The legalization of marijuana has been a highly controversial topic in America through out the last decade. States have passed laws of legal mediastinal marijuana, decriminalization of the drug, and some states, such as Colorado, have legalized use of the drug all together. George Eliot is an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era, she once said, “The strongest principle of growth lies in the human choice.” With that being said, I believe that marijuana should be legalized recreationally throughout the United States of America. Like Eliot said, growth is based on human choice, and we as Americans have the right to choose what we wish to consume, therefore Marijuana should be legalized throughout the United States for a recreational purpose.

Society and the media will talk a lot about why they think Marijuana should stay illegal, however no one brings up why it became illegal. When talking of a controversial issue, it is important to note these reasons that it became illegal. Drugpolicy.org has a few several values and priorities, one of them being, “Empowering youth, parents and educators with honest, reality-based drug education that moves beyond inaccurate, fear-based messages and zero-tolerance policies.” They give a quick run down on why marijuana first became illegal in the united states. Hemp has always been an important and essential crop since the pilgrims and puritans. As history.org states, “Though hemp's legacy in colonial America largely hides in the shadow of marijuana's prohibition, traces still exist at Colonial Williamsburg.” According to drugpolicy.org, right after the Mexican Revolution there was an influx of Mexican immigration to the Americas, and these Mexicans brought over their cultures and customs. Mexicans referred to the drug as “marihuana” which is what we knew as “cannabis.” The media then began to spread fear about the immigrants, and the drug they had brought into our country. The hatred of marijuana was correlated with the hatred of Mexicans coming into America and taking all of the jobs. So, Texas and Louisiana wished to make a reason to search Mexicans coming over to keep them into their country, and as drug policy.org states, “That excuse became marijuana.” This was a way the government could watch and control minority groups. 

Drug policy later iterates, “During hearings on marijuana law in the 1930’s, claims were made about marijuana’s ability to cause men of color to become violent and solicit sex from white women. This imagery became the backdrop for the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 which effectively banned its use and sales.” In essence, marijuana was not legalized because it was causing harm, it was made illegal for the American government to look down on people of minority standings. However, the Tax Act of 1937 was later deemed unconstitutional, and replaced in 1970’s by The Controlled Substance Act. This gave all controlled substances in America a ranking based on severity, and Cannabis was put in the most restrictive category by President Richard Nixon. The Shafer commission, which is formerly known as the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse, then declared that cannabis should not be Schedule I, which was the most restrictive category. In fact, they even doubted it being an illegal substance all together. President Nixon declared it remain a Schedule I substance, however. Even 40 years ago, Marijuana was put on restriction by the government, and they overlook professional opinions for their own gains. On the other hand, the economy can highly benefit from the legalization of Marijuana.

Colorado was the first state in the United States to legalize marijuana recreationally, and had Washington followed close behind. These two states became lab rats for how marijuana legalization would work on a national level. Colorado opened dispensaries in January 2014. Eight months after legalization, Colorado “expects a $98 million dollar jump in tax revenue from weed sales this year alone” (Nowthisworld). Along with a HUGE tax income, roughly 10,000 jobs can be created through the marijuana industry. Not only would taxes go down, but so would the cost of prison inmates. According to the NY Times tax payers spend roughly $31,000 a year on each inmate in prison, in 2015 643,121 were incarcerated for marijuana based offenses. Between 2001 and 2010 there were 8.2 million arrests just because a person(s) were in possession of marijuana, along with that 52% of arrests in 2010 alone correlated with the possession of marijuana. This was the same year that the cost of marijuana arrests alone totaled $3.6 billion, with an additional $1 billion cost in marijuana incarcerated prisoners. With a $4.1 trillion-dollar income in taxes, a big chunk alone is spent on marijuana arrests and or incarceration. So, not only would roughly $3.7 billion be given to other and better causes, but the nation could also expect to see an economy boost like Colorado did, according to Investopedia, “A special senate committee in Massachusetts estimated tax revenues from marijuana sales in the range of $50-60 million.” On that note, in Nevada, 41,000 jobs are estimated to be created and $1.7 billion is estimated in labor income. With those numbers, just imagine what legalizing recreational marijuana would do for the American economy. Jobs can be created to prevent another recession, and taxpayer dollars can be used for more useful things. The government can pave roads, fix schools, and have thousands more of different options. Not only just on a state level, but on a whole entire national level. Taxpayer dollars will cease being spent on pointless arrests that don’t spend harm, but instead can be spent to improve the nation and each state along with it. 

