During my first semester in college, I was charged with simple possession of marijuana. Soon after my closest high school friends were charged with simple possession of marijuana at their college. We all started using marijuana in high school, and thought of the plant as a harmless recreational activity rather than the dangerous drug, older generations told us it was. We were all able to get the charge erased from our records with minimum punishment, which was fine until I applied for an apartment where I was refused a lease because I was labeled as a “criminal”. I was shocked and taken aback that this nonviolent crime suddenly had a major impact that could negatively affect my future. This experience made me think about the negative stigmas surrounding marijuana as well as how this nonviolent crime has affected other people’s lives. It also made me think about how different my experience would have been if I wasn’t white, as I likely would have received a harsher punishment. I believe that, marijuana decriminalization and legalization would positively impact America’s economy and help change the unproportionable number of arrests of minorities, by way of cutting costs of resources as well as profit gained from taxes, instead law enforcement should focus on the bigger issues plaguing communities instead of arresting and punishing people for this nonviolent crime.

Before I begin my main argument, I would like to define what marijuana is and bring up the stereotypical arguments surrounding marijuana to offer the audience a better understanding of its background. Marijuana is a plant that releases its main compound THC when heated and ingested, which is then absorbed into the body to make the user feel an euphoric high. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, “Marijuana is properly categorized under Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act” (1). A Schedule I substance means that the substance “has a high potential for abuse, has no accepted medical value in treatment in the United States, and evidence that there is a general lack of accepted safety for its use even under medical supervision” (Drug Enforcement Admin 1). 

The main argument many push for marijuana legalization is that it has positive medical effects for users. Many studies have shown that marijuana can be used to treat Glaucoma, help stop cancer from spreading, and could be used as a minor pain reliever. Many oppose this stating it has no medical benefit for users and claim it causes memory loss, decreases in cognitive function, and increases in cancer. Depending on how marijuana is ingested, it can cause an increase in lung cancer especially when smoked. However, anything a user smokes can have negative effects leading to lung cancer. If the plant is ingested another way, the chance of cancer decreases greatly. Another common myth about marijuana is that it is an addictive-gateway drug that can cause serious harm in users. Adam Conover from Adam Ruins Everything, explains that marijuana isn’t as harmful as everyone thinks it is. “Counting deaths from the substance alone, tobacco kills 480,000 people a year (CDC), alcohol kills 88,000 (NIH) , and marijuana kills absolutely no one (Sharpio)”. As for addiction to marijuana,  it can happen for some marijuana users but it is rare. Lastly, many people are afraid that marijuana may be a gateway drug leading into harder drugs, but according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration study in 2012, most users of marijuana don’t continue the practice of using marijuana. 

Now that I’ve addressed the myths about marijuana, I would like to discuss the effect its legal status has on minorities and their community. John Ehrlichman, President Nixon’s domestic policy chief, told Dan Baum: 

The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did. (1)

This began the reign of arrests for nonviolent crimes and harassments on minorities and their community. This continues today as a majority of minorities, African American communities in particular, are being incarcerated for possession of marijuana more than white people. The New York Times looked at federal data and found “black Americans were nearly four times as likely to be arrested on charges of marijuana possession in 2010, even though the two groups used the drug at similar rates…” (Urbina). In our own state of South Carolina, “blacks are 2.8 times more likely than whites to be arrested for marijuana possession” (Edwards 175). It is clear racial bias is present with this drug and in our legal system. The arrest rates vary from each state and according to the ACLU, Hawaii is the only state where arrests for blacks and whites are proportional (Edwards 146).  Michael Render, also known as Killer Mike, exemplifies this injustice in his song Reagan by saying, “They declared the war in drugs like a war on terror/ But what it really did was let the police terrorize whoever/ but mostly black boys” (Pitchforktv). Killer Mike saw first hand how the war on drugs plagued his neighborhood and how African Americans were targeted by the police and now speaks out against it through his music. There are those who think the arrests happen in communities of people who earn a low income, but the ACLU reports that “racial disparities in marijuana possession arrests exist regardless of county household income levels, and are greater in middle income and more affluent counties”(Edwards 17). This shows that the problem exists everywhere, not just in ghettos, slums, and other poverty stricken areas as many believed.  

So if African Americans and whites use the drug at the same rate and household income levels do not affect the rate of arrests for this nonviolent crime, why is there an unproportionable amount of African Americans being arrested for it? Going back to John Ehrlichman, the war on drugs was made to protect the Nixon, and later Reagan, administration’s power. It soon became second nature for police to arrest minorities for nonviolent possession crimes due to the high incentive to arrest people who commit low-level offenses. To this day, disproportionate arrests plague minority communities, ruining lives and tearing apart families. Nick Smith, a father to a young girl, is struggling to provide for her due to getting caught with marijuana three times in the state of Texas. He isn’t allowed to drive due to his license being revoked which makes going to his job a lot harder. He had to give up on his music career due to thousands in court fees he had to pay, which also made it harder to support his family (“Nick Smith: How The War On Marijuana Derails Lives”). This is where legalization can help stop these unproportionate arrests. The outcome of this solution will be police spending their time and effort focusing on higher level offenses, such as illegal distribution from cartels, possession of life threatening drugs, and other violent crimes. 

