The Future is here
During a time when the United States of America is facing a plethora of issues both at home and abroad all things need to be on the table. One thing that has been being argued about for decades is the legalization of marijuana for recreational use. The legalization of recreational marijuana will help the United States with its national debt, prison overcrowding, and war on drugs. The question for many of its critics is does the benefits of marijuana offset the negatives that legalizing marijuana will create? We are in a time where it is critical we begin discussing this issue with more regularity.
During the past two President's terms the United States national debt has been a hot button topic. During the Bush presidency it was the Democrats talking about how much our National Debt is going up due to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Then the tides turned during the Obama administration with Republicans complaining about the National Debt rising due to social programs such as the Affordable Care Act also known as Obama Care. There is little common ground between Democrats and Republicans currently, but one thing they should be able agree with is we need to do something about our national debt. This topic alone should kick off the discussion for the national legalization of marijuana.
The national debt is out of control currently nearing the twenty trillion dollar mark. With our debt currently going up by the second all tax dollars are critical. In a 2012 Huffington Post article titled "How Legalizing Marijuana Could Reduce the Federal Deficit" the Lucla Graves writes, "The federal government could save as much $13.7 billion annually if it were to legalize marijuana, according to a paper by Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron." One would come to the conclusion that there has to be a lot of consequences by legalizing marijuana if the Federal Government would be willing to give up almost 14 billion dollars a year in tax revenue. Many critics of marijuana say that even though 14 billion dollars may sound like a lot of money it is nothing compared to the almost 20 trillion dollars we are in debt. Even though this argument exists many are still arguing about the financial benefits pot will have on our economy. In the same Huffington Post article they state that, "While the savings are still minimal when compared to a $1.3 trillion federal deficit, many public officials have used an economic argument to promote pot legalization, including Democratic State Assemblyman Tom Ammiano from California, who in 2009 argued that legalization, would provide billions of dollars in much-needed revenue to the state. Known as Proposition 19, the ballot proposition ultimately went down to defeat in 2010." The national debt number should not matter when it comes to the legalization of marijuana. The bottom line is that the legalization of marijuana will help the United States economy with its near 14 billion dollars per year in tax revenue. If the national debt was 50 billion dollars then would it be a good idea to legalize marijuana? Besides the tax revenue that will be generated, there are also many other areas that will be beneficial for the United States. There is the issue of prison overcrowding.
Prison overcrowding is an issue in the United States that could be easily solved by the legalization of Marijuana. Many offenders that are in prison are in there for petty drug crimes likely related to the use of marijuana. The fact of the matter is most of us, at one point used or at least tried marijuana. Many people are still smoking marijuana. This doesn't make all of us criminals. This just means that we are breaking a law that is long past due to be changed. In the 1920's everyone that drinks alcohol would have the same fate as those who smoke marijuana. On March 22, 1933 Teddy Roosevelt signed the Cullen Harrison Act which allowed for the sale of alcohol with 3.2 alcohol content. Many critics, much like with marijuana critics, were saying that the effect on the economy would be minimal even though they were going through the Great Depression at the time. Little did they know the end of the alcohol prohibition would play a major part in ending the Great Depression. We are in a similar situation today. Our economy, while bouncing back, still feels like we are on thin ice. The legalization of marijuana much like the end of the alcohol prohibition has the potential to make a huge difference to the United States economy.
Many supporters of the legalization of marijuana believe the only reason that it is still illegal is discriminatory. This really gained steam when CNN and other news outlets reported on former Nixon domestic policy chief John Ehrlichman saying that the war on drugs targeted black people and hippies. One statement that really stands out is, "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," Ehrlichman said. "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." (LoBianco, Tom) This confirms that the legalization of marijuana likely didn't get a fair shake as there are alternative discriminatory reasons to keep it illegal. Now the kids of Mr. Ehrlichman question the validity of this 1999 interview by saying, "The 1994 alleged 'quote' we saw repeated in social media for the first time today does not square with what we know of our father. And collectively, that spans over 185 years of time with him," the Ehrlichman family wrote. "We do not subscribe to the alleged racist point of view that this writer now implies 22 years following the so-called interview of John and 16 years following our father's death, when dad can no longer respond. None of us have raised our kids that way, and that's because we were not raised that way." (LoBianco, Tom) Many of the critics also believe that there are many reasons to question this account as it was from a 1999 interview. Many wonder why this coming out now. There are many reasons as to why this may be coming out today and not back in 1999. One is the legalization of marijuana was a pipe dream for many in 1999. Also there is a lot going on in the country involving the discrimination of minorities. This is being brought to light by camera phones and social media. Even if you don't believe this account there are many other things that point to the war on marijuana being discriminatory. "For example, in 2010, a study conducted in California revealed that although white youth use marijuana at higher rates than black youth, black youth were arrested at double, triple or even quadruple the rates of whites. Teenagers and young adults comprised 70 to 80 percent of all marijuana arrests." (Alexander, Michelle) There is no reason for the percentages to be the way they are considering that there are more Caucasian people using marijuana than blacks but 80 percent more African American people incarcerated for marijuana crimes than Caucasian people. This is causing a for prison overcrowding. Prison overcrowding doesn't need to be an issue in America. America is causing a self-inflicted wound with the overcrowding of their prison systems.
