Marijuana use, in the USA, is a hotly debated topic. The federal government has officially labeled it illegal, but 21 state governments have legalized it for medical use (Lee 2014). Two of these states, Colorado and Washington, have recently legalized marijuana for recreational use also (Lee 2014). Despite these minor strides towards legalization, there were 1,531,251 arrests for drug use in 2011 (Federal Bureau of Investigation 2012). Nearly half of those were marijuana related, and over 85% of those were for marijuana possession alone (Federal Bureau of Investigation 2012). The resources required to handle these arrests, the relatively negligible risk marijuana poses to a user, and the positive effects that de-stigmatizing marijuana use may have, are all reasons that marijuana use for recreation should be legalized.
The resources needed for marijuana criminalization are staggering. It is estimated, for example, that the current marijuana related prison population is around 40,000 (Caulkins et al. 2012). Since it cost nearly $30,000 per year to incarcerate an inmate, the total cost for marijuana incarceration is around $1.2 billion (Caulkins et al. 2012). This number does not even account for the cost of local police officers enforcing marijuana laws. Nor does it account for cost to process the approximately 750,000 marijuana related arrests. The ALCU estimated that states alone spent $3.6 billion to enforce marijuana laws (Edwards et al. 2013).
With all the resources spent towards marijuana criminalization, one would expect that marijuana to be a highly dangerous drug. At the very least marijuana should be more dangerous than alcohol which is legal. This does not seem to be the case. In terms of death, alcohol accounts for a...
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...in-the-u.s/2011/crime-in-the-u.s.-2011/persons-arrested/persons-arrested).
Frost, Lauren, Elizabeth Mostofsky, Joshua I. Rosenbloom, Kenneth J. Mukamal, and Murray A. Mittleman. 2013. “Marijuana use and long-term mortality among survivors of acute myocardial infarction.” American Heart Journal 165(2):170–175. Retrieved (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23351819).
Goode, Erich. 2005. Drugs in American Society. 6th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Publishing Company.
Lee, Jolie. 2014. “Which States Have Legalized Medical Marijuana?” USA Today. Retrieved April 23, 2014 (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/01/06/marijuana-legal-states-medical-recreational/4343199/).
Sidney, Stephen et al. 1997. “Marijuana Use and Mortality.” American Journal of Public Health 87(4):585–590. Retrieved (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1380837/pdf/amjph00503-0059.pdf).
Legalization of Marijuana has quickly become a controversial issue in America. In the United States, legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes is spreading to the state level. For example, in November 1996, the people of California and Arizona voted to legalize marijuana for medicinal reasons. As a result of Proposition 215 in California, patients now smoke marijuana provided their physician recommends its usage. A prescription is not required, and marijuana continues to be illegal to prescribe. The Clinton administration responded that it “would not recognize these decisions, and would prosecute physicians who recommend or provide marijuana to their patients.” Although California and Arizona are the only two states to have already passed laws regulating marijuana usage, twenty-six states and the District of Columbia have laws and resolutions regarding marijuana usage. These laws and resolutions range from establishing therapeutic research programs, to allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana, to asking the federal government to lift the ban. Despite the states’ desires to have marijuana legalized for medicinal purposes, the US National Institutes of Health examined all existing clinical evidence about smoked marijuana and concluded that, “There is no scientifically sound evidence that smoked marijuana is medically superior to currently available therapies.”
Fackelmann, Kathleen. “Marijuana: Useful medicine or dangerous drug?” Consumers’ Research Magazine May 1997: Vol.80 Issue 5 page 15. http://ehostvgw8.epnet.com/delivery.asp?…&startHitNum= 10&rlStartHit=10&delType=FT.
