In modern day America it is hard to go a long time without one way or another running in to the controversial drug "marijuana". Whether it be an article about it's rapid movement to legalization in some states or just some people talking about it, it is very difficult to avoid. Unlike most of America's history, the drug is starting to be an acceptable topic of conversation and is now in some ways merging itself into modern pop culture. With all of this hype around the drug, one has to wonder the effects that this cultural movement has had on this country, if any at all. It is clear to see with research done over the past decade or so that marijuana has helped states that have opened their doors to the drug in a multitude of ways.

One of the key effects that have been revealed is the economic benefit that can come when you make changes to your policy on the drug. It is estimated that the government spends about $1 trillion annually on direct law enforcement initiatives to stop growers, traffickers, and dealers (Smith). If we bring marijuana in to the public spectrum, then we can cut down significantly on that trillion dollars that are spent and put it towards a more progressive solution such as rehabilitation programs for people that abuse the drug. Not only can we cut government spending on the search for these criminals behind the black market of the drug, but in turn making the purchase and possession of the drug legal we can cut down significantly on spending for prisons. For example "An estimated one in four people are in prison solely because of non-violent drug offenses, including possession, sales, and repeat offenses related to marijuana" (Smith). If we can release one in four incarcerated citizens then we can cut spending on prisons drastically; that would mean feeding, clothing, watching over, and providing shelter to a fourth less people every day. Also it is not like we are releasing murderers or rapists, we are releasing people that just wanted to enjoy themselves and smoke some marijuana. 

Not only will making movements in legislation to open up the drug's usage cut spending significantly in multiple areas, but it can earn a very good amount of money for the states as well. For example, a study done on Washington state was done to see the effects legalizing the drug has had, and after only one year "Washington has collected nearly $83 million in marijuana tax revenues" (Newman). While this is only a small share of Washington's $17.6 billion annual tax revenue, it still adds $83 million dollars that can again be put in to better use such as rehabilitation or even cover the cost of the search of the illegal sale of the drug. Not only can it help the government make money, but it can also help re-vitalize local economies in the midst of these rough economic times. In Colorado for example, unemployment has gone down and is below the national average, retail space prices have sky-rocketed due to the need for growing operations, and now Colorado is considered to be one of the fastest growing economies in the US (Kurimski). It is not hard to see how legalizing or just even decriminalizing the drug can help not only states' economies, but the national economy as well.

Another area that can be looked in to when looking for the effects of marijuana being looked upon in a different light legally is the effect on the justice system. As stated before decriminalizing the drug can lead to an opening up of prison space in turn saving tax payer money. Bob Marley was once quoted saying "Herb is the healing of a nation, alcohol is the destruction" (Marley), and it has been found that states with a higher tendency to use marijuana, have a lower tendency to drink alcohol; In other words, the two drugs have a negative relationship. States that have decriminalized the drug have a higher tendency to use it, therefore these states have a lower tendency to drink alcohol (Anderson). If we can lead to a decrease in alcohol consumption in the United States, this can lead to a number of beneficial things such as decreased violent crimes like domestic abuse and striking someone while driving under the influence, both of which are fueled by alcohol. This shows that marijuana can have a ripple effect to stopping the abuse of other drugs. Although driving drunk has been proved to be a lot more dangerous than driving high, it still is not good to drive while under the influence of marijuana. So this brings up the question whether or not decriminalizing the drug will lead to an increase in driving while under the influence of THC. A study done by Robin Pollini and some of his associates in California showed that in fact there was no statistically significant increase in nighttime high drivers. However, there was indeed an increase in drivers testing positive for THC after a fatal accident (Pollini). 

Not only will it cut down on alcohol fueled crimes or driving under the influence, but it can also decrease other violent crimes as well. A study done in Colorado two months after the legalization of pot occurred revealed that "violent crimes decreased in January and February of 2014 by 2.4 percent, and property crime dropped by 12.1 percent. Reports of robberies dropped by 6.2 percent, reports of stolen property dropped by 13 percent" (McBryde). Now as for explaining this phenomenon I do not know if it is because of a heightened police presence or if people are starting to become more melo from the drug, but one thing is for certain and that is that violent crimes have dropped remarkably. 

Another point to be brought up about the crime side of marijuana is the racial bias shown towards African Americans. While every minority race has their own trouble with the cops from time to time, it seems to be the African Americans, particularly young adult males, have seen an outstanding amount of bias come their way. According to statistics "African Americans comprise 14% of regular drug users, but 37% of those [are] arrested for the drug offense" (Newman). If we make the drug legal to purchase and use we should see a closing of this atrocious gap we have in our jail system.

Everyone has a soft spot in their hearts for children, and in cases where you are legalizing and making a drug more in to a regularity the question of how it will effect the nation's youth has to be brought up and taken seriously. Of course it is no one's intention to effect America's adolescents negatively when making changes in legislation, but luckily it should be no one's worries. From 1996 to 2015 20 states had decriminalized marijuana and 34 states had passed some sort of marijuana bill, yet in that same timeframe usage among adolescents has actually fallen (Ingraham). According to a study done on 8th, 10th, and 12th graders, marijuana use in these kids has in a way plateaued as opposed to the steady increase in usage that we saw in the previous few decades (Volkow). Not only has usage decreased but so has the availability of the drug. According to a study dating back all the way to 1975, 12th graders that answered that it was fairly easy or very easy to obtain has dropped since 1995 from 88.5% to 79.5% (NIH). Not only does this show that teenagers are using the drug less, but in fact they are having trouble even finding the drug regardless of it being sold in stores in some states. It is great to see that while legislation is being passed around them to loosen laws on marijuana, that they are not effected by it in a negative manner.

