There continues to be debate over rather Marijuana should be legal for medical purposes as well as recreational purposes. Although Marijuana is legal to use in the state of California, you are still committing a Federal Crime for buying, selling, or possessing it. This conflict actually creates a situation where you can be charged with a Federal crime if you partake in any of the three situations mentioned above.
There are people out there who think that the legalization of Marijuana is good and some who just flat out think it is wrong. In the Pew Research Center Survey “Millennials (currently 18-34) are mostly in favor in legalizing Marijuana use, this is the highest percentage of any cohorts, but across all generations – except for the Silent Generation (ages 70-87) – support for legalization has risen sharply over the past decade”.
Legalizing Marijuana would save around $8.7 billion of dollars. In 2002, 17.3% of adults aged 18-25 smoked marijuana. In 2010, of that same group, 18.5% smoked marijuana. If we legalize Marijuana, then we can save money on the programs that have been put into place that are not really helping people who are using. This by itself will save billions of dollars. Legalizing Marijuana will bring in more jobs for the economy. It will create jobs such as selling, researching, growing, and shipping. In California alone, the industry would be expected to create 50,000 jobs at around $1.4 billion in wages. Better paying jobs means less poverty, this will hopefully stimulate the economy and make things better for more people.
127 our experts are availableright now
California Norm estimates “California will have a savings of over 200 Million in Law Enforcement cost from arrest, trials, and prosecutions.” This is the California Norms break down on the saving cost for legalizing Marijuana:
- State prison (1500 prisoners @ $49 K per year – 2009 est.) $73.5 million
- Jail costs (est. 40% of prison population) $29.4 million
- Felony prosecution, court & probation (est. 8500 felony prosecutions (2008), SF DA’s office est. $9250 per case) $78.6 million
- Felony arrests 17,000 arrests (2008) @ $732/arrest* $12.4 million
- Misdemeanor court costs: $100 court time/case, 61,000 cases) $6.1 million
- Misdemeanor arrests ($300 /arrest, * offset by fines) – $0
- California Marijuana Suppression Program (OCJP) $3.8 million
- TOTAL: $203.8 million
There are some health benefits that come along with using Marijuana. Donald Tashkin of the University of California at Los Angeles, a pulmonologist who has studied marijuana for 30 years. Donald stated to the Washington Post “that marijuana does contain cancer-causing chemicals as potentially harmful as those in tobacco, however, marijuana also contains the chemical THC, which he said may kill aging cells and keep them from becoming cancerous.” Not only does Marijuana help with cancer but it is also used for pain relief, vomiting, increasing appetite, and treating anxiety.
Marijuana should be legal, Alcohol is. If there is any drug that should be illegal in my opinion alcohol would be one of those drugs. Alcohol by itself destroys many lives. Think about how many people use alcohol then get behind the wheel to drive. It is only a matter of time before the users either hurt/kill themselves or do the same to someone else.
References:
- https://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-charges/federal-marijuana-laws.html
- www.people-press.org/2015/04/14/in-debate-over-legalizing-marijuana-disagreement-over-drugs-dangers/
- http://www.drugwarfacts.org
- http://oas.samhsa.gov
- http://www.canorml.org
- http://www.cancer.gov