Just as alcohol prohibition during the 20’s and 30’s was not successful, marijuana prohibition has not been successful either, as evidenced by its current and increasing popularity in the United States. According the deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, Mr. Paul Armentano, marijuana was made illegal in the United States with the passing of the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 (2014). Later, Congress classified marijuana as a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substance Act of 1970 (Armentano, 2014). Since then, hundreds of thousands of Americans have been arrested for the possession, distribution and use of marijuana. According to Professor Katherine Beckett, “there were 829,625 marijuana arrests” (Beckett, et.al., N.D.) in 2006 and that number is increasing. The debate on whether or not to legalize marijuana for recreational use has raged for decades but is beginning to see the light of day with the recent state-level victories. With Washington and Colorado guiding the way, the country as a whole is considering the issue of whether or not marijuana should be legalized. If legalized, tax revenues could potentially generate millions, if not billions, of dollars annually for state and federal coffers. Marijuana should be legalized. Legalization will not increase usage nor will the current prohibition decrease usage; however tax revenue from the distribution and sale of marijuana could benefit many state programs and even possibly eliminate governmental deficits in the future.
Institute of Medicine, Division of Neuroscience and Behavioral Health. (1999). Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.
Marijuana, also known as cannabis, is a plant that is consider one of the many illegal sustains. Marijuana is a plant that clams to make people addicted like other drugs like meth, cocaine, and other harmful sustains. Marijuana has been refer as pot, grass, reefer, weed, herb, mary jane, or mj by National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). (34) When mentioning of this plant, it cause sirs among the public about the dangerous use of the plant. The news media portal marijuana as harmful plants that changes people for the worst. For the past years, states has proposal to legalize marijuana for medical purposes. While other states has taken the actions of making the plant completely legal. With the change of the laws changing, marijuana has been the subject of debate if marijuana should be legalize or not. The United State people are divided from the supportive uses of marijuana uses, while other are against the use of marijuana. For example, nowadays most young people are in the favor of marijuana use for either the benefits or the fact that they have easy access of the drug. By a group of young people that are supportive with the legalization of an illegal drug, there a sign of support that U.S citizens are in favor of legalizing of marijuana. While the older generation, who are oppose with the use of marijuana, shows disagreement of marijuana use due of believing that it will bring more harm than good in their society. Whatever the case might be, the supporters are in favor of legalizing the plant, while the oppose people are not interested of legalizing it. Since some states are election for the legalization of medical marijuana uses, it recommend to the public that they should vote on the legalization of medical marijuana uses. ...
Marijuana has been widely mis-viewed as a bad thing; society classifies marijuana as a drug, parents warn their children to stay away from marijuana because it is bad; but those are all misconceptions. But in reality, it is actually a very beneficial drug to many degrees. Marijuana actually has numerous favorable effects, such as helping people escape the cruel reality for a moment, helping patients who are almost at the end of their lives feel better, and helping the economy recover. In addition, marijuana’s side effects are all due to human abusing it, like the old saying goes, too much of a good thing can be a bad thing. Although marijuana users have a history of not doing so well in life, marijuana should still be made available to anyone above the legal drinking age and be regulated like tobacco and alcohol; due to its assuaging effects to the economy and human’s mental health.
Marijuana has an immediate effect during and for about 2 hours after smoking. With alcohol, users feel slight effects after just one drink, and recover depending on the amount the person drank, how much they weigh, and how much they had to eat before ingesting the alcohol. Immediate effects of use are slurred speech, decreased inhibitions, poor judgment, and lack of motor coordination. Marijuana causes red eyes, dry mouth, increased appetite, slowed reaction, paranoia, hallucinations, decreased social inhibitions, and memory loss. Drinking heavy amounts of alcohol can lead to a coma or even death. A person would have to smoke 40,000 times the amount to get high to overdose, so it is practically impossible. Alcohol is responsible for over 100,000 deaths per year. Marijuana kills less than 10,000 per year.
