Whether or not the United States should legalize marijuana is an ongoing debate that has gained more recognition as some states have legalized recreation use within their borders.  The debate has a variety of different sides as people have different approaches.  Some people favor the legalization of marijuana because it would result in greater tax revenue as it has already happened in Colorado.  Others believe that it should be legalized because it would allow for the substance to be regulated and safer for users.  On the contrary, people have reservations towards the legalization.  Some people believe that the drug is not as harmless as others believe it is and would like to keep it as an illegal substance.  Others believe that the drug has an effect on work ethic among other things.  Also, people have reservations because they do not believe that there is or will be proper regulations for the drug upon legalization.  These concerns arise from the scenario in Colorado as there are few regulations put in place regarding marijuana. Since there are many opposing stances, it is important to address the problems indicated by each party.  Marijuana should be legalized for recreational use as the potential benefits overshadow the potential drawbacks.

Recreational Marijuana usage in the United States is currently illegal under federal law.  Though federal law deems marijuana illegal, some states have legalized recreational use.  This has currently created a tricky scenario as, “Individuals and businesses engaging in marijuana-related activities that are authorized by state law nonetheless remain subject to federal criminal prosecution or other consequences under federal law.” as federal law is superior to state law (Derrickson 34).  Though there is good reason for states to be going against the federal law.

 For example, Colorado is one of the few states that has legalized marijuana for recreational use.  Marijuana has been legal since 2012 and over the past few years data has been taken regarding tax revenue in the state.  This provides some insight on a benefit of legalization.  Colorado alone has amounted, “$200 million in tax revenue last year thanks to its $1.3 billion in marijuana revenue.” according to stats from 2016 (Williams).  This is $200 million dollars of revenue that would not have otherwise been made by the state.  This now gives the state of Colorado a considerable increase in the amount of revenue.  Regarding Colorado’s revenue, “Hopefully this will be a wake-up call for the 42 states that still choose to force marijuana sales into the criminal market and forego millions of dollars in tax revenue,” said Mason Tvert, the Marijuana Policy Project’s Denver-based communications director, about the revenue (Williams).  Other states and the national government should take this information into consideration when it comes to the legalization topic as there is potential for increasing revenue by the means of legalization of marijuana.  With this increased revenue, states can use funding in other beneficial locations.  The funding can be used to create better schools with better resources.  The money can also be used to fix roadways as well as to create new ones.  So instead of money going towards people illegally gaining wealth, the money can go back towards benefitting society.

Recreational marijuana legalization is also being supported by an increasing number of doctors.  There is an organization of doctors that is known as Doctors for Cannabis Regulation.  Doctors in this organization believe that there is great potential for an increase in the safety of marijuana use.  These doctors claim that, “creating a legal and regulated marijuana market is the best way to ensure public safety” as regulations would require that the product is safe for any user (Ingraham, “More and More Doctors”).  In the case that marijuana is legalized and regulated, regulations would be beneficial for consumers because it means that the substance is safer as there will not be marijuana that is contaminated with other less safe drugs. For example, regulations would be treated like the health codes that restaurants are required to follow.  If the regulations are broken, any distributer in violation would not be able to continue selling marijuana.

The Doctors for Cannabis Regulation’s founder, David L. Nathan, was quoted saying, “You don't have to be pro-marijuana to be opposed to its prohibition” as he sees the benefit that regulation can have for its users (Ingraham, “More and More Doctors”).  Nathan also notes that the organization is not for the use of the drug, but rather that it is better to manage the risks that come with the substance.  Even so, the substance is still considered to be, “less harmful to individuals and society than the use of other common drugs” including legal substances such as alcohol and tobacco (Ingraham, “More and More Doctors”).  It has been determined that the risk of death for marijuana use is, “roughly 114 times less deadly than booze” as marijuana falls in the low risk category (Ingraham, “Marijuana May Be Even Safer”).

Even though the laws are decided upon by the government, it is important to take into account the opinions of the people who are affected by the laws.  In order to get a feel for the population’s opinions, polls were conducted to see how people view the legalization of marijuana.  A recent poll by Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) has found that, “Sixty-one percent of Americans think that marijuana use should be legal” according to a poll of 1,011 adults (De Pinto).  This is an increase of 5% from last year and the number has been consistently on the rise for the past few years.  This same survey indicates that when asked if alcohol or marijuana was more dangerous, 53% of responders claimed that alcohol was more dangerous (De Pinto).  In comparison, 28% say that both were equally as dangerous and only 7% say marijuana is more dangerous (De Pinto).  This provides a valuable insight as adults are responding to alcohol, which is legal, as have more dangerous consequences to users and society than marijuana, which is currently not legal.  

A not often considered part marijuana’s legalization is the fact that it creates jobs.  Marijuana production by a legal standpoint is a new subcategory to the farming industry.  In Colorado it is “estimated that ten thousand people now work in the weed industry” as recreational use is legal in the state (Dominguez).  This comes in part as there is now a demand for people to be growing the plant as well as for people to sell and transport.  These ten thousand jobs are for the state of Colorado alone and it can be assumed that there would be a need for more people to be employed in the field for each state if legalization were to occur in more states.  Though this number “only accounts for about 0.04% of Colorado’s workforce” it still will help towards unemployment numbers (Dominguez).

