Marijuana has always been a topic of debate and whether it be for religious or moral reasons, everyone seems to have an opinion whether marijuana should be legalized or not. On January 1, 2014, Amendment 64 went into action in Colorado. “Amendment 64 allows for individuals 21 years or older to grow up to six plants . . . and keep all of marijuana produced on the same premises, possess up to one ounce of marijuana, and give away up to one ounce of marijuana to someone 21 years or older” (Reed, 16). Its first dispensaries opened and crowds flocked to the nearest corner in order to purchase their first bit of legal marijuana. As a result of this surge, many more states are debating over passing legal recreational marijuana. Many people who follow religious practices are appalled that the devil’s lettuce may one day be so easily accessible to inspire deviant behavior, while supporters are vouching for the drug to be recreational. However, many of those in opposition argue that as of 2015, Colorado’s rising crime rates are of the fault of legalizing marijuana. Since Colorado’s passing of the law, crime rates surrounding marijuana have decreased drastically, as they are less than 1% of total crime rates. Since dug-related crimes have decreased, it’s not reasonable to attribute Colorado’s rising crime rate to marijuana legalization. 

In 2015, the homicide rate increased by 14.7%, rape by 10.6%, aggravated assault by 4.6%, and total crime rates increased by 6.2% from 2014. Burglary was the only crime that decreased between the two periods, falling -0.9% (Colorado Bureau of Investigations, 2015 Colorado Reported Statewide Crimes). “Since 2012, the year when Colorado voters passed recreational marijuana legalization, the number of crimes in Denver has grown by about 44 percent, according to annual figures the city reported to the National Incident Based Reporting System” (Ingold). In his article on marijuana legalization, John Ingold, who works for the Denver Post, argues that marijuana in unlikely to blame for Denver’s crime increase and touches on a case that was filed against Colorado by two neighboring states over the drug. Denver police spokesman, Sonny Jackson, states, “Crime is up but I don’t know if you can relate it to marijuana.” A Republican Senator, William Sharer, said crime has increased since retail marijuana stores opening in Denver in 2014. Contrastingly, legal marijuana has made significant money in taxes for the state, as well as bringing down the drug-related crime rate (Schlender). Shelley Schlender describes how marijuana has benefited the state of Colorado by bringing in revenue and advocates for a non-profit group known as Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP).  LEAP claims that Colorado’s experiment with marijuana has been a huge success. Jack Reed reported on the early findings of how Amendment 64 affected the state of Colorado. “The [Senate Bill 13-283] mandated the Division of Criminal Justice in the Department of Public Safety to conduct a study of Amendment 64, particularly as these relate to law enforcement activities” (Reed, 5). (The report is to be considered pre-commercialization, however.) “The total number of marijuana arrests decreased by 46% between 2012 and 2014 . . . Marijuana possession arrests, which makeup the majority of all marijuana arrests, were nearly cut in half (‐47%). Marijuana sales arrests decreased by 24% . . .” (Reed, 5). While Colorado crime has gone up, marijuana legalization cannot be attributed to that. Dispensaries being open for legal sale means that citizens are not as prevalently being arrested for use, possession, or sale. “Reasonable estimates put total annual incarceration costs for inmates at state and federal facilities serving time on marijuana charges at about $1.2 billion: about 40,000 prisoners at about $30,000 per prisoner per year” (Caulkins et al., 51). This leads to taxpayer’s money in Colorado, and other states in which it is legal, is not being put towards people being in the system for smoking a plant. This means that their money can go towards more things that states need like improved education and health care.

