Karman Dylan 12/7/09 Mr. Hooper Eng 102 WA4 Final Legalization of Marijuana; Could This Be the Solution to Our Economic Crisis? With America in a torrential downturn of economic prowess, the government is searching for ways that will boost the revenue of the country in a manner that will be both effective and in the best interest of the people. Straying from historical solutions to boost the economy such as stimulating people's interest in purchasing goods by putting money back into their pockets and creating industry jobs, the United States government is turning to untraditional ways to collect the necessary funds it needs to get America back on its feet. One of the methods being investigated is the legalization of marijuana. Marijuana should be legalized nationwide in order to cut down on the rising prison population, to increase the availability across the country for those who seek its remedial effects for their medical conditions, and to allow the government to reap the potential profits gained by the taxation of these goods. The legalization of cannabis will also provide people with numerous jobs that will cut down on the growing unemployment in the country. Simply as a manner of human nature, experimentation with nature, not excluding plants has been popular throughout the years. Evidence shows that even early Egyptians were habitual smokers of marijuana (Marijuana). Currently, due to its ability to put the user under the influence of its psychedelic properties, marijuana has been deemed an illegal substance by the U.S. government. Those who are found in possession or under the influence of the substance are then incarcerated, and the number of those being placed in prison is alarming; in 2005, more than 50% of people incarcerated and placed in prison
were for drug offenses (Clear). Clearly the strict rules and regulations placed on the possession and use of these drugs is not deterring the users. Instead, the prisons are just being filled rapidly as these users are caught, and taxpayers are then having their money funneled into the funding of these petty drug offenders' living expenses. Some argue that all drugs are illegal because they put you under the influence and strip a citizen of their ability to act as an upstanding member of society; however, by placing users of marijuana (a mild drug compared to the more serious substances drug offenders are incarcerated for such as cocaine and heroin) in prison along with violent killers and rapists is not preventing them from possessing pot in the future, but is instead exposing them to a more dangerous group of offenders. Their fellow inmates have the ability of teaching them skills necessary to commit a more serious crime including burglarizing a house or committing murder (Clear). Prisons are expensive to run and maintain; a prison with 500 beds and all of the necessary facets of living costs upwards of 40 million dollars to construct. With an annual cost of 19,000 dollars per inmate with 500 inmates in the prison, that is an annual cost of around 9.5 million dollars that taxpayers are being expected to fund (Clear). If the use of pot, a less serious drug, the drug offenders that is currently being spent on funding the prisons could instead be put towards education or healthcare. With more than half of the offenders in prison being there due to their drug offenses, including marijuana possession and sale, there would not be as many prisoners or prisons that are in need of funding. Instead of placing drug offenders in prison, they could be placed in rehabilitation where they can learn to live without drugs effectively. Prison
overcrowding would be reduced and the money spent on keeping the offenders in prison could be spent on necessary issues that surround our country (Clear). California spearheaded the movement towards legalizing marijuana with proposition 215, created in 1996. Proposition 215 fought to make marijuana possession legal for those who sought its effects for medical purposes. The proposition was passed, and over the past decade and a half, California has raised one billion dollars annually in gross sales. With California's 9.5 percent sales tax, the revenue gained by the California government is 9.5 million dollars (Moore). Including the other thirteen states that have legalized the use of medical marijuana, the revenue gained has reached in upwards of 1 billion dollars (Conery). The proposition defines medical marijuana as any marijuana that you can legally buy from a licensed vendor. In order to buy it, though, you need to acquire a special license, commonly called the marijuana license card. An illness is necessary for an acquisition of a marijuana license. Some of these conditions that would implicate the use of marijuana for medicinal purpose include AIDS (for its ability to increase one's appetite), cancer patients (for its ability to soothe the nausea associated with chemotherapy) and glaucoma, a group of disorders that lead to damage of the optic nerve (Moore). California is the first state pushing for the complete legalization of marijuana: This morning, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) introduced groundbreaking legislation that would remove state-level penalties for responsible marijuana use in California. The bill, A.B. 390, would not only allow personal use and cultivation of marijuana but would