The state of New Mexico is currently lobbying for the legalization of recreational marijuana within the state borders.  In conjunction with their argument for legalization within the state, correspondents have presented some of their own reasons for legalization.  Correspondents have noted the increase in tax revenue that was seen in other states such as Colorado. They believe that, “the rate of return to jail or prison for certain populations in New Mexico might be reduced if more resources were given to the state’s substance abuse and mental health providers” as there would be more tax money to allocate towards the services (Salas).  This can be beneficial towards helping people get off of other more harmful drugs.  They also believe that the number of cases related to criminal drug charge will go down as it would only be considered an offense if the person is under the age of twenty-one.  As a result, courts systems would have to deal with less cases.

Even though there are positives for legalization, there are still fears that some have regarding legalization.  One of these fears was that driving fatalities would rise as a result of legalization.  This fear comes from the trouble of impaired driving that results from drinking alcohol, which is currently a legal drug.  Even so, “The number of driving fatalities were down in the first half of 2014” as legalization appears to have no influence on the number of fatalities (Dominguez).  This result even comes off of the fact that driving while under the influence of marijuana is not regulated to the same level as alcohol.  The fact that this data is coming from specific states that have legalized marijuana is also a positive indicator.  People often will cross the state borders to buy the substance, so there is an increase in travel by car.  Even so, there is not an increase in the amount of accidents. This is a positive for legalization as the fear of driving problems is not the reality that was feared.

Other fears regarding marijuana usage are not as people anticipated.  There were fears that there would be an increase in hard drug use as marijuana is considered a gateway drug.  As it turns out, in Colorado, the number for hard drug users is down from what is was ten years prior (Dominguez).  Another fear was that there would be a spike in violent crimes when the numbers are “in fact, trending down” and marijuana does not appear to be having negative effects (Dominguez). 

Some people also fear that there is a problem with the fact that marijuana is not regulated to the extent that people believe that it needs to be.  One factor of this concern is that, “The lack of standardization also makes it hard to precisely measure the amount of marijuana consumed” as THC, the chemical compound in cannabis or marijuana, varies in each sample of marijuana (Caulkins 55).  Though the inconsistency from one product to the next does come from the fact that the substances are coming from non-trustworthy sources such as drug dealers.  Though, with legalization, the intention is for marijuana to come from legal sources that can keep the outcome in their products more consistent.

People who are against legalization also claim that marijuana has a negative “impact on users’ IQ and motivation.” as there is fear for the productive output of marijuana users even when they are not under the influence (Berman).  Though this claim might not turn out to be what it seems. In order to test the reality of this claim multiple scientific studies have been conducted on the topic.  One of these studies was conducted to see the difference between twins in which one had used marijuana and the other had not used the substance.  A similar study was conducted with two thousand teenagers in Britain.  Both of the studies came up with relatively similar results that pointed to the fact that there was, “no measureable link between marijuana use and lower IQ” as there does not appear to be any cognitive problems caused by marijuana (Underwood).  It is also stated that most studies that came up with the outcome that intelligence quotient scores are lower was when a “single snapshot in time” was looked at rather than over time as a whole (Underwood).  With this considered, it is important to take into account that some sources may not give all of the true information about at topic.

Even so, this does not mean that marijuana only has positive connotations.  There is evidence that some people are not ready for marijuana usage.  Reportedly there are occasions of people doing causing harm as a result of “edible marijuana” induced high’s that the police have deemed to be a factor in some cases (Dominguez).  With the use of the drug there is a certain level of responsibility that users do need to have, just like there is with other substances.  People need to understand that it is not just physical results on the body but also the outgoing actions that can result from usage. 

In the case that marijuana is legalized, people tend to fear that this will open doors for other drugs to be legalized.  This is not would not be the case as many of the arguments that are made for the legalization of marijuana cannot be made for the legalization of other drugs.  For instance, marijuana is considered as low risk drug as indicated before, but other drugs such as ecstasy and cocaine are considered high risk drugs (Ingraham, “Marijuana May Be Even Safer”).  Marijuana, by comparison, is much safer than these other drugs.  This is not only in terms of initial use, but also the long-term effects.  The drugs listed before also have a larger incidence of users that become dependent on the drug.

Even though marijuana use is considered to be “safer than alcohol does not mean that it is safe, full stop” as there are still problems that arise in a user (Ingraham, “Marijuana May Be Even Safer”).  One of these problems is that users may abuse the drug like any drug such as alcohol.  This is a problem that a user would have to be able to manage themselves as each person has to be able to determine whether or not he or she will be able to handle using the drug.  That is why it would be important for there to regulations if the drug were to be legalized.  This includes an age restriction like there is for alcohol as most young people are should not use and most likely are not going to be able to handle the responsibility that comes with usage.  This law is already in effect in Colorado as a part of it’s marijuana legalization laws and hopefully would continue as a result of furthering marijuana laws.

Marijuana legalization has been and will continue to be controversial whether or not the substance becomes legal.  Even so, marijuana is a viable source of tax income as it has been demonstrated in states where use is legal such as Colorado.  Regulation of marijuana is increasingly supported by doctors and people as there are benefits to having trusted distributors.  Support for legalization has reached an all-time high and continues to rise.  The industry also has created more jobs in the states where it has been legalized.  On the other side of the argument, there are drawbacks to legalizing the substance.  Some of the drawbacks are only fears and others can be addressed by placing new regulations into effect in relation with potential legalization laws. Usage of marijuana does require for the user to be responsible just like any other drug.  Legalization of marijuana can best be described as, “You don't have to be pro-marijuana to be opposed to its prohibition” as it should be noted that there are many benefits that manifest as a result of having marijuana legalized that is not just the thrill of using the drug for yourself (Ingraham, “More and More Doctors”).  Marijuana legalization can should occur as long as the proper precautions are put in place to ensure that the product that is distributed is safe for the potential consumers.