On that same page, America’s neighbors; Canada have also talked about legalizing. Canada marijuana prohibition, “has high costs while offering relatively little benefit” (Flister pg 4). Following a close country may cause encouragement to move forward in legalization. 

One of the biggest areas of concern via legalization of marijuana is the answer to the question, “is it dangerous,” or “can it damage my health?” Therefore, no lawmaker wishes to present their constituents with a substance deemed harmful to be legalized, but the fact that marijuana is harmful is a debunked myth. Smoking anything will cause damage to one’s lungs, however the marijuana itself actually holds many benefits. The New York Times holds a series of articles defending legalization, and has one dedicated to debunking popular myths, one of them being that marijuana is harmful to one’s health. “…federal law enforcement policies and the clear consensus of science that marijuana is far less harmful to human health than most other banned drugs and is less dangerous than the highly addictive but perfectly legal substances known as alcohol and tobacco” (Boffey). Along with that, the amount of danger will increase with the increased usage, which Boffey claims that legalization will actually decrease the wishes to use. 

Along with that, tobacco causes lung cancer, and alcohol can lead to cirrhosis. Studies show that no major disease arises from marijuana usage. In fact, “Most of the risks of marijuana use are ‘small to moderate in size” (Boffey). Not only are the risks minor, but there shows no major health problems comparable in size to what alcohol and tobacco can produce. Not only physical health, but psychological health as well. In a study by Joseph J. Palmer, he studied the adverse relationships of marijuana and alcohol in US High School Seniors. In almost every category, participants of the study said that alcohol held worse effects than marijuana. These include regretting behavior, hurting relationships, physical health, and emotional stability. While there will be an age gap on who can purchase and possess the recreational marijuana, it is very important to know the effects that it has on those with brains who are not fully developed, so those with more fully developed brains can see these effects.

One big question to the American public is the concern of driver safety. The mass public is under assumption that drivers under the influence will cause even more crashes and fatalities. However, according to NowThis there is, “no direct correlation.” In light of that, the number of fatal crashes have decreased in the first half of 2014 in Colorado, the year they legalizaed. With legalization comes the laws and restrictions of marijuana along with it. More people will less likely be driving since they can smoke and possess in their own homes and no longer need to worry about being mobile due to legality reasons. Secondly, many Americans ask if marijuana is a gateway drug. This is a drug that opens a broad spectrum to other and harsher illicit substances. However, marijuana is not the gateway drug that alcohol has shown to be, which is legalized by Americans over the age of 21, and lower in some states. Studies show that increased alcohol usage can actually lead to harder uses on opioids and drugs such as methamphetamine, heroin, and cocaine. 

The New York Times published an article by Avantika Chilkoti earlier this summer entitled, “States Keep Saying Yes to Marijuana Use. Now Comes the Federal No.” This article tells the reader that eight states are on the path to legalizing, however the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, the head of the United States Justice Department, has “compared marijuana to heroin” (Chilkoti). Not only that but the Trump Administration is actually looking to make marijuana use more difficult for the average American adult, despite the little negative effects it holds. They claim it to be a “gateway drug”, which as I stated earlier, is a false statement, as alcohol actually is more of a gateway drug then marijuana. As Americans have spent $5.9 billion on recreational marijuana, some conservative politician believe that it is in the best interest of America to take a step back; which is completely false. With all myths debunked and evidence put into account, it is beneficial to ALL Americans, even those who do not wish to consume it.