Beto O’Rourke discusses how his hometown has became one of the most dangerous cities in the world due to cartels controlling everything and making sure their product and profit is protected. In his book, Dealing Death And Drugs : The Big Business Of Dope In The U.S. And Mexico: An Argument For Ending The Prohibition Of Marijuana, he says “North America consumes illegal drugs, Mexico supplies them. When there is interference between the supply and demand, people start dying (O’Rourke 15). O’Rourke is in favor of ending the prohibition of marijuana to help put an end to the cartels that are doing more harm to their communities than the people using the drugs. The cartels are in control of towns due to prohibition of marijuana, like the mob was in control of cities during the prohibition of alcohol. Similar to how prohibition in the 1920’s created a black market for alcohol, the prohibition we have today creates a black market for marijuana and harder drugs controlled by the cartels. If legalization were to happen, cartels would have one less product to sell, which could fewer innocent people dying from being caught in the middle, as well as less crime. Many people believe marijuana legalization would mean an increase in crime rates in cities, but from O’Rourke’s perspective if marijuana were to remain illegal it would give more power to the cartels and only make his hometown more dangerous. 

Now that I have discussed how marijuana’s legal status affected minorities and shown there are bigger problems for law enforcement to handle, I would like to show how legalization could be a profitable market to help the United States’ economy. Doctor Ekins, a research economist who holds a Ph.D. in economics from George Mason University, believes “a mature marijuana industry could generate up to twenty-eight billion in tax revenues for federal, state, and local governments, including seven billion in federal revenue: 5.5 billion from business taxes and 1.5 billion from income and payroll taxes” (Ekins). If marijuana was legal, that means that about twenty-eight billion or more goes back into the economy from taxes, helping at all levels of government from local to federal. The industry can also help bring new employment all over the United States, like cultivation of the plant or selling it in stores. Before the business can mature, it needs to be able to have banking abilities, but “financial institutions are regulated at a federal level, so most businesses in the industry are operating without a bank account” (VICE). The businesses operating without a bank can only accept a cash payment for their products, which means their taking a very dangerous risk because they have a greater possibility of their business being robbed and losing profits every day. The marijuana industry can be a legitimate business, but it needs to be legalized so it’s businesses can be able to access and utilize banks, which would bring a profitable market to our economy.  

Now that I have shown how much money the American economy can make from legalizing marijuana, I would like to discuss how much money can be saved instead of wasting it on unnecessary resources. “The American Civil Liberties Union estimates that the total national expenditure of enforcing marijuana possession laws at approximately 3.613 billion” (Edwards 22). The 3.613 billion dollars is spent on arrests, possession cases, incarceration, and funds for the police departments to focus on enforcing marijuana laws. The potential twenty-eight billion dollars to be made from taxes on marijuana greatly outweighs the 3.613 billion dollars wasted on enforcing this non-violent crime, especially when it could be used towards resources to help prevent and stop violent crimes or helping less fortunate communities grow to be better. To provide an example of the budgetary savings that could come with legalization and decriminalization within states, Jeffrey Miron, a professor of economics at Boston University, estimates “that decriminalization of marijuana in Massachusetts would produce an annual savings in law enforcement resources of approximately 24.3 million” (2). Twenty-four million dollars saved in law enforcement that went towards stopping marijuana users could now go towards other state resources like education or infrastructure. If other states follow the same lead as Massachusetts, they could be saving millions and using their savings towards something more beneficial than enforcing a non-violent crime.

Lastly, many still worry that legalizing marijuana, will increase free and rampant use of the drug. The solution to this is to legalize and place regulations on the marijuana industry, just like the regulations placed on the alcohol or tobacco industry. With regulations in place, minors will not be able to access marijuana until the age of eighteen or twenty-one. We will also be able to regulate how potent the marijuana being dispensed is. There will also be regulations and restrictions while driving and operating heavy machines while under the influence. With these regulations and restrictions in place, non-marijuana users can be less worried about the marijuana users effecting their lives. If any evidence is needed to prove that regulating legalized marijuana would work in today’s society, I would like to point out that both the alcohol and tobacco industries have had regulations placed on them and they are both profitable and successful industries.  

The war on drugs is detrimental to our nation and to the people living in it. Rachel Leigh Cook, who was famous for her iconic “This Is Your Brain on Drugs” commercial, now speaks out against the war on drugs. In her new commercial, “Your Brain on Drug Policy”, she says “The war on drugs is ruining people’s lives. It fuels mass incarceration. It targets people of color in greater numbers than their white counterparts. It cripples communities. It costs billions and it doesn’t work” (Green Point Creative).  Marijuana use will happen in America whether decriminalization and legalization happens or not. The criminal justice system is clearly biased towards the African American and other minority communities when it comes to marijuana arrests. Law enforcement should begin to focus on other problems plaguing communities instead of enforcing marijuana laws, which would in turn bring them financial and social benefits. Decriminalization and legalization would bring the American economy billions in tax revenue and savings which could then go towards bolstering federal, state, and local levels of government resources. Drug use will always be present in our society. Through decriminalization and legalization we can make sure that marijuana users feel safe knowing that  their lives won’t be ruined due to a non-violent crime, that they know what they’re consuming, and that they’re helping our nation’s economy instead of an illegal cartel. 
