In the United States today, there are numerous debates that have been argued for years. Some examples are abortion, government spending and the economic crisis, and war. One of the most profound issues in our country is the debate on if marijuana should be legalized or if it needs to be completely criminalized across the country. Colorado and Washington have legalized marijuana for recreational use and the United States have witnessed first hand the significant impacts that have been brought to peoples' eyes. Fifty-eight percent of American people are in favor of legalizing marijuana ever since Colorado and Washington took the initiative and legalized it for recreational use (Jacques 1). Most of the people that are against legalizing marijuana are too caught up on the fact that marijuana has been considered a seriously dangerous drug for a long time and they believe that cannabis has the same effects on people as many of the more serious drugs. The two main sides of the argument have a great deal 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 these assumed problems are a very serious loss in money and permanent mental health issues to young people. Although these claims are made, there has been no proof that back up these presumed claims. Pro-marijuana supporters have much more to say and also back up their claims with a great deal of sufficient evidence. They say that marijuana will offer more jobs for people while also making a massive 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 national debt and help the United States become the biggest world power again. If marijuana became legal then it should be regulated just like tobacco is regulated right now. The legal regulations of marijuana should be changed for adults eighteen and over, while being regulated similar to tobacco, throughout the United States because of the tremendous positive impacts that would exist in our country such as a stronger economy, low unemployment rate, a better environment, decrease in crime rate, and better educational facilities. 

The 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 the taxes on marijuana. Cato, a public policy research organization, predicts that the marijuana industry would make $8.7 billion of annual revenue if marijuana was to be legalized throughout the whole country (Fairchild 2). This would be a great assistance to the United States economy and would be a great leap forward for America to clear the 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 one year of Colorado legalizing marijuana for recreational use, they have been first hand witnesses of the economic 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 now at its lowest since 2008 and is also way below the national average, thus making Colorado's economy experience a great boost (Way 2). In my opinion, I believe that the marijuana industry would be the nations largest 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 while also possibly improving relationships between us and countries that we have not had a very strong relationship with. 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 drastically positive impact to the economy that would be witnessed due to legalizing marijuana, a percentage of the money would be going to educational programs so that new schools could be built in every state for low income neighborhoods. 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 received $13.3 million from marijuana taxes. Within the first five months of 2015 they received $13.6 million which was a huge increase from the year before. Ricardo Baca also quoted a Colorado school superintendent that indicated $40 million would help to build either two well-equipped elementary schools or one middle school that would include an athletic field (O'Connell 1). This would greatly benefit the low income neighborhoods across the United States while at the same time help those kids have brighter futures than they would otherwise have by going to the under privileged schools that they 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 the United States 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 crimes 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)". Also, in Colorado, there was an eleven percent drop in property and larceny crimes (10 Benefits). While marijuana is presently criminalized in the majority of the United States, there are a great deal of marijuana related crimes in America today. The number of these crimes would dramatically decrease if marijuana was to be legalized. Laura McCauley was also quoted saying, "arrests for marijuana possession have continually dropped since 2010 and are now down roughly 84 percent (O'Connell, 2)." The drastic drop in arrests due to marijuana possession is significant because instead of the police worrying about people smoking, they could be out on the streets looking out for more serious crimes that are being committed everyday. The NIBRS, National Incident-Based Reporting System, 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 without the threat of being caught (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. Illegal private cultivators of marijuana in America are draining streams to water the plant and allowing pesticide runoff and poisoning wildlife due to their uncontrolled method of growing pot (Page 1). Legalizing marijuana would solve this problem. With marijuana being legalized, there would be a more controlled method to growing the marijuana plant also 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 a better place for people and animals to go to for necessities needed for survival such as water and food. California is the main state that is experiencing most of the negative impacts 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 lucky enough to receive. 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 other serious reasons.

A large amount 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 endure. These people include but are not limited to 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 legalization 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 PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder, 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 claim 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 male actors to ever live. Martha Stewart is a highly successful business woman and 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. Although these celebrities admit to using marijuana on a regular basis, people still believe the false accusation that marijuana is seriously harmful to people. 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 claim that marijuana causes very serious health problems to people that smoke it. The Washington Examiner utters that the cannabis plant offers no type of scientific reason as to why marijuana is a helpful medical use for people (Washington 1).  Although these accusations are made by people, 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 he also fails to provide any type of information to back up his claim. People believe that marijuana is a serious threat to the health of the user and those around them. Renee Jacques of the Huffington Post shoots down their argument by showing that alcohol and tobacco, two things that are legal right now in the United States, is proven to cause more harm to people than marijuana does as seen in the image above (Jacques 7). This brings about the point as to why tobacco and alcohol are legal but those substances have been proven to cause more harm to people than marijuana, but marijuana still remains illegal in the majority of the United States. Another reason that people do not believe marijuana should be legalized is because they think that it is a gateway drug. David Nathan of CNN addresses this false claim when he states, "the consumption of more dangerous drugs could actually decrease if pot were purchased at a liquor store instead of on the streets (Nathan 3)." Along with the argument of marijuana being dangerous and a gateway drug, people also claim that legalizing marijuana would not bring any type of economic impact to America. This claim has already been disproven from the money that Colorado has steadily 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 declares this because he believes that the employees 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. Any of those employees that fail to do so would be immediately fired from their job. With all the extraordinary benefits that would come from legalizing marijuana the only thing left to do is to make marijuana legalized nationally.

Legalizing marijuana for recreational use is extremely long overdue for the United States. 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 and cleaner environment, and even strong future foreign affairs are all prominently 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 for adults 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. Marijuana is not a harmful substance for people around the world. 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. 