also set up a legal system tax to and regulate it similarly to alcohol. (Lewis). A.B. 390 is truly revolutionary in nature, and represents hope for those who are supporters of the use of marijuana due to its harmless nature. Ammaino's bill is respectable in the sense that it has regulations in addition to the freedom that it is rewarding the citizens of America; taxation and federal regulation similar to that of alcohol. This would include setting a legal age for the use of marijuana, as well as preventing those under the influence of it from operating vehicles in order to protect the safety of all citizens. The users of the drug are not the only beneficiaries of the bill's projected legalization; along with its use without being incarcerated for a felony, such is the case in Arizona, many jobs would be created for citizens around the country. One such job would be the harvesters of the plant. With the legalization of marijuana, crops would be able to be grown in The United States as opposed to their current cultivation location: Mexico or Southern American countries. The licensed vendors that would work in the government-run shops that market the pot would also be greatly in demand, and employees would be sought out around the nation for this position as well. Each marijuana dispensary would need to have numerous employees to help sell and distribute this highly sought after product, and as the unemployment rate rises to above 10 percent, this year, any jobs would be beneficial to stimulating the country's economy. With all of the evidence for the legalization of weed, there are just as many arguments against it:
The main ingredient in marijuana is THC, which travels through the brain and body. Within a short time following inhalation, the heart begins to beat rapidly, sometimes 50 beats per minute more than it had prior to inhalation. One study indicates a person's risk of heart attack within the first hour following smoking is four times greater than normal. (Gott) Due to the fact that the inhalation of pot is the most popular method of inducing the psychedelic effects of the drug, much research has been done concerning the harmful effects not only of the chemicals the natural substance contains, but of the smoke as well. Marijuana smoke contains 70 percent more carcinogenic hydrocarbons than does ordinary tobacco smoke "and [it is well known] that tobacco smoke is tied to numerous health issues" (Gott). The smoke that marijuana produces lowers your body's immune system, thus greatly reduces its natural ability to fight off cancer and other infectious diseases and long term use impairs memory, increases the risk of emphysema and other lung conditions, affects one's ability to make rational decisions, and may lead to mental dependence (Gott). Studies also confirm that pot smokers put themselves at a greater risk of getting chronic lung disease as a result of these carcinogenic hydrocarbons (Weeks). All of the negative aspects of cannabis definitely put a damper on the push for legalization. All of the health effects of smoking pot will cause people to have major health issues. However, smoking pot can be related to the smoking of cigarettes, and even though the negative effects on the body stemming from the use of cigarettes have been well acknowledged and researched, they remain legal. Just as the chemicals found in cigarettes are harmful, so are the chemicals in marijuana, but leaving the option up to the consumer of the product not only decreases the number of petty drug offenders placed
in prisons, but also allows tax revenue to be gained through the marketing and sales of weed. The taxation of cigarettes has provided an astronomical amount of revenue for the United States, as a national cigarette tax increase of 39 cents in 2002 accumulated over 251 million dollars in revenue (Zeilbauer). The question of whether or not the government sale and taxation of marijuana will be effective is rhetorical; on British Colombia, Canada, where pot is a legal crop, the tax revenue is 250 million dollars annually in 1997 (Blanchfield). The projected income from the legalization and taxation certainly would decrease the economic deficit and therefore put the country in a better financial position just through the passing of A.B. 390. Even though those who oppose the legalization of pot due to its negative effects on the body stand in the way of legislation concerning the national legalization of the drug, the personal detriments do not compromise the potential good that it could have on our country. Through the legalization of marijuana, the overcrowded prison population would be reduced by extracting the petty drug offenders, and all medical patients seeking the remedial effects of marijuana would have access to it outside the thirteen states that currently deem it legal. These two outcomes alone seem to push for its legalization sufficiently, but especially now with the country's economic standpoint; certain other factors introduce further benefits of legalizing the drug. Our declining economy would be rehabilitated with the taxation of pot sold through government-owned shops and through the jobs created by the manpower necessary to cultivate and sell the weed not as an elicit substance, but as a product. Thus begs the question, why are we preventing the legalization of something that could be so beneficial to our country?