When handling such a sensitive form of sale, citizens who purchase weed, as well as the dispensaries they purchase from, must follow regulations in order for the government to regulate it. For citizens, they must at least 21 years of age and have a valid state I.D. In his article Experimenting with Pot: The State of Colorado's Legalization of Marijuana, Governor John Hickenlooper of Colorado discusses the regulations that address priorities when considering marijuana legalization, such as preventing the distribution of marijuana to minors and preventing the distribution to other states where it is not legal. “Amendment 64 was pitched to voters to, ‘regulate marijuana like alcohol,’ and in many way we have done just that . . .” (Hickenlooper, 245). Alcohol has been on the market since 1933, when prohibition ended, and the sale and distribution of it has been, for the most part, successful. So the idea that marijuana should be treated as such is logical. However, the schedule one drug is still under tighter ropes than alcohol has ever been, despite having similar regulations. For example, in the “alcohol model” for marijuana, one rule states: “Commercial producers and sellers need special licenses that can be revoked for violations of those regulations” (Caulkins et al., 151). In The Cannabusiness Report, Ryan Nerz takes viewers through the process from sale to distribution, starting at Marisol Gardens in Pueblo, Colorado. Owner, Mike Stellar, when asked how much more weed he has been putting out since legalization, he answers, “I would say about 90% more.” That’s a lot of meticulous paper work to keep up with! “To comply with state regulations, each plant is assigned a number and entered into a database called Metric” (Nerz, The Cannabusiness Report). Stellar describes the way that each plant is labeled, with different labels signifying if a plant is medical or recreational, and companies or agencies can scan the tag to look up that specific plant in the Metric system throughout their whole process from seed to sale. Thirteen cameras oversee Marisol Gardens, where the state of Colorado can go back eighty days to see if any illegal action has been taken within the growth site. All of the cameras and tagging of the plants allow for certified growers, like Marisol Gardens, to be able to do their job without the DEA breathing down Colorado’s back. “In December 2015, there were 2,538 licensed businesses in Colorado” (Reed, 9).  That’s 2,538 businesses and growing! 2,538 businesses that have to follow regulations to a T so they won’t be penalized or shut down. 2,538 businesses that are bringing in taxable product for the state.

Handling marijuana is no easy feat. Despite the seeming complexities of legalization, there is a question of why states should or shouldn’t change marijuana policies. Twenty-one states already have medical marijuana laws but the recreational aspect is still a sensitive topic. In her article High Times: Legalization Trend Forces Consideration of Pot’s Dangers, Laura Sanders argues why legal recreational marijuana use is dangerous for those who don’t need it for medical purposes and describes the affect it has on the human brain, especially one that is still developing. “Marijuana use when the brain is vulnerable may interfere with normal development . . .” Sanders states, “Adolescents who heavily use marijuana are more likely to perform poorly and drop out, though the effects of cannabis can’t be easily separated by other social factors” (19). However, as it would be unethical to subject study participants to marijuana for months to draw a conclusion, scientists have to rely on similar traits they see over multiple observations, as Sanders does take into her account in her article, though it cannot be denied that marijuana does have effects on the adolescent brain. Despite recreational cannabis now being legal in Colorado, “. . . youth’s perception of great risk for using marijuana one per month has been consistently lower than the national average . . . Colorado youth declined from 29.9% in 2006 to 17.0% in 2014” (Reed, 61-62). While there is correlation for development to be effected when adolescents use marijuana, the same cannot be said for adults. “Scientists have largely failed to turn up compelling evidence that adult pot smokers risk permanent brain problems . . .” (Sanders, 20). A Colorado does not let anyone under the age of twenty-one use marijuana, they do not endorse youths using the drug. Brain development is not the only concern when it comes to legalizing marijuana. Ryan Nerz reports on how policy changes concerning marijuana in Colorado have affected them from a law enforcement standpoint and how it has affected neighboring states. “According to reports in 2014, about 12% of Colorado DUI arrests were marijuana related” (Nerz, The Cannabusiness Report). Just like driving under the influence of alcohol, some users are bound to drive high. During a roleplay scenario with a police officer who is also a Drug Recognition Expert, Trooper Haslett, Nerz is taken through the steps of a typical marijuana DUI traffic stop. First, the officer has to recognize that a driver is under the influence and assess the situation. “[Those under the influence of marijuana] tend to be more relaxed. My name usually goes from ‘Officer’ to ‘Dude’,” Officer Haslett says. Next, if the driver is stumbling for balance, the officer will conduct a few physical tests, like testing eye movement and being able to put one foot in front of the other in a straight line, a test very similar to driving under the influence of alcohol. Another issue legalization faces are law suits from neighboring states such as Kansas and Nebraska, as well as organized criminals smuggling marijuana across borders.  On a road trip to a small town in Nebraska just thirteen miles away from a dispensary, Nerz asks local about their stance on marijuana legalization. Some are opposed to it and their opinions are religious related, other fully support the use of marijuana, but all agree that, “. . . marijuana arrests are exhausting critical resources. . .” (Nerz, The Cannabusiness Report). Drug-related arrests have jumped up 400% in the past three years in the town of Chappell, Nebraska. However, despite the trouble it can cause for other states and the effects it can have on youths, one must commend Colorado for paving the way for marijuana legalization everywhere. “Colorado collected an estimated $70 million in taxes on legal pot, according to Time magazine. Plus some evidence suggests the availability of marijuana is having a positive of tourism” (Schlender). Not only that, but the state is spending less money on incarcerating those convicted of marijuana-related crime. “Legalizing could mean treating a currently banned drug as an ordinary article of commerce” (Caulkins et al., 109). In that aspect, that takes marijuana out of the black market in states where it is legalized, giving less power those sorts of organizations. Legalization opens the doors for taxes to produce revenue for the state, to decriminalize such a petty crime and therefore spend less taxpayer money on incarcerating, as well as bringing down the crime rate for drug-related crime. To not legalize means to hopefully bring down youth dependency on marijuana (Colorado doesn’t let anyone under 21 purchase the drug, anyway, so it is still a crime for minors to consume it). “Prohibition makes drugs more expensive and less convenient to buy . . . It also prevents the drug producing industry from lobbying for policies that promote addiction” (Caulkins et al., 111). The question to legalize or not is up to the state, to weigh the pros and cons, and to supporters and those who oppose to legalize to be informed when the time to vote comes for their state.