However, legalization will be profitable to global economies in two ways. It will allow for money spent on drug law enforcement to be spent more wisely and will increase revenue. There have been escalating costs spent on the war against drugs and countless dollars spent on rehabilitation. Every year in the United States, ten billion dollars are spent on enforcing drug laws alone. Drug violators accounted for about forty percent of all criminals in federal prisons (Rosenthal 1996). In 1989, a Republican county executive of Mercer County, N.J., estimated that it would cost approximately one
The legalization of marijuana has been a highly debated topic for many of years. Since the first president to the most recent, our nation’s leaders have consumed the plant known as weed. With such influential figures openly using this drug why is it so frowned upon? Marijuana is considered a gateway drug, a menace to society, and mentally harmful to its consumers. For some people weed brings a sense of anxiety, dizziness, or unsettling feeling. Like alcohol, tobacco or any other drug, those chemicals may not respond well with their body. For other people marijuana brings joy, a sense of relief, and takes the edge off of every day stress. For those who are associated with cannabis, purposes usually range from a relaxant, or cash crop, to more permissible uses such as medicine, and ingredient to make so many other materials. We now need to look at what would change if marijuana were legal. Benefits to the economy and agriculture, health issues, and crime rates are three areas worth looking at. Deliberating on the pros and cons of this plant we can get a better understanding for marijuana. From there it will be easier to make a clear consensus on what is best for the nation.
With an estimated twenty-five million active marijuana smokers in America that consume nearly thirty-one million pounds of marijuana each year, we are missing out on extreme revenue that this country cannot afford to go without for much longer (Krulick). Specialized government funded programs such as Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) cost around $7 billion and are in danger of being defunded to save money (Whitehouse). Marijuana tax revenues exceed $6 billion and would help less fortunate women in need of assistance when they are raising a child. On the state level, Alabama has a projected profit of $8.9 million in tax revenues alone from marijuana sales (Miron). States could increase pay or set up better retirement for police, firefighters, teachers, or any other underpaid public service.
Earlywine, Mitchell. Understanding Marijuana: A new look at the scientific evidence. New York Oxford University Press. 2002.
Marijuana is the third most common leisure drug in the United States after alcohol and tobacco. Millions of Americans smoke marijuana despite the strict laws against its use. Marijuana is less dangerous compared to tobacco or alcohol. Smoking marijuana can cause breathing problems and coughing just like cigarettes and some people get addicted after using for a while. Regulating and legalizing marijuana will bring Americas greatest cash crop under law, create economic opportunities and jobs in the formal economy as opposed to the underground market. Adopting a legally controlled market for marijuana will ensure that consumers buy the products from a safe and legal source. Marijuana has been approved in some states for medical uses to ease the effects of different health challenges. Colorado and Washington legalized m...
Stanley, Janet E., Stanley J. Watson, and John A. Benson. Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base. Washington D.C.: National Academy P, 1999.
With America’s war on drugs being highly focused on the increased use of marijuana, there is not much time for officers to focus on crimes of greater importance. Crimes related to illegal marijuana use are becoming more problematic due to drug deals that go bad, occasionally ending with murder. It has been estimated that one marijuana-related arrest is made every 42 seconds. With marijuana being illegal, keeping crime related activities under control cost the United States approximately twenty billion dollars per year (Sledge). According to Brian Bremner and Vincent Del Giudice, “A 2010 study by the libertarian Cato Institute, forecasted that states could save $17.4 billion annually from reduced drug enforcement costs and increased tax revenue, assuming marijuana production and sales were legal nationwide” (11). Several law enforcement hours are exhausted with pursing, questioning, and arresting citizens that are in possession of or consuming marijuana. There would be a decrease in the number of misdemeanor possession cases that are pending hearing. These cases would be dismissed, decreasing costs affiliated with each case. There are excessive numbers of people who remain incarcerated for nonviolent crimes related to illegal marijuana use. Legalizing marijuana would allow these people to be released, opening jail space for the true criminals. Legalizing marijuana would free up law enforcement officers from focusing on illegal marijuana use and allow focus to be put on more serious
“Marijuana Abuse.” National Institute on Drug Abuse: The Science of Drug abuse and Addiction. NIH, n.d. Web. 4 Feb 2014.