Another problem America faces is its war on drugs against drug cartels along our boarder. A large portion of the drugs that are coming across our boarder from drug cartels is marijuana. This is because unlike with other harder drugs that majority of Americans use or have used Marijuana in the past. Marijuana has become the staple for the drug cartels as it is big business for them. The legalization of marijuana could hinder the drug cartels as they would then have to begin focusing on more of the harder drugs where there is much less demand. This would also free up many of our drug enforcement law agency to begin tracking and fighting against the war on drugs. Many opponents to the legalization of marijuana question whether or not this would really curb the drug cartels from bringing in marijuana because the taxes would cause people to still want to purchase it on the streets for a much cheaper cost. However, according the San Diego Union Tribune, "In the Border Patrol's San Diego sector, marijuana seizures fell to 8,158 pounds in fiscal 2015, an 88 percent drop compared to a decade-high of 68,825 pounds seized in fiscal 2011. At the ports of entry along the California border, marijuana seizures only fell by 2 percent during the same time period, Customs and Border Protection data show." (Davis, Kristina) There is a huge change in the way the drug cartels are operating after just 4 out of 50 states legalized marijuana. Imagine the change that would occur if the federal government legalized marijuana completely. In the same article Bill Gore the San Diego County Sheriff's office stated that, " "It's easier. Instead of smuggling, cartels can go in and buy commercial warehouse space and grow it inside," Gore said. "To think the cartels will be out of it is very naive. They're going to say now we have a market of 36 million people. They won't be paying taxes. All they have to do is undersell the people who are licensed marijuana dealers.
"Why in the world would they pass this up? It's going to be the Wild West out there when it comes to cultivation," said Gore, who like most law enforcement officials in California opposes legalizing the recreational use of marijuana." (Davis, Kristina) This may happen but will happen in low quantities. The majority of the people will no longer want to risk going to prison for smoking marijuana when they can do it with zero risk. A large number of people will smoke marijuana socially similar to how they do when they go to happy hour for a drink with co-workers or friends. There is a lot we can learn from the history of alcohol. Is there still people running illegal stills? Of course there are but the number is very minimal. Most people would not consider purchasing alcohol illegally for cheaper. The same will occur with marijuana. At first you may notice that some stories will surface of people purchasing marijuana on the black market but it will be short lived. The majority of people will purchase marijuana legally. If the majority of people purchase marijuana illegally then why according the Boston Globe is the marijuana industry a billion dollar a year industry in Colorado alone. According the Boston Globe, "This is Colorado, where a billion-dollar-a-year legal marijuana industry has emerged since January 2014. It offers an early look at what Massachusetts could face should voters green light an expected ballot question and legalize the drug this fall." (Miller, Joshua) This would be a good indicator that the majority of the residents would purchase marijuana legally through the system. With the demand of marijuana on the black market in the United states being cut by 90% the drug cartels will have to begin to look for other areas to make their money. While there is a market for all drugs the demand is much less. The drug that is the staple for these cartels will no longer be an option for them. While there are many reasons for the legalization of marijuana the detractors will continue to fight against it much like they did with alcohol during the prohibition of the 30's.
Some of the other reasons that critics use as to why marijuana should remain illegal are that it's addictive, it hasn't worked out for places such as Amsterdam, it is bad for your mental and physical health, and that it ruins people's lives. While there are some truths to these arguments they don't match up with other United States policies and definitely have holes. There are contradicting studies as to whether marijuana is addictive or not. This is not a reason to keep marijuana illegal however. Again if we look at alcohol there are many alcoholics in this country. Even though Amsterdam is having there issues with marijuana, the United States is different both culturally and size wise. There will be major differences in the United States and Amsterdam when it comes to the legalization of marijuana. In regards to your mental and physical health, again there are contradicting reports regarding this but if this is the case why is tobacco legalized?
Like with everything marijuana must be done within reason and be abused for it to be good. There will be people abusing marijuana and those stories will likely be the ones the critics focus on as a way to say see we told you so. The people in these stories are likely currently abusing marijuana and will continue to abuse marijuana long after it is legalized. Marijuana will have many benefits outside of the medical industry and needs to be legalized on a federal level. America cannot afford to continue to ignore the benefits marijuana will have on America. It will improve the national debt, prison overcrowding and war on drugs. These are three major issues