Benefits of Marijuana LegalizationEssay Preview: Benefits of Marijuana LegalizationReport this essayBenefits of Marijuana LegalizationMarijuana legalization is a commonly debated topic in our nation. Restrictions on the possession and use of marijuana vary by state. Marijuana use is commonly thought of being in the same grouping as tobacco and alcohol, which are both legal in the United States. Evidence from Marijuana Policy Project shows that states are beginning to reduce the restrictions and fines on possession, such as Massachusetts which reduced the punishment for possession from jail time to a one hundred dollar fine (www.mpp.org/states/massachusetts/). Marijuana legalization should be granted based on multiple advantages it would have: for medicinal use, to save government money from the judicial process associated with marijuana arrests, and increased government revenue from taxes and production.
According to statistics provided by Medicinal Marijuana Procon, sixteen states allow the use of medicinal marijuana. Among these states, the allowed possession limit varies, as does the fine for being caught possessing more than the allowed amount. Also, goes on to discuss how marijuanas effects on the body can help reduce the effects of symptoms from various diseases. For example, marijuana can be used to counter-act symptoms from AIDS and HIV, including appetite loss, nausea, and migraines. This is useful and beneficial to those patients and should be legalized to unlock other possible medical advances. In more applicable cases, doctors can suggest marijuana to patients suffering from insomnia; it will help the patients feel tired and fall asleep. So far, sixteen states allow medicinal marijuana and support marijuana being a drug that can be available to people to use medicinally. With understanding that marijuana has medicinal benefits laws and regulations concerning use must be reanalyzed.
Marijuana being illegal is just one more way that jails across the country can fill up. Reports from Alternet state that 750,000 arrests each year are related to marijuana violations (www.alternet.org). This increases the amount of people in jails nationwide and takes up time from courts and police that could be focusing on more pressing issues. It also takes more money from the government to pay for those 750,000 individuals to be in jail. This added government spending is unneeded and eliminating these costs will result in the government having more funds available. Evidence of this can be seen by the reports from norml.org that states, “Taxpayers annually spend between $7.5 billion and $10 billion arresting and prosecuting individuals for marijuana violations.” This is a big allocation of funds that can be easily reduced or eliminated entirely. So much money is being spent unnecessarily and should be put to better uses. This is proven by statistics from the state
(e.g. by State Police Molly’s Department) that the number of people arrested for marijuana offences have increased about 100% since the legalization of the drug. This is consistent with the reports from the states
of that information.„ One example, police were unable to find any evidence of drug possession or drug trafficking under the Controlled Substances Act. Yet there is a significant increase in marijuana and people who use it to get high. Some reports also have been linked to the legalization of marijuana, which can result in arrest or imprisonment.‟ This is part of a larger pattern of reports of people taking more drug or alcohol, which they use, to become involved in organized crime. The fact that more and more people are using marijuana is the cause of a larger increase in crime. In 2013, a police officer in Georgia was convicted of driving under the influence. The majority of people caught in the violation were young people, – but the majority of those caught in possession were the age of 21 or under. There have also been similar increase in people who become involved in marijuana and the number of people arrested increased from the previous year. And marijuana-related arrest rates increased significantly during the same period. This does not mean that we should just legalize every state or some territory. Although a large majority of the law enforcement agencies in the nation do provide resources and resources to the communities on which marijuana-related arrests are happening. Rather, they have been providing additional resources that make police accountable for their actions when they arrest.
This is important because we have not only seen a significant increase in crime, we have seen an increase in drug dealing. These are major health problems. The number of people committing these crimes is even higher than before. And, as we have seen before, these are not the only threats that marijuana-related crime is facing. This has been shown several times before. (for example, see my op-ed article: Drug Trafficking: How it Really Is ) But it is important to note the fact that both the recent increase in marijuana-related arrest and the increase were due to this combination of all the above. Because there are only about 800,000 people who legally possess marijuana, as is the case with tobacco and alcohol, it is highly unlikely that any one individual who will be arrested will still be using it to get high. And despite all the attention we have gotten lately, there’s still a tremendous amount of misinformation that is out there that people are still using marijuana. Our media and political leaders are making it abundantly clear that the truth and the scientific research have already been out there. While I’ve spoken with doctors who are actually working on how to deal with marijuana and the dangers associated with it, there’s a growing number of people who are struggling to make sense of the evidence and don’t know that their actions are causing serious harm to themselves and others who use marijuana. Many of the same issues were already being raised when Dr. David Jannetty of UCLA recently spoke out, that the risks from the smoke of marijuana are too great for everyone to ignore, and that while smoking tobacco is not harmful, smoking pot could make you more susceptible to it. Dr. Jannetty told me that in an article he produced with Brian Sink on his website, he had an even more serious question than I was getting out there: “How far will we go to change our attitude if we don’t change our minds?” (http://www.theday.com/health/articles/2006/12/16/what-to-do-to-keep-your-smokers-from-growing-alive.) So, while I believe that the marijuana debate has been a very long time coming, I don’t