Currently, the states that have legalized marijuana for adult use outside of medical purpose are Colorado, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Washington D.C., Massachusetts, Maine, and Alaska (Drug Policy Alliance). That’s only nine out of fifty states that have seen the benefits of policy changes with marijuana. Voters in other states may be wondering what these states are experiencing with their policy changes. In summary of points previously mentioned, according to the Drug Policy Alliance, these are some of the benefits of marijuana legalization: The first is reduced harm. “The criminalization of marijuana use disproportionately harms young people and people of color, sponsors massive levels of violence and corruption, and fails to curb youth access” (Drug Policy Alliance). While most of Colorado’s crime rates have risen, drug-related crimes have adversely decreased since legalization, so the state has taken away that stigma of deviancy when it comes to marijuana usage. The second benefit is job creation, especially to the formal economy instead of to black market and criminal organizations. With dispensaries opening, these businesses have given people access to a carefully regulated employment opportunity. The third is saving the state money. The Drug Alliance Policy states, “Scarce law enforcement resources will be better used to ensure public safety while reducing corrections and court costs. State and local governments would acquire significant new sources of tax revenue from regulating marijuana sales.” The fourth, and certainly one of the most important, is that legalization promotes consumer safety. Since marijuana is being sold from legal businesses, the plants are tested to pass governmental standards and having consumers be, “. . . better informed about the marijuana they use” (Drug Policy Alliance), instead of buying it from a shady dealer off the street.

For such a small plant, marijuana brings a long, rigorous debate with it. As one of the first states to legalize marijuana for recreational use, Colorado has many eyes watching them, waiting to be heralded or criticized. Since Colorado’s passing of Amendment 64, crime rates surrounding marijuana have decreased drastically, as they are less than 1% of total crime rates. Since dug-related crimes have decreased, it’s not reasonable to attribute Colorado’s rising crime rate to marijuana legalization. The state’s tax revenue is up higher than ever, as well as their drug-related crime rate. The governor himself is quite proud of how they are handling legalization, similar to how alcohol is treated. Whatever their stance on cannabis being legalized, there is little to claim that marijuana legalization in Colorado has raised the crime rate. In fact, it seems that legalization benefits the state more than it harms it! Court is in session and marijuana is on the stand. The only question left is what the verdict will be on a national level.
