The most recent study shows over 43% of American adults have said they have tried marijuana at least once in their lifetime, which is startling news when we compare this number to years past. In 2013 the percent of adults who admitted to trying marijuana was 38% and in 1969 the percent was a measly 8% (DailyWire). Now as these numbers may come as a shock to some, they should be more of a revelation that increasing amounts of people are becoming tolerant to the idea of smoking marijuana. The nation’s leaders and the public need to take a good hard look at the numbers, and not just these but all the numbers that will be presented that legalizing marijuana will in fact help the public health of the United States.  Legalizing marijuana in the United states would help us further our research in the field, it would reduce arrests and the amount of people incarcerated, and lastly would create more jobs and improve the national economy. When looking at the future of America, it is best off when we have a better economy, and that could be made a lot easier goal to achieve by legalizing marijuana, due to the increase in jobs created by the growing industry. Now many political figures are currently dead set against the legalization of marijuana but times are changing and the youth of America and others are demanding change.  America needs to realize the potential legalizing marijuana brings to improving their daily lives, in ways that couldn’t imagine, this industry will shape America.

This topic has never been more prevalent to the American people than it is right now, as the past election and future elections to come will see many states garnishing the right to vote on whether their state should legalize the recreational use of marijuana. Young Americans also need to do research on who their future leaders will be and what their stances are on legalization. In the past election the nation saw states like Massachusetts join the ranks of Colorado to formally legalize the possession and use of recreational marijuana, a huge stepping stone in the fight to see this change made nationwide. One of the best quotes provided by Fuller goes as, “The map of where pot is legal could include the entire West Coast and a block of states reaching from the Pacific to Colorado, raising a stronger challenge to the federal government’s ban on the drug.”(Fuller)This only goes to show just how important elections are in that some states are voting to legalize marijuana. As people of all ages, Americans need to set aside their personal beliefs on the matter and realize it will be good for the nations to future to legalize such a potential lucrative item that can be easily taxed and profited off of.  As this passed election passed, marijuana is on the rise and should be, the legalization will only further this country in the right direction. People with problems can see that their problems are nothing to be worried about as they are proven not to be true and in cases like crime related to drugs we may see a decrease.  

“It is the illegal market, with no standards, regulations or price controls, that poses a menace to public health. Our current federal laws, which treat cannabis as equivalent to cocaine and heroin, mostly teach teenagers that the government is completely unrealistic on matters of drug policy. Legalization is the first step in a broader initiative of treating cannabis use as a public health issue.”(Poindexter) People share a common fear that by legalizing marijuana, abuse will go up, and the youth of America will harm themselves with the new found freedom. When all the data is any lazed we can see that the problem with drugs is not the violence that surrounds them, but the lack of control from a higher authority. If the government were to control and allow for marijuana to be legal, it could be more regulated causing less crime.  Although that doesn’t seem to be the case, in the same sense the government will regulate it just like they regulate alcohol and age restrictions will be set to keep youths safe. Although it will be easier for adults to gain access to marijuana, it will be even harder for youth than before as drug dealers will not be able to keep up with government prices. Therefore, the only way to get marijuana would be through shops and dispensers, which would require some sort of identification, that you and anyone else are of age to be purchasing the product on hand. Legalizing marijuana would allow for the youth to be better regulated in their marijuana smoking endeavors and research shows that there would be no increase in substances abuse, and would restore some faith in the government only trying to protect kids rather than gunning for them to mess up. 

The first point to make is although there is some research on marijuana there is not nearly enough and legalizing the use would allow for much more thought out researched to be conducted. Current research on marijuana only sees 7% of studies being dedicated towards medical purposes, and legalization would see more research being done. Being able to study marijuana could prove some key answers for certain diseases and some solutions are already coming out with the study of medical marijuana. But by legalizing it worldwide, the study of marijuana could be expanded and studied across multiple groups and for multiple things. This is because researchers will have larger areas of people to study and more subjects and situations to research and look at. More research is being conducted now in Colorado since legalization and some of the findings are very inspiring and used through out this paper. Its current being used to treat Parkinson’s patients and can also hold keys to helping ease pain in cancer patients. Legalizing marijuana would allow for more in depth studies of long term effects as well, which could provide huge information on future health benefits. If marijuana was legalized in the nation we would also see a major decrease in the amount of people convicted of petty drug charges, as they would no longer exist. As well as medical benefits there are also social benefits to be gained by the public, such as less criminals and drug dealers.

