The legalization of recreational marijuana use is an increasingly hot topic throughout the United States. Because of the recent inclusion of the legalization of medical and/or recreational marijuana use on state wide election ballots, the topic has become common in household conversations. Naturally, this conversation brings out both positive and negative emotions within households and communities. Many people, however, do agree with the legalization of marijuana. Agreement for legalization stems from the ideas that people should make their own choices, the fact that marijuana is a less dangerous drug than alcohol and tobacco, money could be saved by decreasing the “war on drugs”, and how legalization could actually improve the economy. 

This topic is so interesting because there are so many different public views of marijuana being legalized. Many people do not believe marijuana should be legalized, and many others are wondering why it has not been legalized years ago. While this research question may not directly me personally, it does affect many different aspects in everyday life. My values will still remain the same rather they legalize the usage of marijuana or not. There are examples from states in which either medical, recreational, or both have been legalized and results seem to be mostly positive. Most people will smoke marijuana before they drink beer, wine or liquor. The people that may be most impacted by the research are marijuana users, people who are for usage of marijuana, people who are against marijuana recreational uses, government officials, police forces, and those that will be distributing the marijuana. Then there are the people who do not care about the use of marijuana. Simply because there are the people who marijuana simply does not affect and those people just do not care rather they legalize marijuana or rather they chose to keep marijuana usage illegal in the remaining states of the United States. 

The central claim of the first article I came across is marijuana should be legal. The author then goes on to say that there is no reason for marijuana to be illegal. From the authors point of view he feels that everyone deserve to make choices for themselves, and the government should only intervene if it put someone else at harm. Also, marijuana is far less dangerous than other drugs that are legal such as alcohol and tobacco products. Alcohol has been the root and cause of countless amounts of deaths due to liver diseases, diabetes and dementia with almost ten thousand killed from drunk driving alone in 2011 yet it can still be purchased everywhere. Every 19 minutes some dies from a prescription over dose yet it is still prescribed by doctors, there has been no case where someone has died from strictly marijuana. Some may say that marijuana causes lung cancer but according to the American Medical Association marijuana can actually increase lung strength and occasionally smokers have healthier lungs than nonsmokers. Cigarette damage to lungs is easy to see on x-ray while marijuana smoke shows no significant changes.  It is believed that this is due to the active ingredient THC has anti-inflammatory properties. Some may argue that marijuana is addictive but it’s not the vast majority of marijuana occasionally and shows no sign of addictive symptoms. Marijuana is most commonly abused because it’s accessible, affordable and is not considered harmful. Other uses it as a crutch who finds they have to smoke marijuana to get through the day. Just like alcohol and tobacco marijuana usages is all about personal responsibility.

The second article states that if the government legalizes weed they will save lots of money. All government officials from federal to local authorities focus on the “war on drugs” which currently spends billions of dollars every year to chase peaceful people who like to smoke marijuana. When then cause more people to be put in jail and the tax payers have to pay for the expenses. Also the government can collect taxes on it and use the money for more important issues. As in building better schools or taking the parks back from the gang members to make the community better. And with the current events that’s taking place they should use the extra money to retrain the police force on non-lethal tactics to solve issues instead of drawing their gun. The ones that are supposed to protect us are now putting fear and hatred in the eyes of the people of the United States.

In David G. Evans article, “The Economic Impacts of Marijuana Legalization”, he discusses the general economic and social arguments for legalizing marijuana, then goes on to list the arguments against it. His first argument is the simple fact that the direct benefits of marijuana legalization easily outweigh the cost of continuing the war on drugs. As previously stated, the budgetary savings if weed were legalized would be outstanding. Evans states that “legalization will reduce the need for prosecutorial, judicial, correctional, and police resource spending by approximately $7.7 billion - $13.7 billion per year.” Not only would legalization cut down on expenditures that are already being made, it would also provide a completely new source of revenue for the government. Through taxation, licensing, and industry, more than $8.7 billion could be generate for government revenue. While not all projections are 100 percent because legalization is not nationwide and state taxation varies, it is clear that a lot of money could be made from the marijuana industry. Obviously, legalization will not be a huge money maker without some additional costs. Additional expenditures would have to be made to update and enforce regulations for driving under the influence, court costs may increase because of these new stipulations, and law enforcement costs may inflate because of the change from drug enforcement spending to tax enforcement spending. It obviously is not clear now exactly how much of a benefit legalization would be because it is not currently on a federally regulated program, but it can be determined that the legal marijuana industry would bring a fresh source of revenue to the national government. 

