Thesis on "Legalizing Marijuana Will Boost the Economy"

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[EXCERPT] . . . .

Marijuana

The Practical and Economic Benefits of Decriminalizing Marijuana

The United States is in a state of serious recession. States, municipalities and the nation as a whole are struggling with diminished revenue, loss of jobs and a decline in productivity. As the federal government resorts to expensive bailouts, our budgetary scenario remains frighteningly precarious. Simultaneously, the United States has dedicated billions of dollars, thousands of lives and countless yards of prison space to a war on marijuana that fails logic on a broad spectrum of points. As an invaluable cash crop with various positive health benefits, few proven drawbacks and the capacity to significantly reduce the crisis of American debt, marijuana should more rationally be embraced by the American government. The potential benefits to the United States of decriminalizing marijuana are practical, economical and humane, and in the context of this discussion, may be a significant curative answer to some of America's economic problems.

Indeed, this is a perspective which is increasingly popular even with lawmakers, who previously would be wary to appear weak on a politically sensitive issue such as drug laws. However, at this juncture, "state officials are beginning to acknowledge that they can more productively spend their budget funds on cracking unsolved cases or ensuring better police protection than on keeping pot smokers in prison" (Cohen, 1) This helps to highlight two of the most important and intertwined justifications for decriminalizing marijuana, denoting that there are distinct opportunities both to refocus the efforts of law enforcement personnel, court systems, p

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risons and the legal system in general away from non-violent offenders and to acknowledge the irrational nature of marijuana's current legal status.

To the first point, it is interesting to note that even those who would object for ethical, political or ideological reasons to the legalization of marijuana for medicinal or recreational use do concede to the likely economic benefits. An article by a self-declared retired drug counselor, composed in 2009 draws up various objections to the legalization of marijuana before conceding as a final point that "decriminalizing possession of small amounts does reduce police and court costs." (Thompson, 1)

The resolution supported here to proceed toward a decriminalizing policy on marijuana is also rooted in the realities of the failure of the war on drugs, which has been a massively expensive and generally failed policy. Indeed, the aggressive pursuit and prosecution of the drug trade both within America's borders and in the various elaborate chains of drug trade that are propagated over the borders of Mexico and Canada has filtered an enormous sum of taxpayer money into the obstruction of a substance that actually has the capacity to achieve exactly the opposite. A study published by economist Stephen Easton on the potential revenue which could be generated by the Canadian government in the legalization and taxation of marijuana revealed an incredible opportunity for profitability in a market which already thrives against the pressure of legal obstruction.

Easton's study "estimates that the average price of 0.5 grams (a unit) of marijuana sold for $8.60 on the street, while its cost of production was only $1.70. In a free market, a $6.90 profit for a unit of marijuana would not last for long. Entrepreneurs noticing the great profits to be made in the marijuana market would start their own grow operations, increasing the supply of marijuana on the street, which would cause the street price of the drug to fall to a level much closer to the cost of production." (Moffatt, 1) This speaks to the point that the competitive nature of legalized marijuana trade such as that which occurs even today in California, where marijuana has been legalized medicinally, indicates a very strong likelihood for the reduction of crime. Those trade activities today which are categorized as illegal or which must occur in illicit contexts are characterized thusly because of marijuana's legal status and owe little to actual or empirical evidence of its relationship to negative health properties or behavioral outcomes which are threatening to law and society.

Ironically, this contrasts tobacco and alcohol, which are variously linked with empirical certainty to heart disease, cancer, addiction and a wide array of conditions which lead to premature mortality. However, both remain legal and generate no small sum of income for city, state and country. And as to the above-noted point that its legalization would produce a reduction in its involvement with illegal or underworld activities, alcohol serves as a useful point of comparison. Quite to the point, "lcohol was legalized -- in part -- in order to deprive organized crime of money. Over time, the war on drugs has had little impact on drug use. By abolishing the war we would not only save billions of dollars in expenses, we could earn billions through taxing marijuana. Every scientific study shows that on-demand and court-ordered drug-treatment programs cut drug use more cost-effectively than programs attempting to cut access to drugs." (McKeehan, 1).

It would also cost a great deal less to spend taxpayer resources -- yielded from the legal sale of marijuana no less -- on rehabilitation facilities rather than the lengthy process of criminal prosecution and incarceration. Connecting these practices to a substance which legitimately has not proven to bear a direct connection to criminal behavior, which has never been empirically demonstrated to have chemically addictive factors and which in its pure form has few of the chemically harmful ingredients that are found in tobacco products is irrational. That is has been connected to closely to objections of the moral variety is counterintuitive to the nature of the substance which, though characterized erroneously as a 'gateway drug,' is often misunderstood by those who have never used it. Quite certainly, the vast majority of individuals advocating the maintenance or strengthening of laws against its usage fall into this category.

For those draw policy hawks in the United States who fear that a more lax drug policy of any type could be socially destructive, there are many examples in the world community of the success which can be there achieved. One example which was encountered in the research process here was Portugal, which like many nations in Western Europe has largely taken a policy of tolerance or decriminalization where marijuana is concerned. The outcome has been uniformly positive from a taxation perspective with little evidence of the frightening consequences declaimed by conservative American lawmakers. To the point, "the success of Portugal's approach was the subject of a piece by Salon writer Glenn Greenwald commissioned by the Cato Institute that was widely read and commented on earlier this year, and last week it earned kind words from a most unexpected place: the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which could find little to complain about for its 2009 World Drugs Report." (DWC, 1)

This is a perspective which is also increasingly more acceptable in the United States, where even the current president of the United States has admitted to having sampled marijuana during his time in college and, accordingly, has taken a decidedly less aggressive approach to the war on drugs than his predecessor. By contrast to the conservative President George W. Bush, "when Obama was campaigning, he had said several times that it was a waste of federal money and resources to go after medical marijuana states with the Drug Enforcement Administration . . .and recently, Attorney General Eric Holder vowed to end raids on medical marijuana clubs in those states, which is a big change in policy from the previous administration." (Rizzuto, 1)

This is a perspective which underscores a clear wave of coalescence on the part of the nation's more liberal states to adopt a progressive policy on marijuana laws. As shown in the visual aid contained by Appendix A, there is a broad trend which is… READ MORE

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Quoted Instructions for "Legalizing Marijuana Will Boost the Economy" Assignment:

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Needs to have 2 visuals, 7 sources, APA format. I have inclded my rough draft so that it can be incorporated and made better haha. This paper is due on sunday, July 5.