While the prohibition on marijuana has become a heated topic in the United States the past few years, states have chosen to decriminalize and just leave it at that. However, this too is just not enough.  “While natural fluciaiations have occurred, it seems clear that the United States' policy toward reducing marijuana use has not been particularly successful” (Yacoubian pg 14). These criminalization’s are actually causing and increase of usage, as Yacoubian states, “In contrast, the enactment and enforcement of strict marijuana laws should, in theory, reduce the use of marijuana.” As argued earlier, an increased usage due to criminalization taxpayers are spending much more money on things they do not need to be. If America as a nation chooses to legalize, the criminal money spent will be spent on things more useful and also useable to taxpayers. 

Removal of criminalization and illegal marijuana will also nearly eliminate the unnecessary police brutality shown in marijuana cases and arrests. Beverly Yuen Thompson wrote the scholarly article regarding men and women in jail due to marijuana, and included stories of those who have been assaulted by police officers due to the case of marijuana. “On June 21st, 2015, a Harris County Sheriff’s deputy pulled over Charnesia Corley, a twenty-year old woman living in Houston, Texas, for allegedly running a stop sign while she was driving to the store to shop for her sick mother (Quinn, 2015). Once he engaged with Charnesia, he said he ‘smelled marijuana,’ a common tactic to establish probable cause to justify a vehicle search. However, after searching Corley’s car and not finding the cause of the smell, he then argued that the smell was coming from her body. He then requested a female officer backup in order to conduct a cavity search. This invasive physical search was conducted in the parking lot next to her car. When Corley took a moment to submit to this humiliation, which to her, felt like a sexual assault, the female officer threatened to break her legs. In the end of the ordeal, the deputy claimed to have found 0.02 oz of marijuana” (Thompson pg 2). Thompson also explains to the reader, “Texas state trooper Brian Encinia pulled over Sandra Bland for allegedly not using a turn signal to change lanes, arrested her, imprisoned her for three days, after which she was found dead in her jail cell. While marijuana was not an initial charge, after Bland’s death, it was reported to the media that she had an unusually large amount of marijuana in her system, which she would have had to ingest during her imprisonment, authorities argued” (Thompson pg 3). The implication was that the marijuana could have triggered her alleged suicide Corley is not the only victim to this police raid, according to ACLU, someone falls victim to this every thirty-seven seconds in the United States. In 2010, police made more arrests due to marijuana possession than all other violent crime combined. So, in essence, we as Americans are wasting tax dollars for assault of people with marijuana. Police forces are not capturing the ring leaders of the drug busts, they are not capturing criminals; they are charging the people driving home one night and blow through the one stop sign on the local block. These arrests are not happening on every block, either. Studies show police are using these arrests in higher minority areas than white suburban neighborhoods. If that does not sound familiar, remember why marijuana was made illegal in the 30’s; a reason to target black men, and in the earlier 1900’s to get blame the Mexicans. Not only are these arrests brutal and sometimes unfair, they also give more racial bias to the nation.

Lastly, and the biggest point of all, is that the legalization of marijuana would ultimately bring down the largest part of the black market and drug websites on the deep web. Marijuana reigns supreme in the most purchased and consumed illicit substance in the world. With marijuana being sold on the black market, this increases productivity and also encourages drug dealers to go into distribution across the black market. Buying marijuana in this case is also much more harmful to the user. The marijuana can be laced with other substances, including but not limited to; crack, methamphetamine, and date-rape based drugs. The buyer also is not aware of the potency, or how strong it really is. A dispensary is much safer, where one can see what type is safest for them, and know exactly what goes into their marijuana. With the open acts of dispensaries, the biggest half of the black market and a lot of drug deals will crumble. Giving police the chance to work on problems in the community that are not as harmful.

Overall, legalization will make a safer and more stable community for those who choose to and not to use. Laws would be enacted to regulate how much marijuana and where it can be consumed; much similarly to tobacco and alcohol. It can lead to an economy boost, safer regulation, less police brutality, and a freedom for Americans to choose what they will and will not consume. 