Not only should the public demand answers on to how it will effect the children on this country, but they must also ask how it will effect the rest of the country as well. Now before anything is brought up about marijuana one should look at another time that a heavily used drug was banned. Back in January 1920 America put a ban on the sale and consumption of alcohol. Despite the new laws, consumption of alcohol actually rose as bootleggers and mobsters illegally found ways to get their hands on alcohol whether it be from out of the country or made independently (Sanneh). This led to the country's highest period of crime as people were literally killing other people for the drug. The Mafia in particular benefited from this as their services of being able to pull strings and obtain illegal substances were seen as a necessity. Not only was there deaths from organized crime but there were also many reported deaths from people drinking poorly made alcohol (Sanneh). All of these negative side-effects went away after prohibition was repealed, now connect it to weed. Weed has been outlawed for decades now and in those times we have seen high crime rates because of the illegal trafficking of the drug and countless deaths related to the drug whether it be from purposeful killings over it to people dying from using a laced version of the drug. As seen in prohibition all of these negative aspects to marijuana can be taken away by simply repealing the laws that make marijuana illegal. 

While prohibition has predicted what legalizing marijuana can do for our nation, lets see examples from states that have actually put legislation in to motion about the drug compared to states that have not. Looking at the nation's highest adult user percentage by state it can be seen that nine out of the top ten states in adult usage with Montana being the outcast (Rawes). Now most would think that this means that it was a cause of the legislative change, but actually the higher usage in these states is what led to the movement in legislation in the first place. For example, the states that have completely legalized the use of the drug did not even fall in the top three. Instead Oregon came in fourth, falling about half a percentage point behind the leader Alaska at 13.01% (Rawes). 

This movement in legislation can also effect this country in more ways than just usage. The recent opening up to the drug has brought in a wave of cultural change in a multitude of ways. One area we have seen a change in is the political landscape on the topic. The Marahuana Tax Act of 1937 outlawed the non-medicinal sale or consumption of the drug. For decades to come laws got severely stricter on the drug running propaganda against it and frowning upon it's usage culturally. In the 1960's came a slight step in the right direction as some medical benefits were being brought to light and people were seeing the true value of the drug. This was promptly stomped out in the 80's by Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No' campaign. Finally in 1996 California's Proposition 215 made the medical use of the drug legal in order to treat patients in extreme pain from diseases like cancer and AIDS (Ferraiolo 8). Ever since California's ground-breaking move 19 other states have followed suit passing their own medical marijuana bills. This has caused the marijuana legislation to be one of the hottest talked about topics in politics. With a nation nearly split on whether or not to make the drug legal, every politician must take a side and defend themselves adequately. This is amazing to see considering just 20 years ago it was almost never talked about on a political standpoint.

One very recent effect that is probably the easiest to identify is the change that has been brought to our pop culture by the change in legislation regarding the legality of marijuana. One prime example comes from the hot new singer and rap artist The Weeknd. Tara Mahadaven, the author of an article said "When I was in college, around 2008, no one could have imagined that a Billboard chart-topper would align him or herself with the (now increasingly legal) drug." (Mahadevan). She is referring to The Weeknd and his partnership with the vaporizer producer PAX. She goes on to say "PAX's collaboration with The Weeknd opens the vaporizer and marijuana industries to a larger customer base ...  Marijuana's paradigm is slowly shifting, supported by the many facets of pop culture: Music, movies, fashion, lifestyle, and social politics." (Mahadevan). The Weeknd is just one of many examples of pop culture icons that have been closely associated with marijuana. Rapper Wiz Khalifa for example practically makes his living off of the idea that he smokes an incredible amount of weed. With Khalifa being atop the rap game, so is the image of being a stoner in turn effecting the way everyone in the loop of pop culture thinks about the drug. 

Now it is all fun and games to smoke marijuana purely for the joy of getting high, but there are some people out there that really do need this drug. One of these people is Charlotte Figgey. Charlotte is a five-year-old girl that was diagnosed at the age of three with a rare disease known as Gervais Syndrome. This is a disorder that causes Charlotte to have a seizure about once every 20 to 25 minutes (Stanley). One day Charlotte had a particularly bad seizure and doctors told her family that they should make arrangements for her funeral. Luckily they reached out and found a man named Josh Stanley who at the time had been working on a hybrid marijuana plant that was very low in the psychoactive ingredient THC and very high in a non-psychoactive ingredient called CBD. With daily treatments of this CBD medicine Charlotte has gone from having about 400 seizures a week to having zero to one a week (Stanley). It is truly amazing what this drug can do when put in to the right hands, and without legislation being passed in Colorado and other places around the United States, Josh Stanley would not have been able to do his research and save little Charlotte Figgey's life.

You can see the true benefits that the medical side of marijuana can bring, but it is one story in particular that shows that we still have a long way to go before making some states legitimate in what they say in their bills. Teri Heede is a medical marijuana patient in Hawaii, she received her card almost as soon as she could. However, there are no dispensaries that sell to patients in Hawaii. Patients are told to grow their own medicine if they want relief from their pain, without any instructions on how to do so. This has led Teri to buy from an illegal dealer behind the local McDonalds (Shearer). It is disgusting that a patient has to buy illegally from someone behind a fast food restaurant just to get her medicine. 

With everything going on in today's society, marijuana legislation is one of the hottest topics. It has convinced almost half of the nation that it is worthy of being a substance that can be purchased legally and has done so through pop culture, politics, and many other mediums. In conclusion, changes in marijuana legislation has truly changed the scope of America in many positive ways.