With today's economy, we see legislators and government officials scramble to find

a solution for the economic crisis we have at hand. We have watched as we have had

to resort to very expensive bailouts, and still have not even been able to reform our

situation. Our national debt is rising and what we need a is a low maintenance and

cost resource, an efficient profit product like marijuana, that will boost the United

States economy and bring many benefits to it's users. In this paper, I will break

the negative stereotypes attached to marijuana, explain the stimulating effects it can

have on our economy, and how the war on drugs and our overcrowded prisons can

be rectified.

Legalizing marijuana will help boost our economy and reduce crime tremendously.

Marijuana has many useful benefits. With the economy in one of it*****s worst

conditions, we need something that will boost consumer spending and help us keep

our money in our pockets without needing to constantly raise taxes to compensate

for our debt. The legalization of marijuana would create new jobs in the United

States. With unemployment skyrocketing, this would be an amazing opportunity for

those that lost their own. With designated areas designed for growing and shipping

marijuana, selling, and packaging, thousands of jobs would be open to prospecting

employees. Distributing marijuana would also help the state governments with tax

applied to purchases. With a hypothetical regulation tax, of anywhere between half a

dollar to a dollar, the government could make money while controlling the use and

lower potential cases of abuse. The tax alone would fundraise the government of

around 2-6 billion dollars in just one year. This is just from the regulation tax. With

other cumulative taxes imposed the government could be raking in anywhere

between 24 to 43 billion dollars in only one year.

With highly addictive products like alcohol and tobacco available, marijuana actually

turns out to be a much safer choice. Billions of dollars are spent on the

consequences and health issues relating to alcohol and tobacco. Marijuana is actually

proven to be medically helpful in itself. Alcohol and tobacco have been proven to

cause various health issue and cancers. Because of the highly addictive nature of

these substances, abuse and addiction become inevitable, and effects a tremendous

amount of people all over the world. Marijuana does not have any serious health

issues linked with it, and has been proven to not be physically addicting. Marijuana

has been labeled the *****gateway drug***** unjustly. Marijuana got its stigma because it is

a common substance that people use even though it is against the law. When people

try marijuana and realize that it is not the big deal that was once thought, they

sometimes tend to experiment with other drugs trying to investigate other

misconceptions. Typically, people who have used marijuana already consumed

alcohol and/or tobacco previously, making these the real gateway drugs. Alcohol and

tobacco cause families to be destroyed, and cause millions to be spent on treatment

and cancers.

Legalizing marijuana will definitely reduce crime. Law enforcement spends billions

on marijuana related offenses and prevention. This is money going to waste, and jail

space is being taken up by people who do no violent crimes. Jail space is becoming a

problem, and the overcrowding is causing violence to strike out within the prison.

Freeing some of the non violent offenders will save time, money, and space, and

decrease crime within. Marijuana drug deals would not happen, because of it being

illegal it prevents people from buying in safe conditions sometimes. With drug

dealing, much violence and criminal activity erupt, and these dealers will be shoved

out of the picture.

Marijuana has many beneficial factors, unlike legal substances like alcohol and

tobacco. Cancer patients reek marijuana*****s benefits when they are battling constant

nausea. Marijuana successfully subsides nausea in cancer patients struggling with

chemotherapy, and helps them to attain an appetite to stomach food. The research

points to marijuana treating glaucoma which is a disease that causes one to go blind.

By taking marijuana it helps decrease intraocular pressure which is the cause to the

glaucoma. In the state of California, anyone 18 years and over is allowed to attain a

medical medicinal card for all different kinds of afflictions. Asthma, anxiety,

insomnia, bulimia, and migraines are among just a few conditions that marijuana

successfully has been proven to medicate. In the Los Angeles area, there are over

500 working marijuana stores to purchase medical marijuana from. With this state

law, marijuana smokers can be self assured they are not getting marijuana with any

impurities and they are not compromising their record by purchasing it at a legal

store. These stores have generated over 500 million dollars. With nationwide

legalization we can generate a bigger income than that.

With a depression slowly becoming a reality here in the United States, we need a

solution that will keep American hard earned money in our pockets. We need to

stop handing out bailouts that we can not even be sure will help or keep a business

afloat. With the legalization of marijuana we will be able to hack away at our debt,

stimulate the economy, bring patients relief, and save time money and energy on the

war on drugs and our overcrowded prisons. With the taxation and the opening of

new jobs we will be able to achieve more and generate more income to stabilize the

economy. Jobs will open up to the rising unemployed. Unlike alcohol and tobacco,

marijuana has medical benefits that can bring relief to human conditions, and has

been proven to help glaucoma and many diseases. With the legalization there will be

less crime. Less drug deals that lead to shady situations, and less likelihood of getting

impure marijuana. We will save billions on the war on drugs on marijuana related

arrests, while instead, generating an enormous income from providing it. It is time to

take a better look at marijuana, and what it can do for us and our country.

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