The Pros And Cons Of Marijuana

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Since the mid 1930’s Marijuana has been deemed illegal on a federal level. This was stemmed from pure propaganda and incorrect facts which in turn brainwashed individuals deterring them away from the positive aspects of the drug. Sense the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 our countries perception of Marijuana has completely spun out of control preventing our country to reap its positive benefits. These benefits are contrasted with the utter failure of prohibition in the respective articles detailed in this synthesis.

Many believe the prohibition against marijuana has been a complete failure in numerous ways, but how exactly has it effected our country? In the article “Top Ten Reasons to End Marijuana Prohibition” by the website www.mppp.org;
As per the FBI since 1995 more twelve million citizens of the United States have been arrested for marijuana related charges, 80% of which were simply for possession of the drug. While some states punishments for possession are significantly less harmful some still treat it as a serious crime. For example in the article “A Tale of Two Drug Wars” by Barcott, Bruce of the Rolling Stone Magazine, explains that in Louisiana if you are caught with a gram of marijuana and have prior convictions you face a minimum mandatory sentence of thirteen and a third years in prison. Considering that the cost to house an inmate for a year costs a little over $28,000 a thirteen year sentence would cost taxpayers $364000. Instead of using our tax dollars for more important things to improve our country we are paying a significant amount of money to house inmates for a simple possession charge. Seeing these eye popping statistics regarding the amount spent to continue the prohibition and ruining countless lives for petty possession really made me think is continuing the Prohibition
We now know the disadvantages but what are the benefits of ending the prohibition? Going back to the source Top Ten Reasons to Legalize Marijuana Now by Carmen Yarruso she states not only the negatives of prohibition but also describes the positives of ending it. One of the most notable benefits of ending the prohibition against marijuana would be reinstating our ability to grow and utilize hemp for manufacturing purposes. As described Hemp can be used for an abundance of textiles such as paper, clothing, fuel, and plastics. However under current federal law hemp is illegal to grow in the united states preventing us from utilizing its recourses. She also details we can prevent supplying Mexican drug cartels with an exponential amount of funding from their marijuana smuggling operations by legalization of the plant. This not only would cut the cartels funding significantly it would also rack in millions of dollars in taxes for the federal government to take a large chunk out of our federal debt. To support this statement in another article “The Tale of Two Drug Wars” explains that in the state of Washington where marijuana is legal they are expecting to make 400 million dollars from recreational marijuana taxes which is not including taxes for medical marijuana.

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