English 101
10/13/2017
The Controversy of Marijuana
Marijuana is undoubtedly one of the most controversial topics discussed regarding legalization and taxation. I approve of the legalization for I think marijuana offers a wide range of positive effects. Why legalize marijuana? The outcome could be amazing for users across the nation that need and want to use marijuana recreationally to self-medicate their specific medical needs. If we tax marijuana in the same fashion as we do with other drugs such as alcohol and cigarettes we the country, the government, and the states would bring back large revenue which could then be used in many positive ways. In addition, the country could finally end the expensive war on drugs that Is costing roughly $10 billion dollars a year. California alone makes $14 billion dollars a year just from legal sales at dispensaries. In the year 2014, there were approximately 700,000 arrests on marijuana-related charges. This is insane. So much time and so much money wasted on these small petty arrests. in some states marijuana possession is a felony, it’s not right that people are having to wear orange jumpsuits and handcuffs for years on year solely due to the possession of a plant.
Firstly, marijuana has already been helping people for years. People with health conditions such as Glaucoma, which is known to rise the pressure in the eyeball, damaging the optic nerve and eventually causing full loss of vision. According to a study done in the 1970s, “…Marijuana, when smoked, lowered intraocular pressure (IOP) in people with normal pressure and those with glaucoma. To determine whether marijuana, or drugs derived from marijuana, might be effective as a glaucoma treatment, the National Eye Institute (NEI) supported research studies beginning in 1978.” (National Eye Institution). These effects could halt the disease. As of right now 16 states allow the use of medicinal marijuana. Marijuana’s effects on the body can help reduce the overwhelming stress and symptoms from different diseases. For example, marijuana can be used to counter-act symptoms from well-known killers like HIV and AIDS. The symptoms treated include appetite loss, nausea, pain, migraines, and many more. This is beneficial and a very useful to patients and should be legalized be researched more in depth. In some cases, marijuana is even prescribed as a sleeping agent, used for insomnia to help those who just can’t see to find sleep at night. Doesn’t everyone deserve to get a full night’s rest?
Next, jails across the country are being filled up with inmates that have been prosecuted for weed related charges. Reports say there were approximately 700,000 arrests on marijuana-related charges in the span of only one year. This yearly average increase rises the rate of people in jail and distracts the police from targeting bigger and more dangerous criminals. The government is losing money thinking that they are accomplishing something by locking up such many people. They fail to pay attention to the fact that all these weed charges cost them money within the prisons. If they made weed available to the public the government would save lots of money each year just from removing these costs. The website norml.org states that, “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 wasted this is a fantastic opportunity for change. Marijuana could also be taxed for good money (ThoughCO). If we substitute a tax on marijuana cigarettes equal to the difference between the local production cost and the street price people currently pay--that is, transfer the revenue from the current producers and marketers (many of whom work with organized crime) to the government, leaving all other marketing and transportation issues aside we would have revenue of (say) $7 per [unit]. If you could collect on every cigarette and ignore the transportation, marketing, and advertising costs, this comes to over $2 billion on Canadian sales and substantially more from an export tax, and you forego the costs of enforcement and deploy your policing assets elsewhere (ThoughCO).
Many people believe marijuana is without a doubt a gateway drug and could for sure introduce