects of the drug being legal, as enjoyable as making those assertions may be for some people. Nonetheless, some data is in, and these paint a preliminary picture of post-legalization Colorado.

Legalizing marijuana has always been an interesting topic for many people to dispute about. Some people say it is good, while others say it is bad. No matter what topic you speak about, it has its pros and cons. For example, marijuana can be used in great ways if legalized. Through money given from dispensaries to the crime rate lowered because of the ability to acquire marijuana in legal ways. Some bad examples are that it can be a gateway drug and can cause one to want a “better high” to people thinking it affects people's lives. Legalizing marijuana (medical and recreational) will help the United States with money, crime, and other numerous ways.

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

First, one of the biggest reasons for many to legalize marijuana is the boost in revenue it can cause. Legalization will allow the government to form new taxes and apply them to the sale and distribution of marijuana. For example, in Colorado, analysts say that taxing could lead to raising millions of dollars each year. States who have legalized marijuana show higher numbers of usage than states who have not. That is why there is a higher demand for weed creating better economic opportunities for these communities in the future. Secondly, legalization could lead to improvements in the criminal justice system and law enforcement. If marijuana was made legal law enforcement agencies could spend less time going after weed related crimes and focus on more serious and violent criminals. This is a better for the criminal justice system because when it comes to decriminalization there will still be discretion on how each officer deals with possession. Therefore, legalization will

In a nutshell, legalizing recreational marijuana would be beneficial for the community as a whole for it can be easily utilized as medicine, it will generate immense amounts of revenue for the government, and it is simply the more intellectual route for the well being of the community. Over the past few years, weed has been more and

Another benefit accrued through legalizing marijuana would be a significant reduction in crime rates. Since Marijuana is currently illegal, it is sold on the streets country wide. Thousands purchase the drug from dealers, putting their lives and reputations at risk, simply because it is the only method to attain it. Both drug dealers and gangs fight to sell the drug in the street, causing their deaths and the deaths of innocent people. Legalizing the drug help decrease the street wars and gang violence by taking the “right” to sell out of the hands of dealers, and into the hands of the government. Since the drug will be legalized, it will be available in the same locations as cigarettes and alcohol, decreasing crime

Legalization of marijuana on a federal level may benefit society more than cause it harm. When people hear the word marijuana, cannabis, hemp, etc. they tend to compare it to dangerous hardcore drugs. In all reality, unlike these other hardcore drugs, marijuana has many advantages that could possibly outweigh its negatives. For example, federally legalizing marijuana could stimulate growth within an economy by allowing the government the opportunity to reduce expenses on prohibition, create jobs and collect sales tax revenue, create a healthier more organic agriculture through hemp industrialization, and offer a more natural remedy to alleviate medical symptoms.

Some of the pros to medical marijuana that they dispute: Marijuana is productive at diminishing nausea and vomiting, as well induced by chemotherapy used in treatment for cancer. Marijuana can calm spasticity of the muscles that is sometimes combined with multiple sclerosis and paralysis. Marijuana can help appetite loss associated with HIV/AIDS and particular forms of cancers. Some of the debate from the resistance include: Continual marijuana use can severely change your short-term memory. Continual use can harm your mental ability. Smoking anything, whether it's tobacco or marijuana, can severely harm your lung tissue. There is not enough proof that supports marijuana as a productive pain relieving factor. Marijuana transmits a danger of abuse and addiction. Smoked marijuana consists of cancer-causing combinations. Smoked marijuana has been involved in a high rate of car crashes and accidents in the

The cons and pros of the legalization is taken into consideration of this major decision. The major negative side effects is that people that use marijuana have lower IQs. The IQ drop is mainly found in developing brains of teenagers, so the next problem is the buying age and minor usage. Additionally studies show people that use marijuana are more likely to pick up a disorders and diseases if not otherwise (O'neil, 2016). The increase of people who are dependent of social security because of marijuana use can negatively affect the economy. One of the pros is that tax revenue will increase with marijuana huge popularity. Taxes of this huge demand can be placed on many groups such as farmers, distributors, and buyers. The taxes as stated can be placed on the federal, state, and county levels in which each can use the revenue in their own ways to further the communities projects. An example of a state's increase of power is our neighbor state of Colorado; with the sales of marijuana they were able to build, reconstruct, and create new schools across the state (O'conell, 2016.). This a huge benefits for our children, to get better education. Another advantage is cleaning the crime in the streets, and making this "drug dealer" get real jobs. A real world example is the Netherlands, in which the Dutch have coffee shops to sell the substance (Government of Netherlands, 2016). Our government can improve on that system, by selling certain amount of marijuana, during a given time. Another improvement is to create a certain database to control the amount sold. Another rule that the Dutch have implemented is the sale to residents of the country. The outcome of this happening has a lot of better outcomes for benefits, then failures, and that why it should be

The next article was another one from the drug policy website. It briefly went over the crime rate statistics after the legalization of marijuana. It advises the city of Denver saw a decrease in violent crime rates in the first 11 months of 2014, following a similar trend in 2013. Statewide traffic fatalities continue to decline, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation. Upwards of $8 million has been allocated to fund youth education and drug prevention efforts. And the state is enjoying economic growth and the lowest unemployment rate in years.

The positives do not only outweigh the negatives; the negatives are almost nonexistent. Decriminalizing marijuana would solve most of the problems that people are facing when it comes to marijuana, so it is a functional option. Legalizing all together not only solves those problems as well, but gives states a little “pocket change” if you will from taxes. Both are good options and I feel that every state should strongly consider one of them like New York has. We are living in an ever changing society are our laws need to adapt and change with

One benefit on legalizing marijuana would be helping America economy. Legalizing marijuana will be a tax revenue just like alcohol. America could gain billions in tax revenue. It could be used to pay off the country’s debt, help the poor, and improve healthcare. Also it can help save money because all the money the government is using to stop cannabis, it can be used for other important public issues. In addition legalizing

One of the positive effects of the legalization is that the legalization has led to a decrease in crime. The legalization has also benefit the schools in Colorado. The Colorado voters recently approved a fifteen percent tax on marijuana sales, that is to be used only for school construction. These are both wonderful positives that have come out of the legalization in Colorado. It is fantastic that the schools are benefiting from marijuana. Not only has the crime gone down, but the opioid use has also dropped dramatically, which is an important thing to notice when talking about the positives of legalizing marijuana. Both of these positives are the two that I found to be the most important when talking about this subject. One of the negative