Legalize It

Legalize It

J. Jason Cabrera

Comm 215 вЂ" Essentials of College Writing

William Glenn Hackett

University of Phoenix

July 12, 2007

Legalize It

I am a manic depressive that has also been diagnosed with disassociate personality disorder, bi-polar disorder 2, psychosis, and paranoid schizophrenia and marijuana is the means by which I self medicate. I suffer daily with bouts of depression and manic episodes and marijuana helps me maintain a balance in my life. Many people in the USA suffer from psychological disorders, physical pain, and disabilities that put a limit on their quality of life. Many of those people turn to marijuana as a sedative, a mood stabilizer, and a sleep aid so that they may have fully functioning lives. In this essay we will discuss legalizing marijuana in the United States. We will examine the potential economic boost through tax revenue and other fees. Next, we will discuss how the government can regulate the flow, growth and distribution of marijuana, more effectively. Then we will see how studies show that marijuana is less harmful than other legalized drugs, such as alcohol and cigarettes. Finally we will review our main points and conclude this essay.

Whenever roads need to be repaired, schools need to be closed, or something needs to be built to improve a community the issue of where the funds will come from, rears its ugly head. If marijuana were legalized and properly regulated there lies a tremendous potential boost to the economy. If marijuana were legalized, it could be taxed. All of the marijuana paraphernalia вЂ" papers for rolling, bongs, pipes, books on how to grow, roll, and properly smoke вЂ" all of these items could be sold, as some are already, and be highly taxed. Marijuana is California's largest cash crop (n.a., 2007). At this current time, marijuana sales and distribution in the United States is said to be a billion dollar industry, therefore the country is missing out on tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue. By legalizing marijuana, selling, growing and distributing marijuana would also be legal. So, now there is the matter of being certified and licensed to grow, and sell marijuana. There would be a $200 charge to become a licensed dealer, and a $500 class one must take on the laws surrounding marijuana in order to be a licensed dealer. Then, there would be more jobs, which means there is more federal income tax, Medicare/Medicaid, and social security tax being taxed. One could open a store exclusively selling marijuana paraphernalia. One could open a smoking lounge where people could go to watch television, movies, read, or whatever they wish, all while smoking marijuana legally. In short, increase in tax revenue, the possibility of licensing fees, and the probability of more jobs and small business opportunities being available due to marijuana being legalized are examples of how legalizing marijuana could have a potential boost on the economy. However, the question arises about what to do with all of the criminal activity being linked to marijuana usage and sales, and that brings us to our next point.

With marijuana being legal the government can regulate, more effectively, how much comes in and out of the country, how much is grown, how much is sold, and how much people can have in their possession. With marijuana being legal the government can impose stiffer fines and jail sentences for unlicensed vendors. The smoking age for marijuana could be 25 years old with strict fines and jail time for those who choose not to abide by that. For example, if one wants to buy marijuana (to be referred to as weed from here on out) , they must present ID and be at least 25 or 23 years old for the same reasons you must be 21 to drink and purchase alcohol, and 18 to purchase and smoke cigarettes вЂ" by the age of 23 or 25, the average American is done with puberty and be least likely to be adversely affected by the weed (in terms of bodily growth, etc.). the government can regulate how much weed can be grown without a permit/license to prevent illegal growing and unlicensed distribution. So that no one is allowed to stocks up on more than say 3 ounces of weed at one time. The government would also be able to regulate how much is imported into the country and how much is grown here. There would be a smaller amount of people in the drug trade dealing in weed because it would be legal, and easier to bring in to the country вЂ" as a licensed distributor 75% of drug-related criminal charges are connected to marijuana. 65% of people arrested for marijuana related crimes are for simple possession (n.a., 2007). More and more people would sell weed. To conclude, weed could be better regulated, and treated like any other crop coming in from other countries, laws would show no mercy to unlicensed dealers and limits would be set on how much weed a person can grow while being unlicensed and how much they could have in their homes or on their person at any given time. More people would smoke it, less people would do other drugs, because weed being legal means people would substitute for other drugs with weed, as they currently do with cigarettes and alcohol.

Marijuana is a natural plant that has gotten a bad rap for many years. Marijuana is the most used illegal drug in the United States. Nearly 69 million Americans over the age of 12 have tried marijuana at least once (n.a., 2007). It has been demonized and criminalized for many years, called a gate way drug that leads to other drugs. However, for the sake of fairness a question must be asked: how is it that cigarettes вЂ" which are killing 1200 people daily вЂ" are legal, yet, marijuana is outlawed? Why is it that drunk driving kills (this many) people a year, yet alcohol is legal? Data has shown that people high on marijuana show the same lack of coordination on standard "drunk driver" tests as do people who have had too much to drink (n.a., 2007). Marijuana is the second most common drug, after alcohol, present in the blood stream of non-fatally and fatally injured persons (n.a., 2007). So, legalize number one and outlaw