The United States is in a debate over a large number of important issues. For examples, abortion, what our money should be spent on, and war. One of the biggest issues in our country is the topic on if marijuana should be legalized or if it needs to be completely criminalized across the country. Since marijuana was legalized in Colorado and Washington, fifty-eight percent of Americans are in favor of legalizing marijuana nationally (Jacques, 1). Most people that do not want marijuana to be legalized are too caught up on the fact that marijuana has been considered a seriously dangerous drug for a long time and they believe that it has the same effects on people as many of the more serious drugs. The two main sides of the argument have a lot to say as to why they believe that marijuana should or should not be legalized. Those that believe that it should not be legalized say that marijuana can cause serious problems around the country. Examples of the problems that these people say could be brought about would be a serious loss in money and permanent mental health issues to young people. Although these claims are made, they have no actual proof to back them up. Pro marijuana supporters have much more to say and also back up their claims with a great deal of credible evidence. They say that marijuana will allow for more jobs for people while also making a huge amount of money for the economy and have some of that money go towards better educational facilities. Also, the marijuana industry will help the environment and lower the crime rate in the United States. I myself am for legalizing marijuana because it could help us eventually get out of our debt and help us become the biggest world power again. If marijuana became legal then it would be regulated just like tobacco is regulated right now. The legal regulations of marijuana should be changed for adults eighteen and over across the United States because of the tremendous positive impacts that would exist in our country such as money, jobs, a better environment, decrease in crime rate, and better educational facilities. 

The first main reason as to why marijuana should be legalized across the United States is that the economy would experience a vast positive impact due to marijuana taxes. Cato, a public policy research organization, predicts that the marijuana industry would make $8.7 billion annual revenue if marijuana was to be legalized throughout the whole country (Fairchild, 2). This would be a great impact to the United States economy and would be a great leap forward for us to clear our nations debt. Colorado is a prime example of what would happen around the whole country on the basis of the economy and the openings of thousands of jobs. After a year of Colorado legalizing marijuana for recreational use, they have been first hand witnesses of the economy benefits. Art Way of the Drug Policy Alliance, reported that Colorado brought in more than $44 million in marijuana taxes (Way, 2).  With the marijuana industry coming to life in Colorado and Washington, the job field is also increasing, as was expected. Colorado's unemployment rate is at its lowest since 2008 and it is also way below the national average thus making Colorado's economy experience a great boost (Way, 2). In my amateur opinion, I believe that the marijuana industry would be the biggest cash crop since cotton and tobacco during the Civil War era in the Old South. If marijuana was to be eventually legalized, it could open up more trade with foreign countries and could possibly improve relationships between us and other countries. In addition to an economy boost and and a drop in the unemployment rate, educational programs would also improve due to the better economy that marijuana legalization would bring.

With a drastic positive impact to the economy that would be witnessed due to legalizing marijuana, some of the money would go to educational programs so that new schools could be built in every state. For example, Colorado voted that fifteen percent of the tax money from marijuana would go to new schools. Kit O'Connell, a journalist for "MintPress News", interviewed Ricardo Baca, a journalist for "The Cannabist" and he stated that in 2014, Colorado schools got $13.3 million from marijuana taxes but within the first five months of 2015 they received $13.6 million. Ricardo Baca also quoted a Colorado school superintendent that said, "$40 million would fund the construction of two well-equipped elementary schools, or one well-equipped middle school with an athletic field. (O'Connell, 1)." This would greatly benefit the low income neighborhoods across the United States and also at the same time help those kids have brighter futures than they would otherwise have by going to the under privileged schools that would have to go to without the money from the marijuana industries help. The flourishing economy and the new schools that would be made would also have an abundant impact on the crime rate in the United States.

With marijuana being legalized, the crime rate in America would show a drastic decline in traffic crimes, drug crimes, property crimes and violent crimes that are committed daily throughout America. Laura McCauley, who is a writer for "Common Dreams" stated that, "In 2014, the rate of violent crime fell 2.2 percent compared with the same period in 2013 ...  burglaries in Colorado's capital, Denver, decreased by 9.5 percent and overall property crimes decrease by 8.9 percent (O'Connell, 2)". While marijuana is presently criminalized in the majority of the United States, there are a great deal of marijuana related crimes being in America today. The number of these crimes would be dramatically decreased if marijuana was to be legalized. Laura McCauley from "Common Dreams" was also quoted saying, "arrests for marijuana possession have continually dropped since 2010 and are now down roughly 84 percent (O'Connell, 2)." The National Incident-Based Reporting System, NIBRS, stated that there has been a forty-one percent decrease in drug arrests in the state of Colorado since 2013 which can be related to allowing adults to legally possess and recreationally use marijuana (Way, 2). It is easy to assume that the decrease in drug crimes around the time that marijuana was legalized is just a coincidence but that is not the case. People have decided to use marijuana instead of seriously dangerous drugs because it has been legalized and they know that they will not get into any trouble for using it and they can relax with it. Along with the decrease in crime rate, job openings, and and economy break through, the environment will also receive a very positive impact due to legalizing marijuana. 

