Legalizing Marijuana Argumentative Analysis

The legalization of medical marijuana in the twenty-three out of fifty states, as of today, seem to have been a successful movement judging by the fact of states continuing to pass the law. This is a prime example of the legal theory called nullification. Even though marijuana is illegal under federal law, a state does have the right to nullify a federal law that the state has considered unconstitutional. These states who have nullified and passed the law, both benefitted and faced challenges from the legalization for many different reasons. Patients are now able to receive their medicine legally and the sales have sky rocketed. Yet, there are only four states who have legalized recreational and medical use. According to William Wanlund, a …show more content…
Some say they feel the federal tax policy is a bump in the road for the marijuana industry. Wanlund includes a pro and con section in his article. His con side of the tax on medical marijuana was from David Evans, a special advisor in the Drug Free America Foundation. Evans feels that the marijuana industry’s only goal is to make big profits (881). Some opposing advocates even question whether the marijuana industries are paying their taxes. Aaron Smith, an executive director of the National Cannabis Industry Association, makes a statement on how the marijuana businesses are working hard to contribute to their members in their community. He continues that it is outrageous when they “do the right thing by paying their federal taxes, they end up penalized with double and triple tax rates” (qtd. in Representative Blumenauer and Senator Wyden Announce Commonsense Tax Reform for Legal Marijuana Businesses). The pro side of Wanlund’s article was from Paul Armentano, a deputy director from the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). Armentano’s position is that “never in modern history has greater public support existed for ending our nation’s early century-long experiment with marijuana prohibition and replacing it with a taxed and regulated adult market” (qtd. in Wanlund 881). Taylor West, a deputy director of the Denver-based National Cannabis Industry Association, believes the banking …show more content…
Continuing from William Wanlund’s article, Steven Ode, chief of operations, states that they are not even receiving profits yet. The marijuana industry is still too new (867). The legalization of marijuana provides many benefits. For one, I know where the money from revenue has gone before partly is to schools for bettering education. Personally, I believe the most important benefit is the patients who use this drug for their condition can now legally do so (in some states). I feel that if this medicine works for a large amount people, compared to other prescription drugs, then medical cannabis should be legalized worldwide. Another benefit, besides taxation, is the legalization will keep more people out of jail because marijuana will not count as a drug possession which saves the state money. Divya Raghavan continues in her research and states that California could “save hundreds of millions of dollars.” How is this so? To save the great amount of money, California would have to vote on “reclassifying low-level crimes like drug possession” (Raghavan). The taxation from the marijuana industry is clearly working out for the better; especially for the states and the

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