For this paper I thought it will be interesting to analyze the effects of the legalization of marijuana in Colorado. I'm interested in this subject because I believe that legalizing something harmful but that has social appeal reduces its social appeal or interest. In other words, I believe that by legalizing marijuana people will not make a big deal about it and its consumption rate will decrease. 

Personally, I am in favor of legalizing marijuana. Just as alcohol has its risks and it is addictive but I don't think that making it illegal will solve the problem. By making a product illegal the product does not disappear magically. My personal experience with this issue comes from a trip I made to the Nederland. I saw many coffee shops in Amsterdam where people buy what they call 'spice cakes' that are basically cakes or muffins made with marijuana. What I discover being there is that most of the clients of these coffee shops are in fact tourists that wanted to experiment the effects or marijuana because in their home countries it was forbidden and they feel oppressed.  Locals don't really consume and buy spice cakes and in fact when you travel outside Amsterdam and you go to other cities that are less touristic you realize that there are actually very few coffee shops. I don't have a degree on sociology but as a teenager who is exposed to college life in America in a state where marijuana is illegal I think I know enough to position myself in favor of its legalization.

The article that I use as first source claims that legalizing marijuana in Colorado resulted in a decrease in crime rates, a decrease in traffic fatalities, an increase in tax revenue and economic output from retail marijuana sales, and an increase in jobs. The source also emphasizes the state's effort in educating youth and its investment of more than $8 million of retail marijuana tax revenue to youth prevention and education, mental health and community-based developmental programs. The article focuses on the effects of the legalization of drugs and I believe we can safely assume that its authors are in favor of legalizing marijuana. Although the article may seem biased, the arguments it puts forth are well supported by statistics. Furthermore the information it provides is cited properly and the reader can check its sources of information. This makes this report look very professional and credible. What the report is lacking is the publication date that is very important since a lot of statistics are presented and those may vary depending on when the report was written. Also, I would have preferred that the report be signed by its authors.

My second source is the data from the city of Denver, Colorado from the years 2013 and 2014 when Colorado decided to legalize marijuana. We can observe in these data that the city's crime rate has decreased almost 7% in this period, which amounts to 1,858 fewer criminal acts. The second source is neutral on the matter. It simply contains statistics and data about the crime in the city of Denver. This source is very credible because it is a web page run by the state government and the statistics it contains are made by scientists which just gather data and analyze it. I assume it is an impartial account on the matter.

The third article claims that Colorado has raised more money from taxes on marijuana than from alcohol. They collected almost twice the amount: 70 million in marijuana taxes. Also the state has a day during the year in which buying marijuana is tax-free, which seems to be welcome by consumers and producers. During this tax free data shoppers save about $20 an ounce. The purpose of this article is to give information about the issue. I will not describe the article as biased because in any moment the author gives an opinion. With that said the Times magazine is a liberal magazine and probably it favors legalization. The author has credibility and also as Times is a well-known magazine their writers tend to be famous in their field.  Also this article has a date of publication which makes it look legitimate

Still after all these data there are people who argue against the legalization of marijuana for moral reasons. Since they don't like marijuana, which is totally respectable their solution is to make it illegal in order to reduce it. But I believe that the consequences of legalizing marijuana are minor. After all, the only person who you are harming when smoking marijuana is yourself. And data has shown that is better to accept its recreational use, thus playing down the problem.  Also, since now marijuana is legal, one can discuss whether the government is putting enough effort to educate the population about the dangers of its use, talking about this matter openly.

Comparing my first and second sources I have observed that they both agree regarding the decrease in crime rate. And my first and last source have in common that they mention that marijuana taxes have brought large amounts of revenue to Colorado. The first article pointed out that Colorado law allow people to have up to 6 plants in their house, and personally I believe that this is an excessive amount for one person's personal consumption. I believe that if you lower the amount to 3 plants it will be a more adequate amount of consumption. If people want more they can buy it, which of course will cost them more money, but it will make them think twice about whether they really need that extra amount. I believe in a safe and responsible consumption if people decide to consume. That law makes me think what is the whole purpose of legalizing marijuana in Colorado is to improve the safety of its use.  But after all after seeing all the data I believe that the law is working more or less well and that is what matters. People should not be against the usage of marijuana in Colorado because the data is favorable.