The next article, “Marijuana Legalization in Colorado: Learned Lessons,” by David Blake and Jake Finlaw discusses the benefits and knowledge of weed being legalized in a state within the United States. The economic impact has been tremendous. Colorado has reached over 50 million dollars in the recreational sale of marijuana as of June 2015 and 25 million in medical sales of marijuana. 15 percent of the taxes collected on marijuana sales will be used for school construction. Legalization of weed also triggered a decrease in crime in Colorado, while marijuana arrest are down rough 84 percent. 

There are people who will agree and disagree with the idea that legalizing weed will cause more problems than having the usage of marijuana recreationally illegal in the remaining states in the United States of America. These authors showed a bias for the legalization of marijuana in the remaining states of the United States. It elaborates on all the benefits that come with marijuana being legalization in the United States. The also goes on to say that the government are depriving some religions (Hindus, Buddhists, and Rastafarians) of the first amendment of the constitution, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances,” having laws against the usage of marijuana in the United States. Should the government get away with depriving the free people of the United States of their first amendment right? 

The Drug Policy Alliance or DPA for short believes that marijuana should be removed from the criminal justice system and regulated like alcohol and tobacco. Legalizing weed can reduce risk and harm. Criminalization of marijuana use disproportionately harms young people and people of color. Due to the dangers of marijuana being sold on the black market illegally other crimes violent crimes such as robbery and murder may occur. Also regulating the usage of marijuana can keep you from accessing it as easily and keep them out harm way. Legalizing and regulating marijuana will also lead to a lot of new jobs being marijuana is one of the nation’s cash crops. The industry of marijuana includes farming process packaging shipping distribution and retail sale are just some of the main categories in which jobs will be created by marijuana legalization. It will also promote consumer safety as marijuana testing will become a standard requirement for the marijuana markets, this will lead to less medical issues called by marijuana.

There is more public support for marijuana law reform than ever before with new polls showing more than half the country is in favor of legalizing marijuana. Unfortunately, marijuana arrests have drastically increased over the years in 2014 there were 700,993 marijuana arrests in the United States, roughly forty- five percent of all drug arrests made. Eighty- eight percent of that arrest rate was for possession and not manufacture or distribution. More arrests have been made for possession every year than all the violent crimes combined. Most of the arrests affect the homes of people of color like the blacks and Latinos. According to data collected by the government drug use and selling are all at similar rates across the racial groups, and yet blacks and Latinos are arrested at very unfair and disproportionate rates, study shows that a black males are four times more likely to get arrested for drug possession than whites. This leaves a vast majority of blacks in an unfair predicament, considering you get a criminal conviction it will be unlikely you will be able to vote, hard to get a job or keep and professional license, secure housing, or even adopt a child. A misdemeanor marijuana conviction can lead to you not being able to adopt a child in 38 states, your professional license can be revoked in 20 states, denial of federal financial aid for a year or more in 28 states; suspension of one’s driver’s license for six months in 21 states, and a ban from public housing for three years in 46 states.  For noncitizens, a conviction can trigger deportation, sometimes with almost no possibility of discretionary relief. This adds to the ongoing cycle of putting fathers in jail sending the kids to the streets to make up for the income being lost just for them to be harshly punished and ruin their future. To enforce marijuana possession laws the cost is estimated to me more than 3.6 billion dollars each year. 

Marijuana can also have some medical advantages. Marijuana has been proven to medically to treat migraines. 100 of the 103 participants have reported a decrease in migraines overall and only 3 saw an increase in migraines over the course of the trail. Research has also shown that marijuana may have some benefits for people suffering from mental health disorders, like stress, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It has also been known to treat epilepsy, neurodengerative diseases like Parkinson’s disease and alleviate the painful side effects off cancer treatment. Marijuana is also used to treat glaucoma, which is an eye condition that can cause blindness if left untreated. But just like any other drug while they are benefits there are also risks.