Legalization of Marijuana in Usa

Marijuana, a dry, ragged green and brown mix of flowers, stems, seeds, and leaves of Cannabis sativa, is the most commonly abused illicit drug in the United States. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2011), there are 4 million daily marijuana users, 6.1 million heavy users, and 16.7 million regular users in USA. Since US Federal government insists on maintaining the status quo that the growth, possession and use of marijuana are criminal, opposing views on the subject of legalizing the plant has caused much controversy over the past decades. The legalization of marijuana in the U.S. would contribute to form a more productive society through its high medical and industrial uses.

Marijuana is highly beneficial commercial crop that has potential to improve the entire economy of United States. It can save the federal budgets. The Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition (2005), a study by Professor Jeffrey A. Miron, showed that taxing and regulating marijuana "would save $7.7 billion per year in state and federal expenditures on prohibition enforcement and produce tax revenues of at least $2.4 billion annually,"(p.1) and claims that it can generate up to $6.2 billion if it were taxed similarly to tobacco or alcohol even excluding the taxes that would be paid by business owners who choose to sell the substance (p.3). According to a World Drug Report released in 2011 by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the estimated 2009 street value of marijuana in the United States ranged from $107 to $700 per ounce. As a matter of fact, the present laws prohibiting the manufacture and use of marijuana actually burden the economy. According to the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws, there were 758,593 arrests in the United States for possession and 95,245 were for the sale or production of marijuana. The current federal laws on marijuana guarantee the huge bulk of profits made on these sales go directly to unregulated and violent drug unions that don't pay taxes. Moreover, the enforcement of state and local marijuana laws annually costs US taxpayers a projected $7.6 billion, approximately $10,400 per arrest. The government would have more money to spend on important problems if marijuana is made legal.

The legalization of marijuana can also help the economy by creating more jobs across the nation. According to the United States Department of Labor (2009), the unemployment rate has increased in all 50 states. Some of the jobs that would emerge due to decriminalization of marijuana would be in manufacturing, transportation, and packaging of marijuana. If marijuana became legal for recreational use, there would also be jobs in the sale of marijuana which could create many new small businesses and contribute to generating a higher profit in stores that participate in the sale of marijuana. This would not only create more jobs but reduce the number of unemployment payments the government is paying to those unable to find work.

Legalizing marijuana also has the potential to lower crime rates and will reduce the taxpayer burden by freeing up resources spent in both criminal justice and law enforcement. All illegal drugs are higher in price because the production, transportation, and sale of the drugs carry heavy risks. When people develop drug habits or addictions, they must somehow come up with the money to support their cravings. Unless a person is wealthy, he or she must often resort to robbery and other crimes to generate the money needed to buy the drugs. Legalization would reduce the risks and thus reduce the prices. It will also help state police officers to concentrate on crimes that impose the deepest fear, pain and loss: burglaries, robberies, sexual assaults, domestic violence, stalking, child abuse, workplace and school shootings, and drunk driving. Moreover, if marijuana is legalized revenue generated from sales would stay in the U.S. instead of leaving the country to fund drug cartels. Besides, if marijuana is legalized, prisons will be less crowded and therefore taxpayers have to pay less for food, housing, health care, attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses to lock these prisoners up.

Additionally, legalizing marijuana has various environmental advantages. Hemp is a renewable resource that can be used to create items such as paper, rope, clothes, and many other fiber-based items. Instead of using trees, the use of hemp would drastically reduce rate of deforestation each year to make paper. According to the Ecology Global Network (2008), one acre of hemp/ marijuana can produce 4 times more paper than one acre of trees. All types of paper products including newsprint, computer paper, stationary, cardboard, envelopes, toilet paper, even tampons can be produced from hemp. The United States today import refined hemp products from Asian countries. The United States would be able to keep the entire profit from selling hemp products if hemp is grown in the U.S. Marijuana/ hemp are very easy and inexpensive to grow since they grow organically, meaning they only need dirt, water, and sunlight to grow. This is due to the plants natural resistance to disease. This would reduce the number of harmful chemicals that go into the environment when mass producing farmed plants and trees. Moreover, unlike trees, which must grow for 20 to 50 years after planting before they can be harvested for commercial use, hemp grows 10 to 20 feet tall within 4 months after it is planted and it is ready for harvesting. Hemp can be grown