If we could as a nation come together and agree to legalize marijuana one of the greatest benefits to society would be the decrease in national incarcerations. “Decriminalizing so-called ‘victimless’ crimes, particularly those related to drug use, can reduce the US prison population without adversely affecting public safety, per the findings of a study published this week by the JFA Institute, a Washington, DC criminal-justice think tank. Per the US Department of Justice, approximately 30-40 percent of all current prison admissions involve crimes that have no direct or obvious victim other than the perpetrator,” the report finds.  “The drug category constitutes the largest offense category, with 31 percent of all prison admissions resulting from such crimes.””(White). Most criminals convicted of drug charges are simply  nonviolent people, who are of no real harm to those around them. By allowing more people a second chance, to be productive member of society most would not commit crimes but would help add to the economy and the common welfare of all those around them.  

The definitive argument to the case, is in fact why should any criminals be let back out, but the facts need to be properly analyzed to fully understand how different people who commit marijuana crimes are to other criminals. Criminals who commit low level drug charges are people who aren’t violent clogging up the system, yes, they broke the law, but they did not kill, steal, or hurt anyone, which should always be considered. Selling drugs is not ok, but it also shouldn’t carry a life sentence like other crimes. “Each year, enforcing laws on possession costs more than $3.6 billion, according to the American Civil Liberties Union,” the Times explains. “It can take a police officer many hours to arrest and book a suspect. That person will often spend a night or more in the local jail, and be in court multiple times to resolve the case.” (Caulkins). The college student selling “pot-brownies” should not be held in the same view as the murder or rapist, but that’s what our court system does to said offenders. the report states from before says , “Violence that surrounds drug trafficking in the United States is largely absent” in Western European countries that have liberalized their drug possession policies.  The authors further note that the decriminalization of drugs, particularly marijuana, in regions that have enacted such reforms has not been associated with an increase in crime rates.”(White) Another interesting statistic to analyze is there are almost a million more people incarcerated in the US, opposed to in the 1970s, although the crime rate has pretty much stayed the same. The legalization of marijuana does not play a role in how much crime will be committed and has actually proven to decrease crime. This is an extreme jump in incarnated people, and should be taken as a wakeup call that maybe our nation has a problem with arresting and jailing first time offenders and offender in smaller crimes. Many other countries do not see these types of umbers in prison and maybe its time to take a step back and look at what the real problem is. 

Something else is becoming very clear to researchers, heavy smoking of marijuana, is still much safer to an induvial, than binge drinking of alcohol. Binge drinking has the ability to  kill a person, whereas smoking copious amounts of marijuana could never cause such a hazard, like alcohol poisoning does.  “Then there’s the fact that alcohol abuse is so strongly associated with violent behavior. According to Caulkins’ book, alcohol causes between three and four times as much dependence as marijuana, but more than 10 times the violence and crime. And Anderson coauthored a recent paper that found suicides among 20- and 30-something men fell in states that legalized medical marijuana. But still, as one draft of the study put it, “we conclude that the legalization of medical marijuana leads to an improvement in the psychological well-being of young adult males.”(Graham) this show just how much better smoking marijuana can be for your health than casually drinking alcohol. Now this point doesn’t exactly prove why we should legalize marijuana but it fights the counter argument that marijuana is dangerous to a person’s health, by proving it is n more dangerous than drinking, and in most cases less dangerous. 

