Essay on What If Marijuana Became Legal?

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.

Marijuana has been seen more as a recreational drug and not a hard-core drug which is why most people do not see it as a high- risk drug or to have longing effects on a person or the body itself. Since the 20th century, marijuana has been prescribed by doctors for use to deal with glaucoma and cancer. Being that it is legal for medical use but illegal to use on a federal government level will and has always set off two different sides of legalizing or not legalizing marijuana. Marijuana cannot and should not be in categories with drugs that can kill because there are no studies of marijuana killing a person.

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.

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.

Marijuana is a naturally grown plant that has beneficial properties and the ability to create textiles, paper products, and other goods. Marijuana is currently illegal in many states in the United States. The legalization of Marijuana will produce enormous tax revenue, reduce crime, give us a renewable resource, and give sick and suffering patients a new effective medicine. The legalization of Marijuana in the United States would both benefit the well-being of its citizens as well the economy.

To begin with, legalizing marijuana will have a positive influence on reducing crimes. Many people are convicted of crime for using marijuana. According to Brennan (2014), as referenced

Taxing marijuana would be an asset to this country’s economy by helping them with the debts, rebuilding schools, and lowering crime rates. According to Matt Ferner of the Huffington Post, since Colorado legalized marijuana the state has made $600 million in combined wholesale and retail sales (Ferner). This can be great because the United States could pay off much of its debts. That amount of money was earned through a 25 percent tax on retail purchasing, including a 15 percent excise tax, and a 10 percent sales tax (Ferner). Another asset of taxing marijuana is that the government can give some of the money to the public. Some of this money can go to schools, hospitals, and medical treatments. The rest can go to creating new

Marijuana is not as harmful as people seem to think. The United States has been searching for a cure for cancer for several years and we have finally found enough information and research to cure it. Marijuana has given researchers a new medical breakthrough. Not only does it help with the symptoms of cancer, but also kills the cell growth. There are many types of cancer, three were discussed today: breast cancer, brain cancer, and lung cancer; although every type of cancer is serious, these three seem to be more and more common. It’s a sad tragedy when we have a simple cure to all types of cancers and nothing is being done about it. The FDA approves medical prescriptions all the time when they can cause serious side effects and sometimes even death; marijuana has zero scientifically proven serious side effects. With this being said, medical marijuana is more than an acceptable way to cure cancer and to help with the

In out society drugs are considered to be addictive and lethal. People tend to abuse drugs regardless of their side effects. In many cases government agencies regulate their use. Also there are drugs that are illegal to use, produce and sale. One of those illegal drugs is marijuana. For thousands of years, marijuana has been used to treat a wide variety of sickness. It became illegal in 1937 under The Marijuana Stamp Tax Act. This act prohibits the use, sale and growing of marijuana. It was made illegal because no one understood why smoking marijuana made people feel the way they did and because appropriate researches had not been conducted about it. Though marijuana remains illegal

Prescription drugs killed 47,055 people last year. Marijuana killed none. “You would have to smoke 15,000 joints in 20 minutes for it to become toxic” (Joel Warner). It is not a drug you can easily overdose on. That’s why it is a good choice for people who are struggling mentally or physically. It has been proven to help people suffering from PTSD, anxiety, and depression. It slows the effects of alzheimer's and helps with the pain that chemotherapy causes. It would be like giving these people prescription drugs like the ones used to help with depression and anxiety, except it isn’t harmful to the body at all.

      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

Legalizing marijuana would also benefit the economy by taxation. Since Colorado has legalized marijuana, the state has gotten $10 million in taxes from retail sales in the first four months. Governor of Colorado, John Hickenlooper who opposed amendment 64 recently compared Colorado’s economy since legalization to that of other states noting “while the rest of the country’s economy is slowly picking back up, were thriving here in colorado.” (6 Months of Marijuana Sales: Positive Trends Emerge in Colorado. Laura Pegram, n.d. Web. 26 June 2014.) This is a statement directly from Colorado’s governor. Tax money can help get our country out of the deep debt that we are in. Many states can also legalize

The first benefit to the legalization of marijuana would be the decreased spending on law enforcement. Many of America’s jails are filled to the brim with people who got long and unfair sentences for possession of the drug. Part of the

I think we can all agree on one thing, our economy is not in the best shape it could possibly be in. Legalizing marijuana will definitely help our economy. If you don’t believe me lets ask Colorado, one of fifty states to actually legalize marijuana. According to (drugpolicy.org) The Dept Of Revenue showed that Marijuana sales totaled up to 40.9 million between Jan and Oct 2014. This doesn’t even include revenue from medical marijuana. Colorado also has the fastest growing economy…. I Wonder how that happened. Two dispensaries in Colorado produced 280 jobs, and $30 million in total economic output, that’s 10 times the tax revenue of what a normal restaurant or retail store can

Currently, marijuana is legal in 25 states and the District of Columbia. Although many people do not see the positive outcomes that medical marijuana can bring, it should not be a crime because it can help others. Most of the time, when the word marijuana is used people think of an illegal drug, but there is more to this than just being illegal. Medical marijuana can help others who need something for pain, help relaxing and calming down. This drug is oftenly frowned down upon when it should be studied more to see if it will work and help other people. Medical marijuana should be decriminalized because it helps patients with cancer, helps with epilepsy, insomnia, and anxiety, because it helps with these factors there will be a federal law that regulates the use of medical marijuana.