Some people will see that the environment will see a great impact and immediately think that it is a made up reason as to why marijuana should be legalized but the fact is that it really would have a positive impact on the environment. With people privately growing marijuana illegally in America, they are draining streams to water the plant and allowing pesticide runoff and poisoning wildlife but legalizing marijuana would solve this problem (Page, 1). With marijuana being legalized, there would be a more controlled method to growing the marijuana plant in a safer environment so that streams would not be drained and no wildlife would be harmed in the cultivation of the marijuana plant. Thus making it better place for people and animals to go to for necessary needed for survival such as water and food. California is experiencing most of the negative impact form marijuana being illegal since marijuana requires much more water than most plants (Page, 3).  If marijuana was to be legalized nationally, states that do not get a large amount of water annually due to drought would greatly benefit from this so that they could save the water that they actually do get. If an economy growth, increase in jobs, decrease in crime, or a better environment does not grab your attention then maybe the fact that a large amount of well known celebrities that regularly use marijuana in order to relax from the daily stresses that they encounter will for those people that do not care as much about the other reasons.

A large number of very well known and very successful celebrities use marijuana on a regular basis in order to calm their nerves and relax from the daily stresses that they encounter. Some of these people are Morgan Freeman, Martha Stewart, Maya Angelou, and Rush Limbaugh (Jacques, 7). Sam P.K. Collins, a health reporter for "ThinkProgress", interviewed Morgan Freeman in an article discussing the benefits that would come with the legalizing of marijuana. Morgan Freeman was quoted saying, "I have fibromyalgia pain in this arm, and the only thing that offers any relief is marijuana (Collins, 1)." Also, doctors have found marijuana to be a great help for nausea from chemo therapy, poor appetite, and some have found it useful for veterans that come back and have post-traumatic stress disorders and it is a "less addictive alternate to prescription painkillers" (Collins, 2). These people could not have become as successful as they are now if marijuana was as bad as most people in America claims that it is. These people have accomplished a large amount of things throughout their lives. For example, Morgan Freeman is arguably one of the most successful actors to ever be. Martha Stewart is a highly successful business woman. Maya Angelou is a very well respected poet and a huge civil rights activist. With all of these great things that these people have accomplished throughout their lives, they very regularly use marijuana as a stress reliever and to deal with pain that they may encounter in their lives. The anti-marijuana activist will disagree with the fact that marijuana being legalized would bring about a great deal of positive impacts for the majority of America. They argue that if marijuana was to be legalized then there would be nothing but negative impacts brought upon the United States. 

Anti-marijuana supporters say that marijuana causes very serious health problems to its users. The Washington Examiner says that marijuana offers no type of scientific reason as to why marijuana is a helpful medical use (Washington, 1).  Although these accusations are made by them, they do not offer any background information to back up their claim. The Food and Drug Administration squashes their statement about marijuana having no medicinal use through a scientific study that they did and found marijuana has chemicals called cannabinoids that help with medical issues (Collins, 2). Stuart Gitlow of CNN says that people that use marijuana on a regular basis before the age of twenty-five will experience permanent brain damage but again he does not back up his claim with any type of evidence. People believe that marijuana is a serious threat to the health of the user and those around them. Renee Jacques of the Huffington Post brings down their argument by showing that alcohol and tobacco, two things that are legal right now, causes more harm to people than marijuana does as seen in the image below (Jacques, 7). This brings about the point as to why tobacco and alcohol are legal but they cause more harm to people than marijuana but it is still illegal in the majority of the United States. Along with the argument of marijuana being dangerous, people also claim that legalizing marijuana would not bring any economic impact to America. This claim has already been disproven from the money that Colorado has received from the marijuana industry. Marty Nemko, a doctor that wrote an article for TIME, says that the workforce would exponentially decline due to marijuana being legalized. He says this because he thinks that the workers would suffer from poor memory, reduced motivation, and emotional problems as side effects from marijuana usage (Nemko, 3). The solution to this problem that Nemko presents would be to not allow your workers to regularly abuse marijuana. Instead, have the employees treat marijuana usage responsibly and the employers would take caution in who they hire. With all the extraordinary benefits that would come from legalizing marijuana the only thing left to do is to legalize it nationally.

Both sides of the argument on marijuana present their case but those who believe that it should not be legalized do not fully back up their claims as opposed to marijuana supporters who have a great deal of background research as to why they believe that marijuana needs to be legalized. The United states economy, the job field, better education facilities, lower crime rate, a healthier environment, and even strong future foreign affairs are all greatly important reasons for pro marijuana legalization advocates. I believe that marijuana needs to be legalized in the near future in order for the United States to become stronger and flourish into a much higher super power in the future than we are right now. The United States would greatly benefit from this change as will other countries that we regularly have contact with and participate in trade with. The legal ramifications for marijuana usage should be changed so that marijuana is legal for recreational use in the United States so that we could benefit from all of the things that would be brought about such as a prosperous economy and job field, lower crime rates, higher education and a stronger national environment. I hope that reading this will help persuade the reader to think differently about legalizing marijuana so that they know that it is not such a bad thing as people may presume that it is. 