Another major reason to legalize marijuana is because of the major-medical benefits it can provide to many people, and although medical marijuana is legal in some states it’s still incredibly hard to get your hands on it without the right paperwork. Most people could benefit form obtaining some sort of marijuana product but the list of people who qualify is not nearly full of all the people who deserve to receive a product. “Opinions on medical marijuana have shifted dramatically in the last two decades: this year, a slew of mostly conservative states passed laws permitting epilepsy patients to use strains of cannabis high in CBD. These states joined 23 others with broader medical marijuana laws. While the federal government still lists cannabis as a Schedule I drug, meaning it does not acknowledge any legitimate medical use, the states clearly disagree.”(Poindexter). Many people could see major benefits and shouldn’t fear being arrested to alleviate their medical conditions.  And with this argument comes the greatest reason to legalize marijuana, the economic gains it provides to the country. 

Now for the most important piece of the debate, the most crucial reason the public should want to see marijuana legalized, the potential profit for the state and federal governments. By legalizing marijuana, the government could do what they do to all things, add a tax to it, allowing for the generation of more profit. Such an example can be seen in Colorado where, “Better than expected sales of marijuana in Colorado and Washington over the past year have resulted in buoyant tax revenues. In 2015, Colorado collected more than $135 million in taxes and fee on medical and recreational marijuana. Sales in the state totaled over $996 billion. Sales in North America grew 30%, to $6.7 billion, in 2016, and is projected to increase to $20.1 billion by 2021, according to Arcview Market Research.”(Krishna) This would be huge and could even be used for small tax cuts on other areas due to such an increase in revenue, and could much used by many states who keep making budget cuts. Even if you yourself do not believe in smoking marijuana, everyone must put that aside and see how helpful the increase in tax revenue could become. And for those who don’t want the price of marijuana to go up, it is worth it for the product to be legal, so there is no longer the risk of being arrested. All in all it’s a huge win-win situation for the American people, and should be treated as such. The industry is also growing so much it could provide a huge boost to the economy, by adding thousands of jobs in the years to come as well as adding jobs in the already existed industries that go hand in hand.

Whenever something has the potential to improve the economy, all Americans are inclined to listen to the idea, because a good economy helps everybody who lives in the nation, so what’s good for the economy is good for all people. To follow along with that statement, legalizing marijuana would be  good for the economy, creating jobs, and growing business as the industry itself grows.  “It turns out pot is a stronger economic driver than 90 percent of the industries active in Colorado. Legal marijuana created 18,005 full-time jobs and added about $2.4 billion to the state’s economy last year, an analysis from the Marijuana Policy Group (MPG) shows. [Between the dollars that customers spend and the money business people invest in their crops and shops, pot is generating more wealth and activity than almost anything else on a pound-for-pound basis. Every dollar spent in the industry generates between $2.13 and $2.40 in economic activity. Only federal government spending has a higher multiplier.”(Pyke) Most people underestimate just how much money is to be made in the marijuana industry, but just like any other industry on the rise, the ceiling is very high, as there are new ways to make money of the product every day, and more jobs are created everyday with these improvements to the industries. As well as increases In other industries that feed off the new growth, like cigarate companies will start rolling marijuana and snack companies can also see a raise in demand due to the increase in marijuana consumption.  All around people would feel the impacts of the legalization, as more money would be dumped into the state governments allowing for more jobs, more business and more growth all around. 

All in all, legalizing marijuana might not happen at the federal level in the United States for many years to come, but state by stat people will see the laws change and that should excite many people, because as shown, legalizing marijuana can only help improve public health and economy. The economy would improve, not only because of the increase in tax revenue, and the creation of new jobs, but also the government could see a reduction in spending. With the legalization of marijuana, we would see a decrease in incarcerations and small time crimes, which would see governments, both state and federal, spend much less money on running jails as there would be a lot less people to keep in jail.  Marijuana also has extreme medical benefits and by making it legal across the board would make these medical beneifts available to more people, some who desperately need it to stop some of the pain.  Whether you are opposed or not, what’s best for the country is most likely good for you and your children, with more and more ballots in the future holding referendums to legalize marijuana, you should vote yes when it appears in your state. As well as read up on the political leaders running for office, people should be conscious of where the leaders stand on this very pressing issue.  As a member of the United states, and being a citizen, people should want to see marijuana legalized because it will do nothing but good for the public and the nation itself. 
