Effects Of Marijuana Legalization

The legalization of marijuana will also benefit the economy through its effects on other industries. For example, the results of a study indicated that legalization would lead to approximately a 4% increase in marijuana consumption, while beer, wine and spirits consumption would fall by 1%, 2% and almost 4%, respectively (Clements). The reason is the “Substitution Effect”. Marijuana and Alcohol have similar effects on the human body. Therefore, some people would substitute alcohol with Marijuana. This shows that although the use of marijuana would go up through the legalization of the drug, the use of other drugs such as alcohol would go down. There are approximately 88,000 deaths attributable to excessive alcohol use each year in the United

Government reports indicated that marijuana laws costs Americans $41.8 billion annually. Part of this comes from the arrests alone. The Uniform Crime Reporting Program of the Federal Bureau of Investigation reports that marijuana arrests make up 5.54% of all arrests. The Bureau of Justice Statistics states that total criminal justice expenditures in the United States in 2004 were $193 billion. So marijuana arrests cost taxpayers $10.7 billion annually. The other big part is from the loss of taxes. The Office of Management and Budget reports that the diversion of $113 billion from the taxable economy into the illicit economy deprives taxpayers of $31.1 billion annually. These statistics are all on a national level, but it is obvious that legalizing marijuana in Pennsylvania would benefit the state and the nation as a whole. Since the national government wouldn’t have to spend its budget on enforcing these laws and could spend in more constructive areas such as education. Some state specific statistics come from California. Their marijuana crop is valued at 13.8 billion annually. Nearly double the value of their grape and vegetable crops combined. California could easily collect between $1.5 billion and $4 billion annually in additional tax revenue if they regulated it like alcohol and tobacco. There is also the concern of importing marijuana. The Office of National Drug Control Policy reports that

That is more than the corn, wheat, cotton, hay, and rice industry combined. Estimates are that marijuana is the nation’s largest cash crop. Currently the supply chain for marijuana is very inefficient and dangerous. Marijuana has to go from the field to the wholesaler, to the retailers, to the parking lots where it is sold to individuals. That assumes that the marijuana didn’t have to cross a border or two. Throughout this chain there are no quality inspections, and no knowledge of where the product is coming from. It is worse when it has to cross borders; smugglers put their product in some of the most unsanitary conditions to sneak by border patrol. This would all stop if businesses could ship and sell marijuana through legitimate