Benefits Of Legalizing Marijuana

Marijuana should be exempt from the system of criminal justice and regulated similarly to the way alcohol and tobacco are. The legalization and regulation of this plant will create jobs and economic opportunities in the U.S. which will stimulate its economy. Also, current research is showing that the substance has great medicinal value and can be used to treat various illnesses. Why should marijuana be legalized is a question millions of Americans ask or are asked every day. However, the better question is, why should it be illegal? There is no good reason for marijuana to be illegal as it is actually less dangerous than some drugs which are legal, including alcohol and tobacco, costs law enforcement agencies tons of money and has many important …show more content…
All levels of government in the U.S. take part in their so called ‘War on Drugs’. This results in billions of dollars being spent every year to chase down and imprison those who use marijuana. The residents of this country must pay for all of this. Tax payers end up paying for housing, health care, food, fees from attorneys and lawyers, the court costs, and more. Billions of dollars could and would be saved every year if we stopped wasting money by convicting people to prison for possessing marijuana. The wonderful part of the legalization of marijuana for the government is the fact that it is taxable. Within the first four months of legalization in Colorado, eleven million dollars in taxes were collected. The local government would have majorly increased funding to put towards more important causes resulting in money and time being well spent on bigger issues and important problems. Many believe in the decriminalization of marijuana however, legalization would allow it to be legally distributed and taxed which holds major economic benefits. According to Dollarsandsence.org, “the trade journal Medical Marijuana Business Daily currently estimates that a fully legalized cannabis market could be as large as forty six billion per year.” In Washington State alone, the predicted tax revenue for 2015 is five hundred million and in a recent report regarding Colorado, over ten thousand jobs were created from the legalization of recreational and medical marijuana. Colorado now has the lowest unemployment rate in the nation. It’s down to six percent which is the lowest it has been since the start of the recession. Those sayings about “pot heads” being lazy are now done away with as there’s an additional ten thousand people working instead of sitting home collecting

Show More